Undercover officers in 'Mr. Big' sting spent months befriending accused in 2007 Manitoba killing: court docs
Mounties went to hockey games, skydiving with man accused in death of Crystal Saunders
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
At least 18 RCMP officers spent more than seven months on an elaborate "Mr. Big" sting operation that involved getting close to the suspect in an MMIWG cold case murder through going to Canucks games and skydiving, and staging a fake crime scene.
Undercover officers posing as a tight-knit group hung out at Kevin Queau's favourite sports pub in Vancouver to get chummy with him, then slowly invited him into their activities until he was helping them move locked briefcases and cleaning up a hotel room staged to look like something violent had occurred.
Details of the sting are laid out in search warrant documents obtained from court by CBC News.
The efforts ultimately led to a second-degree murder charge in early 2024 against Queau, a B.C. resident, in the 2007 killing of Crystal Saunders, a Métis woman whose body was found in a southern Manitoba community.
Getting to the sting was a long and winding road.
Years before the charges were laid, police knew Queau was a one in 2.4 trillion match for DNA found on Saunders's neck.
In 2014, Queau's DNA had been entered into an RCMP database while under investigation for sexual assault involving choking in B.C.
He was later sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting one woman and assaulting another.
In 2019, police started digging into him again, doing analysis on Saunders's fingernails — which also came back positive for DNA matching Queau, though they also found other men's DNA.
But then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shutting down public gatherings and outings, which potentially slowed plans for a sting operation.
RCMP renewed their focus on the case in 2023, and sought judicial authorization to place a wiretap on Queau's phone.
They also devised a sophisticated Mr. Big sting operation — a controversial technique where undercover officers befriend a suspect.
In an affidavit filed in the case, an RCMP officer outlines the goal of the sting — getting Queau comfortable enough to talk about Saunders's death and his potential involvement in it.
"Over time, it is expected that this bond will become strong and trusted enough that Kevin will discuss his past criminality, including the offence presently under investigation," an RCMP corporal wrote in a January 2024 police affidavit.
'They need some kind of a confession': former detective
The documents outline what police knew about the killing and Queau's possible involvement. Some of the details have never been made public.
Saunders, 24, had been strangled to death then left naked in a water-filled ditch near a small community at the southern end of Lake Manitoba.
An off-duty RCMP officer driving along the road on his ATV to check his trap line on April 19, 2007, noticed something in the ditch. On his way back home, he stopped to see what it was and found Saunders's remains.
The officer had paddled his canoe along that same ditch the day before and hadn't seen anything.
Police say Saunders was extremely vulnerable because she made her living as a sex worker and struggled with drug addiction. Initially, they had trouble figuring out where and when Saunders was last seen, the documents say.
The last known sighting of Saunders was in Winnipeg's West End on April 18, 2007. That's when a Winnipeg Police Service officer spotted her getting into a red vehicle.
The ditch where her body was found was near St. Ambroise, about 75 kilometres away.
I think they did a really good job in finding out his weakness, which was wanting to belong to a core group of people.- John O'Donovan, retired Winnipeg police detective sergeant
Initially police had their sights on different suspects in the case. In May 2007, RCMP started investigating two men who a witness said confessed to beating Saunders to death over a drug debt — even though Saunders had in fact been strangled.
Years later, the men were ruled out as suspects.
Then, in 2014, Queau's DNA, acquired as part of a sexual assault investigation in B.C., connected him to Saunders, the documents say.
In the search warrant documents, RCMP say "the acts of sexual violence share similarities to the manner of Crystal's murder."
They also made other possible connections.
The search warrant documents say Queau was living in Winnipeg at the time of Saunders's death and was driving a red vehicle that partially matched the description of the vehicle Saunders was seen getting into.
WATCH | Details on the undercover operation:
Queau's phone was seized by RCMP after he was arrested for the B.C. cases, from which the officers learned he was frequently in contact with sex workers.
