One evening in late 2003, a 22-year-old man named Michael Bridges sat in the stands of a professional hockey game in Calgary, a major city in Canada. As he stared out at the rink, waiting for the players to file in, he couldn’t believe how lucky he was to be there.
Michael lived about 700 miles away in Brandon, another Canadian city. His life over the past year had been unraveling—he was between jobs, struggling financially, going through a painful breakup, and most of his friends had vanished. He felt isolated and hopeless.
But then, out of nowhere, he won a sweepstakes he had entered on a whim: an all-expenses-paid trip to Calgary for a hockey game. For the first time in a long while, something good had finally happened.
As he was about to flag down a vendor to order a beer, a stocky man with a mustache sat beside him. Without missing a beat, the stranger smiled and said, “Man, I’m so excited to be here. I won this ticket in a sweepstakes.”
Michael laughed. “Dude, me too.”
They hit it off instantly. The man’s name was Brock, and for someone like Michael—lonely and directionless—it was refreshing to meet someone who just seemed to get him. By the end of the game, Brock invited Michael to keep the night going at a nearby strip club. Michael agreed.
At the club, Michael noticed something strange. Brock, who seemed very working-class like Michael, was throwing money around like it meant nothing. He left huge tips, paid for all the drinks, and had a massive wad of cash that he flung at the dancers without hesitation. For Michael, struggling as he was, Brock’s generosity was more than welcome.
As the night wore on, Michael thanked Brock for everything and admitted he didn’t want to leave Calgary and go back to Brandon. That’s when Brock revealed something surprising: he was actually moving to Brandon for work.
Michael was thrilled. What had seemed like a one-time encounter with a cool stranger now had the potential to become a real friendship.
Brock proposed a deal—if Michael helped him find an apartment in Brandon, he might be able to return the favor by getting Michael some work. Michael, picturing the wad of cash again, said, “Deal.”
The Job
A couple of months later, in early December 2003, Michael was riding passenger in Brock’s car after a lunch outing. They had become genuine friends. Brock had moved to Brandon, Michael helped him find an apartment, and Brock had landed Michael some odd jobs.
But the jobs were… odd. Brock had Michael deliver mysterious packages all over town, warning him never to look inside. Though uneasy at first, Michael remembered the money and the strip club. Eventually, he delivered one package—then another. Nothing bad happened. He kept going.
Still, Michael had no clue what he was delivering. But he needed the money and didn’t want to question it. He accepted that whatever Brock was involved in was shady—but at least he was getting paid.
That day in the car, Brock got a call. Michael could tell it was Brock’s boss, just by the tone. After a short, tense exchange, Brock abruptly made a U-turn and started speeding in the opposite direction.
They pulled into the parking lot of a motel called the Sidi Hotel. Without explaining, Brock told Michael to stay in the car. Then he walked over to a room and knocked.
Michael watched as a woman opened the door. She looked startled. She tried to close the door, but Brock pushed back. They began shouting. Michael couldn’t hear them but was clearly uneasy. Then, Brock raised his fist and punched the woman square in the face.
She collapsed.
Brock climbed on top of her and continued punching. Blood covered her face. Michael sat frozen. Brock slammed the door, walked calmly back to the car, and drove away. The only thing he said to Michael came when he dropped him off at home:
“Don’t tell anyone what you saw.”
Michael, terrified, nodded and rushed inside.
The Call
A week later, Michael got a call from Brock. His instinct told him to ignore it, but he answered. Brock said he had another delivery job—if Michael was still committed.
Michael wanted out. But he also didn’t want to find out what happened to people who said no to Brock. So he agreed.
Brock told him that both he and the boss were impressed by his loyalty and silence.
Michael grabbed his keys and headed out to pick up the next package.
The Test
Two months later, in February 2004, the two men met again—this time at a diner. Michael was now regularly delivering packages. But something felt off about Brock that day. He was fidgeting, distracted.
Michael asked if he was okay. Brock’s face lit up.
“Oh yeah. In fact, I have an offer for you that could change your life.”
He explained that he and the boss were very impressed with Michael’s work. Not only had he kept quiet about the motel incident, but he had also never looked inside the packages. That proved he was trustworthy.
Now, they wanted to move him up—into a more managerial role. More prestige. More responsibility. A lot more money.
Michael was excited… but also nervous. He barely knew anything about the boss, except that he didn’t take betrayal lightly. And before he could meet the boss, Brock said, he had to pass one more test.
He had to prove he was capable of being as brutal as Brock.
Michael didn’t know what that meant—was he supposed to commit a crime? Come up with something himself? But then it hit him. He already had proof. Something terrible had happened in his past, and he had survived it. If he told Brock—and the boss—about it, they’d see he was capable of anything.
And so, Michael told Brock everything.
Brock listened, wide-eyed. When Michael finished, Brock simply said, “Okay. You’re ready to meet the boss.”
The Truth
A few days later, Michael arrived at a luxury hotel in a nearby city. Brock met him in the lobby and led him upstairs to a lavish suite.
But the room was empty.
“Where’s the boss?” Michael asked.
“The boss doesn’t wait for anyone. People wait for the boss. Sit tight—he’ll be here soon.”
Trying to stay calm, Michael took a seat.
Sensing Michael’s nerves, Brock suggested, “Why don’t you run through your story one more time? Like a dry run.”
Michael agreed. He told the story again. When he finished, there was a knock at the door.
“He’s here,” Brock said. “Are you ready?”
Michael nodded.
Brock opened the door.
But it wasn’t the boss.
It was the police.
The entire past several months had been a lie. The sweepstakes? Fake. The packages? Just flour. The woman at the motel? An actress. Brock? An undercover officer. And the entire “organization”? A carefully constructed sting by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The purpose? To get Michael to confess.
And he did.
Michael had told Brock—and the hidden cameras—that two years earlier, he had murdered his girlfriend, Erin Chney. She had tried to leave him, and in a fit of rage, he had strangled her unconscious and drowned her in the bathtub.
That was the story Michael thought would prove his loyalty and toughness. Instead, it sealed his fate.
Erin’s body was later recovered from the dump site where Michael had left her. She was given a proper burial.
Michael Bridges was arrested on the spot, convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison.