On May 10, 1973, the town of Kenora, Ontario changed in a single violent second.
A man calling himself Paul Higgins walked into the CIBC bank on Main Street South armed with guns, dynamite and a dead man's switch clenched in his teeth. He demanded money. He demanded a truck. He demanded a driver. What began as a bank robbery became one of the strangest and most disturbing true crime cases in Canadian history.
By 4:12 p.m., the robber was dead, the bank was damaged, Main Street was covered in shattered glass and scattered money and Constable Don Milliard had somehow survived being thrown by the blast. Sgt. Robert Letain had fired the shot that stopped the bomber. The switch released. The explosion tore through the street.
The crime was over.
The mystery was not.
More than fifty years later, the man behind the mask still has no confirmed name.
The Deadman's Switch tells the story of the 1973 Kenora CIBC bank robbery bombing, a shocking Canadian true crime case involving a masked robber, stolen bank money, a hostage-driver, a police sniper, a public explosion and an unidentified dead man who entered history under what appears to have been a false name.
This book follows the case from the Kenricia Hotel to the bank manager's office, from the switch in the bomber's teeth to the crowd gathered on Main Street, from the blast itself to the long investigation that followed. It examines the false identity of "Paul Higgins," the trip to Winnipeg, the mysterious trunk, the scattered money, the fingerprints circulated far beyond Kenora, the preserved red hair found decades later and the failed lead that once pointed investigators toward a man in France.
Was the Kenora bank bomber simply a robber with a bad plan?
Was he suicidal?
Was the whole thing a public performance designed to make sure the town would never forget him?
Or was he something messier, uglier and more human than any single theory can explain?
Written in a blunt, atmospheric true crime style, The Deadman's Switch is not a polished courtroom story with a neat ending. There was no trial. No confession. No final interview. No family member stepping forward to claim the body. The robber died in the street and left investigators with a false name, a damaged body, hotel records, fingerprints, hair evidence and a question that has refused to die.
Who was Paul Higgins, really?
This book is for readers interested in Canadian true crime, unsolved mysteries, historic bank robberies, unidentified persons cases, cold case investigations, Ontario crime history and strange real-life crimes that still feel almost impossible to believe.
Inside this book, you will find:
A detailed narrative of the 1973 CIBC bank robbery bombing in Kenora, Ontario
The story of the masked robber and the dead man's switch held in his teeth
The role of bank manager Al Reid, Constable Don Milliard and Sgt. Robert Letain
The crowd of spectators who gathered too close to danger
The explosion on Main Street South and the aftermath of scattered money, broken glass and injured bystanders
The mystery of the false name Paul Higgins
The hotel trail, the trunk, the Winnipeg trip and the unanswered escape-plan questions
The fingerprint search, the preserved red hair and the modern DNA possibilities
The question of whether this was robbery, suicide or performance
The Deadman's Switch is a true crime account of a small-town Canadian bank robbery that became something much darker. It is the story of a town that kept the memory, a police file that would not close properly and a dead man who managed to make himself unforgettable while keeping his real name hidden.
A robber.
A bomber.
A false identity.
A switch in his teeth.
And a question still waiting for an answer.
