Terry Driver - The Abbotsford Killer

The world in 1995 was quite different than what it is today. Cell phones were huge monstrosities that no one really used. The first Toy Story movie wouldn't be released until late in the year. Music was still listened to mainly on the radio, and in 1995 the Billboard Top Songs that year were Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio and Boombastic by Shaggy.

In Abbotsford, BC, on October 14, 1995, Tanya Smith aged 16, and Misty Cockerill aged 15 decided to go to a party at a friends house. After the party was over, they weren't ready for the night to end, so they decided to walk a short distance to another friends house who was having another party. Their path took them close to the Abbotsford Hospital.

While walking to that second party, a man, who possibly was listening to their conversation, jumped out from behind some bushes brandishing an aluminum baseball bat.


"You bitches wanna party?" the man asked. Tanya and Misty were frozen with fear. The man forced them into the bushes and ordered them to take off their clothes.

Misty was still frozen and didn't respond, but Tanya did as she was told. He then ordered them to lay on the ground. Where he then raped Tanya.

At this point, Misty grabbed the baseball back and swung it wildly at their attacker hitting him in the shoulder. The man struggled with Misty and was able to wrest the baseball bat away from her grasp.

"You're going to be sorry, bitch!" the man yelled, "You're going to die!"

The beating that followed was vicious. The man rained blows down on Misty till she was unconscious. The doctors later said that Misty received multiple "home run swings" from that baseball bat. Misty was left for dead.

But Misty was not dead. She awoke sometime later laying facedown behind those bushes. Bleeding and confused she was able to sit up and look around, but her friend Tanya was not there. She just wanted to go home and lay down - to put this night behind her.

Somehow, instead of going home she stumbled into the Abbotsford Hospital Emergency room. She was able to tell the nurses and doctors what had happened. Thinking that the man might still be hanging around, an orderly rushed outside to search the area, but he found nothing.

Misty's injuries were severe. Her arm and finger were broken, she had severe skull fractures, and what was described as a fist size hole in her head from the blows of the baseball bat.

Tanya was found later, floating face down in the Vedder River. After he had knocked Misty unconscious, he continued to rape Tanya, beat her relentlessly with the baseball bat and tossed her like garbage in the nearby Vedder River.

Coroners said that although she probably would not have survived the beating she received at the hands of her attacker, her cause of death was drowning. She was still alive when she was thrown in the river.

Tanya and Misty's attacker seemed to revel in the notoriety of being "The Abbotsford Killer". He taunted police by calling 911.


In the first of his taunting phone calls, he said "I'm the killer. Her right nipple tasted so good." This was a piece of information that wasn't made public. The killer had bitten Tanya on the right breast and left bit marks. They knew this man making the calls was Tanya's killer.

In another call to police: "You guys did a real thorough job, but do you think I would be stupid enough to leave a fingerprint behind?"

About 20 minutes later, he called again, "Are you having trouble finding the killer?"
"uh, did you want to provide information to the police?" the dispatch asked.
"No, I'm the one"
"You're the..."
"I'm giving you a chance to try and find me. I'll be cruising around, looking for someone else."
"What's your name?"
"Just to let you know who I am, Tanya's nipple tasted really good."
"And what is your name?"

The call disconnected. Both calls were traced to payphones but there was no one there when police arrived.

Initial investigation was hampered becasue the composite did not match Terry Driver

About a week later, Tanya's family had her funeral. Little did they know, but Tanya's attacker attended the funeral. He even took his children with him.

On Halloween, he made another taunting call to police that I won't repeat here. Rest assured that the call was even worse than the last, describing what he did to Tanya and saying in detail what he would do to his next victim.

When police arrived at the payphone this call was made from, they didn't find anyone. Later they would find out the killer was watching them from a nearby diner.

At this point police released some of the audio of the phone calls to the media, hoping that someone would recognize the voice. Although no one came forward. Misty was able to identify the voice as the man that attacked her and killed Tanya.

About four months later, the killer went to the graveyard where Tanya was buried and used a crowbar to steal her grave marker. Calling the Abbotsford Radio Max station, he told them to check a car in the parking lot.

Outside they found Tanya's headstone on the hood of one of the cars. Written in felt pen on the stone were the words, "She was not the first", "She won't be the last", "I'm still looking", "You won't find me", and "One day, Misty". There was also a circle on Tanya's picture on the headstone around her chest with an arrow and the words "Yummy tit".

Seemingly feeding off of the attention he was getting, two days later he again called again. Taunting the police yet again he asked if they liked the present he gave them and reminded police that Tanya won't be the last.

This time though, when police went to the payphone that the call was made from, someone had seen him and was able to give police a description of the man and the vehicle that he drove.

A few days later, a woman called the police. While sitting in her home, someone had thrown a wrench through her front window with a message taped to it. An envelope was taped to the wrench in clear tape with "From the killer, call 911" on the front, and "From the abby killer, call 911" written on the back.

