SHOCKING DISCOVERY: The True Story Behind the Dismemberment of Rory Hash and the Serial Crimes of Adam Strong

In December 2017, what was supposed to be an ordinary day for a plumber hired to repair a clogged drainage pipe in an apartment in Canada quickly turned into something far more horrifying. The moment he entered the basement where the pipe was located, he was overwhelmed by a foul stench. Thinking it was just spoiled food clogging the pipe, he dismissed it at first. But unknown to him, he was about to become the key to solving two unsolved murder cases that had baffled Canadian authorities for years. This is the true story behind one of the most brutal killings in Canadian history—a case that might never have been solved if not for a plumber.

This chilling tale revolves around 18-year-old Rory Hash from the quiet city of Oshawa in Ontario, Canada. Despite coming from a troubled family background—her grandfather and uncles were known gangsters—Rory grew up as a kind, loving, and obedient child. She was a model student, full of promise, and had a bright future ahead. But everything fell apart when she entered high school and fell into drug addiction due to peer pressure. Still, Rory took it upon herself to recover, and over time, she turned her life around.

By 2016, she was living with her uncle Harley Gwendon. Despite Harley’s criminal past, he remained close to Rory and even gave her money to help her start anew. Rory found a job, was planning to return to school, and even found a new boyfriend named Tony. Things were looking up, especially when she discovered she was pregnant. But tragedy would soon follow at the hands of a monstrous man.

On August 29, 2017, CCTV footage from a local hospital in Oshawa captured Rory arriving with her female friend and the friend’s mother—likely for a prenatal check-up. However, Rory looked anxious and was trembling while waiting. Minutes later, she abruptly left the hospital before even seeing a doctor. That was the last time she was seen alive.

Her uncle Harley had noticed that Rory had been acting strangely days before she vanished. She even gave him a tight hug—as if it were a silent goodbye. When Rory didn’t return to her volunteer center, didn’t contact Tony, her mother Shannan, or her uncle Harley, her family and friends filed a missing person report. They knew she was excited about becoming a mother and would never disappear without reason.

But the answer to her disappearance would come in the most horrifying way.

On September 11, 2017, an elderly man and his 11-year-old grandson were fishing at Oshawa Harbor when they noticed something unusual floating in the water. At first, they thought it was a pile of trash. But as they reeled it in, they were horrified to discover that it was a severed human torso—headless, limbless, with signs of abuse.

Authorities launched a large-scale investigation. DNA testing confirmed that the remains belonged to Rory Hash. Her brutal murder and dismemberment shocked the entire community. But with no suspects and no other body parts found, the case stalled.

That is, until December 28, 2017.

A plumber working on clogged pipes at a basement apartment on McMillan Drive made a horrifying discovery. The unit belonged to 45-year-old Adam Strong, who had lived there for over a decade. The plumber found that the pipes were blocked not by trash, but by human flesh and organs. He immediately called the police.

When authorities arrived, they arrested Adam Strong and began searching the apartment. Inside his freezer, they found more human body parts—including a severed head with a tattoo on the neck that read “alive,” matching Rory’s tattoo. Blood found on a hammer also matched Rory’s DNA, and her clothes and shoes were discovered in the apartment.

Adam didn’t show any remorse. In fact, he bragged to officers that there were more body parts in his freezer. Police also found restraining devices, hunting knives, and a bomb—which had to be detonated by a bomb squad. The case took an even darker turn when forensic tests on the knife revealed DNA belonging to another missing girl: 19-year-old Candis Fitzpatrick, who had vanished in March 2008.

Though Candis had been missing for nearly a decade, her family never knew what happened to her—until now. However, without her body, police couldn’t fully confirm the case. After days of intense questioning, Adam eventually opened up. He didn’t directly admit to killing Rory and Candis but confessed to dismembering their bodies.

In November 2018, the murder case went to trial. Evidence pointed to Adam abducting Rory after she left the hospital alone. Despite his attempts to avoid trial, Adam Strong was eventually sentenced on March 16, 2021, to life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

But the mystery of Candis’s whereabouts remained—until Adam, while in prison, confided in a jail guard and revealed where he had buried her. He also admitted to flushing parts of Rory’s body down the toilet and throwing others into the lake.

Thanks to this information, authorities recovered Candis’s remains—over 10 years after she went missing. Both Rory and Candis were 18 when they were abducted, trying to turn their lives around after struggling with addiction. Though justice was served with Adam Strong rotting in prison, nothing can ever bring back the lives of these two innocent young women.