The Monster Within

In spring of 1985, Dave Worrell, a police detective on Canada's Sunshine Coast, received a call: a young female provincial ward reported that she had been sexually assaulted by her school principal. Dave was no stranger to investigating allegations like these, but as he dove deeper into the suspect's history, it soon became clear that Robert Olav Noyes's actions were even more far-reaching and sinister than anyone could have imagined.

The Noyes case is infamous in British Columbia not only for the nature of the crime, but for the number of victims and the length of time he had been perpetrating; although he was ultimately charged with nineteen counts of sexual assault, he admitted to assaulting over sixty, and investigators believe the true count is in the hundreds. But how did he go unseen for so long?

With care and precision, Dave recounts the investigation, interviewing witnesses and gathering information, all as the small-town communities involved fall apart in the wake of Noyes's arrest. He unfolds the story piece by piece, then takes it to court, providing firsthand experience and transcripts of the gruelling court sessions to prosecute Noyes.

The Monster Within is a close look at the Noyes case written by the lead investigator himself, spanning from the nascent moments of the Noyes case to the aftermath of his sentence.

David R. Worrell was the lead investigator in the Vancouver and Gibsons departments for the Noyes case in the 1980s. As a police detective of many years, he is filled with the passion to share his stories-starting with one of his biggest, his involvement with the Robert Olav Noyes case.He currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with his two children and five grandchildren.