Who Killed Ty Conn?

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

In May 1999, Ty Conn, a convicted bank robber on the lam from the
Kingston Pen where he was supposed to be incarcerated for 47 years, shot
himself fatally in the chest. This lively, well-written and
well-organized book begins in January 1969 with the birth of Ernie
Hayes, who was soon adopted by the Conns (dad a well-known psychiatrist,
and mom a verbally abusive alcoholic). The authors’ examination of
Conn’s early life provides ample explanation as to why he tipped into
the wrong side of the law, specializing in robbery.

Eventually judged uncontrollable by his adoptive parents, Conn began a
series of placements in temporary foster homes, juvenile detention
centres, and finally adult jails of increasingly severity. As MacIntyre
and Burke make clear, Conn’s life is particularly tragic because he
was physically attractive, personable, gentle, and very bright. (His
intelligence was exemplified by the fact that he was the first person to
figure out a way of escaping from the Kingston Pen in 40 years!) Sadly,
at the time of his death, he was beginning to come to terms with the
demons from his past.

The authors first made Conn’s acquaintance in 1994 while preparing a
documentary on the effects of child abuse for the CBC’s Fifth Estate.
They kept in touch until the end (Teresa Burke was on the phone with him
when he pulled the trigger). Although they claim that “our friendship
changed him, and ... the changes ultimately contributed to his death,”
the evidence they provide suggests that Conn was more a victim of
uncaring systems of child welfare and juvenile/adult justice.