But the killer was getting sloppy. Police found a fingerprint on the sticky side of the tape, and it was so obvious it almost seemed like it was put there on purpose. Inside the envelope was a newspaper clipping with a picture of Misty with the words "Luck to be alive" written on across her forehead as well as a picture of Tanya.

Included in the envelope was a long letter, confessing to the rape and murder of Tanya Smith and the assault on Misty Cockerill, as well as three other assaults on women in Abbotsford.

It began:
"hello, it's me!!
yes sir re, tanya's right nipple sure did taste good
(by the way tanya was wearing sandals that night and I threw them with her other stuff)

The letter goes on to describe the attack in detail as well as other "conquests", and ended in another taunt:
"bye guys this is the last you here from me till next time.
Good Luck!!!!"

At this point word had got out that Tanya had a bite mark on her body but not the location, so police knew that this letter was genuine, and the fingerprint found was the killer's.

The conquests in the letter recalled three assaults in chilling detail. One was a 12-year-old girl that he had groped but managed to get away. The second victim was attacked from behind and struck in the head knocking her out. The third victim was found unconscious near the hospital with a life-threatening head injury. Her backpack with $200 was found on the rooftop of a nearby building. All information contained in the letter.

Inside the envelope containing the note, he included clippings from The Vancouver Sun on the unsolved murders of three women. Vancouver prostitute Linda Tatrai, Colleen Shook of Burnaby, who was attacked after getting off a bus, and Kim Stolberg, who was killed at her father’s Richmond office while she was arranging a surprise wedding anniversary for her parents. All three women were stabbed to death in 1989

Now with mounting information including DNA found on Tanya's body, voice recordings, fingerprints, and descriptions from witnesses. Police released more info to the public including some more of the voice recordings of the phone calls to police.

Donald Driver listened to the voice recordings and called the police to tell them that the voice recordings sound a lot like his brother Terry. Donald's mother, Audry also called the police and stated that all of her other children had listened to the recordings and they all believed that the voice was of her son, Terry Driver.

Terry Driver

They recalled that Terry had told his sister that he had gone to Tanya's funeral and that about two weeks after that in an argument with his brother Terry had said "Don't fuck with me! You don't know me anymore, and you don't know what I'm capable of doing anymore!"

Terry was arrested shortly after when police were able to match his fingerprint to the one found on the tape used on the wrench thrown through the window. They had a mountain of evidence against Terry.

Terry was 31 years old at the time, a married father of two. A onetime boy scout leader and son of a decorated former Vancouver Police Seargent. Terry was an avid "scanner chaser", he would often listen to his police scanner and go to the scene of whatever interested him and watch the police go about their job. It was later discovered that he would make his taunting phone calls to police then listen to the response on his scanner, often loading his children in his car and going to the scene. No one would suspect the father with two kids in the car as being the murderer.

Terry's defense decided to explain his actions by blaming them on various disorders. Specifically, they said that because he had Tourette's Syndrome, ADHD, and OCD, he was unable to resist when he had violent or sexual urges.

Terry said that he did not attack Tanya and Misty, but happened upon the girls after they had been attacked. He said that he found them unconscious on the ground, Tanya naked, and was unable to resist having sex with the girl. After he did that he found that sometime during the act she had stopped breathing. Realizing that he had left evidence on a dead girls body he panicked. He loaded Tanya's body into his car and then drove Misty to the emergency room. After that, he drove to his favorite fishing spot on Vedder River and threw Tanya's body in it.

But Terry's story didn't match any of the evidence. Misty walked to the hospital under her own power. Why did he call the police admitting multiple times to being the killer? Why did he deface Tanya's gravestone and threaten Misty again?

Terry's defense decided it was probably best to do a trial by judge rather than by a jury. They didn't think that a jury would be sympathetic to Terry and that the lone decision of a judge was his best shot at avoiding jail.

The judge, Wally Oppal didn't buy Terry's version of events. At trial, Judge Oppal remarked, “I simply cannot find the words to describe and depict your horrible crimes, you murdered Tanya Smith for your own sexual gratification and you almost killed Misty Cockerill, they did nothing to provoke you”. Terry was found guilty of the rape and murder of Tanya Smith and the assault on Misty Cockerill, and in 2000 declared a dangerous offender, receiving an indefinite sentence.

Misty and her mother Janet

Prosecutors chastised the defense of Terry driver saying that they did a disservice trying to blame Terry's actions on his OCD and Tourette's. There are many people suffering from those disorders that are able to lead meaningful lives without harming anyone. They also brought up the fact that aside from having been diagnosed with ADHD at a young age, he was diagnosed with OCD and Tourette's Syndrome by defense psychiatrists after he had been arrested.

Misty Cockerill has since recovered from the brutal attack and refuses to be defined as a victim of the Abbotsford Killer. A staunch advocate for victims rights, she has since completed a Bachelors of Arts degree in Sociology and is an experienced public speaker.

I think that if Terry's family had not contacted police and turned him in that Terry would have continued tormenting police, eventually escalating to another attack. I don't believe that a person like Terry would stop, he would just continue committing more murders, increasing in brutality, until he was caught.


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