Police also found a diary on his phone, in which he wrote, "Really though. No more hookers. You are Kevin McCrea(th) now. A good standup guy," referring to an alias he used.
"Let it go. Let Kevin Queau die. It has to be this way moving forward."
Police said in the search warrant documents that Queau's comments and the DNA evidence suggested a pattern that could help in establishing his responsibility in Saunders's murder.
But the DNA match and the other information wasn't enough, according to a veteran detective.
Retired Winnipeg police detective sergeant John O'Donovan was not involved in the Queau sting, but he did direct the Mr. Big operation targeting Raymond Cormier — the man who was eventually acquitted of second-degree murder in another Manitoba MMIWG case, that of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine.
He said the discovery of matching DNA would not be enough to build an airtight case on its own.
"It brings you up to 90 per cent. But you need that 10 per cent, because in order to get a conviction in criminal court, it has to be beyond a reasonable doubt," O'Donovan said in an interview with CBC.
"They need some kind of a confession to nail it to the wall."
In 2023, RCMP embarked on a sting operation they expected to take several months, if not a year.
CBC News provided O'Donovan with a copy of the documents detailing the sting plans, and asked him to review them.
Based on that review, O'Donovan estimated it likely would have cost seven figures, but described it as "pretty standard," except for one aspect that stood out — Queau's apparent adoration of one of the officers involved in the sting.
"I think they did a really good job in finding out his weakness, which was wanting to belong to a core group of people — not necessarily a criminal organization, just wanting to have friends that he could hang out with and boast to," O'Donovan said.
"That is … an amazing piece of work that these guys have done."
Double date and skydiving
A first attempt at a Mr. Big sting in February 2023 didn't pan out. In June 2023, Mounties tried again.
This time, a group of undercover officers met Queau at the Park Pub, a Vancouver spot that they knew from surveillance he liked.
Queau talked about having an economics degree and running his own business, which found temporary workers for the construction industry. He also said he owned several boats, and invited the officers to join him on a boat the next day.
They agreed and went for a boat ride the next day, after which they all went out to dinner. Queau asked the undercover officers what they did for work, and was told they scouted locations for the film industry.
For months, the group hung out, going wakeboarding and skydiving, and even on a double date.
"Kevin admitted that he launders money, for himself and others, through his temporary labour business," wrote an RCMP corporal in his affidavit.
They also attended Vancouver Canucks games and watched football. Queau even told the undercover officers that he used to sell cocaine and that a recent trip to El Salvador was to set up a cryptocurrency money-laundering venture for his business, according to the documents.
The Mr. Big sting appeared to be working so well that police slowly began to introduce more intense scenarios. The officers implied to Queau that they smuggled items through B.C. ports and had a large-scale money laundering operation through different South American cities.
One evening, after having a few drinks, officers gave Queau and a female friend a ride home. She got in the front seat and told Queau to get in the back, the search warrant documents say.
"Kevin then wrapped the seat belt around [the woman's] face and made a comment about choking the life out of her," said the police affidavit. When she started smoking in the car, Queau told her to put it out or "he would murder her in her sleep," the document says.
RCMP wrote that while Queau was joking, the conversation is relevant "in the context of the investigation as a whole."
In late October, Queau joined the undercover officers as they transported baggage, including a locked briefcase, via boat to Vancouver Island, not knowing what was inside them. They caught a flight back to Vancouver after the delivery was made.
"Kevin confirmed that he is still comfortable working with the group, that he was comfortable doing anything," wrote the RCMP corporal.
Meeting Mr. Big
Over the next couple of months, Queau joined the undercover officers in making deliveries and setting up an apparent cryptocurrency ATM skimming operation.
After about six months, he got to meet the undercover officer who was playing the "Mr. Big" role in the sting — a man introduced as the boss and owner of "the business," who left shortly after meeting Queau.
In mid-December 2023, Queau and a couple of officers went to a hotel to meet up with one of the other undercover officers. When they got there, the hotel room was staged to look like something violent had happened.
An officer, who had stormed out of a Canucks game he'd attended with Queau a few days earlier over supposed problems with his girlfriend, was in the room wearing only underwear.
One of the undercover officers asked Queau and another officer to get some clothes and toiletries.
[One of the undercover officers] asked what he was laughing about, and Kevin said that he was thinking about how they had helped clean up what seemed like a murder.- RCMP affidavit
Queau bought cleaning supplies at a nearby Walmart, then went to the hotel and started cleaning the room, the documents say.
The group's next stop was a trip to the Westin Bayshore, a four-star hotel, where an undercover officer in the parking lot told the man from the hotel room that if he wasn't honest, there was no point in going up to the room to meet Mr. Big.
Mr. Big and his second-in-command met the whole group in their suite, and told everyone except the undercover officer from the hotel to go eat.
"While having supper with the group, Kevin was laughing to himself," the RCMP corporal wrote in his affidavit.
One of the undercover officers "asked what he was laughing about, and Kevin said that he was thinking about how they had helped clean up what seemed like a murder," he wrote.
A fake police investigation was launched, with one of the undercover officers pretending to be a corrupt officer who was going to interfere with the investigation by swapping out DNA swabs taken from the scene.
The group of undercover officers smuggled the supposed corrupt officer from the hotel out of the country. He was picked up by a Zodiac near the U.S. border.
Queau got a $3,000 cash bonus at Christmas for helping the officers with the situation, but later said he liked hanging out with the group more than the money he was making.
At the beginning of January 2024, Queau was enlisted to work on a "big job."
As he and one of the agents travelled a couple of hours to Hope, B.C., to receive a cash drop of $200,000, Queau said he had been with sex trade workers in the past, the documents say. He also asked the agent to play on his softball team.
The next day, a new officer who was supposedly part of the group's Calgary operations came to town. They went to a strip club, where Queau used his connections to get them into a VIP section.
At the club, Queau admitted to the agents that he liked to have rough sex and showed them a video of him in sexual acts with women, according to the search warrant documents.
A few days later, Queau joined eight officers for dinner at a private room in a Vancouver restaurant to celebrate the return of the officer who fled to Seattle.
Queau said that after helping to smuggle the officer out of the country, he realized he wanted "to be 100 per cent in with the group," according to the affidavit.
'I am tired of running': email
While the search warrant documents say the purpose of the Mr. Big sting was to get Kevin to "freely speak about Crystal and his knowledge of her death," they don't say whether or not that happened.
But by the end of January 2024, RCMP had charged Queau with second-degree murder.
The court documents reveal additional evidence police had against Queau. In order to get permission to execute the sting, officers had to prove they had reasonable grounds to believe he was responsible for Saunders's murder.
Investigators say Queau had sent an email to his mother in June 2013 with the subject line, "Everything I touch turns to shit." She was concerned it was a suicide letter and contacted police.
In it, Queau wrote he was a horrible person — "a monster really," according to the search warrant documents.
He went on to say, "I don't want to hurt anybody anymore. The wake that is me is just too big. It consumes whoever comes close. That's probably why I have kept so far away. I didn't want to taint you with me," the documents say.
"I am tired of running. It ends here. It ends tonight."
The search warrant documents say police believe Queau was expressing regret for being violent with people in the past.
Queau's trial is scheduled for September.
For immediate emotional assistance, call 1-844-413-6649. This is a national, toll-free 24/7 crisis call line providing support for anyone who requires emotional assistance related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. You can also access long-term health support services such as mental health counselling and community-based cultural services through Indigenous Services Canada.
Corrections
- We initially reported that they transported baggage via boat and plane from Vancouver Island to Nanaimo. In fact, Nanaimo is on Vancouver Island.Mar 17, 2025 11:52 AM EDT
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