8 Year Old Victoria “Tori” Stafford Missing Since 4/8/09 in Ontario, Canada

[Northern Rose]

Defence paints Michael Rafferty as innocent dupe

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Court heard today that when she was a child McClintic microwaved a dog until it screamed.

The jury also heard that McClintic told her godmother, who visited her in prison this year, that the only thing that bothered her about Tori's murder was that she was a little kid, otherwise she could do it again.

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120323/mcclintic-taking-stand-again-in-tori-stafford-murder-trial-120323/20120323/?hub=OttawaHome

[Northern Rose]

Cross Examination Ends for McClintic at Rafferty Trial

http://www.cjbk.com/LocalNews/Story.aspx?ID=1675224

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford trial: Drug dealer expected to testify


LONDON, Ont. — The trial of a man charged in the murder of Victoria (Tori) Stafford will resume Tuesday with a witness who is expected to testify she sold him drugs the night the eight-year-old girl disappeared.


According to the Crown, Michael Rafferty and his girlfriend, Terri-Lynne McClintic, stopped at a house in Guelph, Ont., to purchase a bag of Percocet pills on April 8, 2009.

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http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Tori+Stafford+trial+Drug+dealer+expected+testify/6365316/story.html

[Northern Rose]

 McClintic’s warning signs ignored   

Hindsight is 20/20. But we can only have hindsight if we turn around to look.

Examining the past of convicted child murderer Terri-Lynne McClintic takes us to dark, disturbing places.

It would appear that in the past, our courts were disinclined to worry about whether this violent person they had in their grasp was a danger to the public. Back when they had a chance.

Instead, as courts often do, they looked to the near future and released an ostensibly “reformed” monster upon the innocent and unsuspecting.

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http://www.torontosun.com/2012/03/26/mcclintics-warning-signs-ignored

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty trial shifts focus

LONDON, Ont. — The first-degree murder trial of Michael Rafferty, 31, is set to resume Tuesday, with the Crown's case expected to focus on the events in Guelph, Ont., the day Tori Stafford, 8, was abducted and killed

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http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/national/2012/03/27/19554501.html

[Northern Rose]

Woman who briefly dated Rafferty says she sold him drugs the night Tori Stafford disappeared

LONDON, Ont. — A woman who briefly dated and worked with Michael Rafferty testified Tuesday at his first degree murder trial that she sold him drugs the night eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford disappeared.

Barbara Armstrong, 44, told a courtroom she gave Rafferty — who has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm in connection with Stafford’s death — a ziplock bag of Percocet pills when he showed up at her house in Guelph, Ont., on April 8, 2009.

Armstrong considered Rafferty, 31, a “confidante” and sold him pills a few times a month for more than a year. The two had met as co-workers at a meat packing plant in late 2008.

That day, he came inside her house and chatted with her for 10 minutes before leaving. She couldn’t recall him acting out of the ordinary. “I could pretty much tell him everything,” said Armstrong. “It was pretty much girl talk.”

She also told the court she saw a brown-haired woman, now believed to be Terri-Lynne McClintic, waiting for Rafferty in the car during that visit. McClintic, 21, pleaded guilty two years ago to first-degree murder in Stafford’s death and is serving a life sentence.

Armstrong testified she sold Rafferty more painkillers a few days later and met with him on a dozen more occasions until his arrest on May 19, 2009.

“He was looking haggard. He had a cold sore. He gets cold sores when he’s super stressed,” she said of their first meeting following Stafford’s abduction. “He said that he hadn’t been eating. He hadn’t been sleeping. He was so stressed out, so many things going on in his life.”

She also recalled Rafferty telling her about the girl’s disappearance, how he thought it was drug-related and that “he was going to look for her” that following weekend.

Rafferty also told her about how police had arrested the woman who was with him on April 8 as a suspect in the case.

“He said they (the police) were waking her up in the middle of the night. They were screaming and yelling at her and spitting in her face,” Armstrong said.”They thought she had taken her (Stafford).”

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http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/tori-stafford-trial-resumes-with-witness-expected-to-say-she-sold-drugs-to-rafferty/

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty bought drugs an hour after Tori Stafford's abduction, jury hears

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rafferty-bought-painkillers-an-hour-after-tori-staffords-abduction-jury-hears/article2382899/

[Northern Rose]

Accused Stafford killer had several Guelph ties, jury hears at his trial

LONDON, ONT. — The man accused of killing eight-year-old Victoria Stafford looked "haggard" and seemed stressed out in the days after her death, court heard Tuesday.

Michael Rafferty visited ex-girlfriend Barbara Armstrong, 44, who kept him illegally supplied with percocet pills, a few days after Tori's disappearance on April 8, 2009, and he didn't seem like himself, she testified.

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http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/694540--accused-stafford-killer-had-several-guelph-ties-jury-hears-at-his-trial

[Northern Rose]

Stafford murder trial: Former girlfriend called Rafferty ‘chatty’ as she sold him Percocets

http://www.londoncommunitynews.com/2012/03/stafford-murder-trial-former-girlfriend-called-rafferty-chatty-as-she-sold-him-percoets/

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty claimed he was going to help look for Tori
Accused killer told drug dealer Percocet pills were for his mother

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/27/stafford-rafferty-trial-tuesday.html

[cartfly]

 

 
 
Tori Stafford trial: Woman found killer's shoes on side road
 
 
By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News March 28, 2012
 

LONDON, Ont. — It was by chance that a woman taking her usual after-dinner walk three years ago found a pair of shoes that had been tossed by convicted killer Terri-Lynne McClintic, jurors hearing the case of a man accused in the 2009 murder of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford were told Wednesday.

Lillian Metcalfe testified she thought it was unusual to find a pair of blue and white basketball shoes, along with a single shoe, during an evening walk on Side Road 6, just north of Guelph, Ont., in late April or early May that year.

Michael Rafferty, 31, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm in the death of the southern Ontario child.

McClintic, 21, pleaded guilty two years ago to first-degree murder in the Grade 3 student's death and is serving a life sentence.


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She ended up throwing away the single shoe but decided to soak the pair of basketball shoes so she eventually could donate them.

"They seemed to be in fairly decent shape," said Metcalfe. "I thought if I cleaned them up and took them to Goodwill, somebody could get a decent pair of shoes."

But before that happened, Metcalfe said she handed the shoes over to police who were canvassing the side road on May 30, that year.

At the time, she had been aware of media reports about the investigation and also had alerted them to seeing a car back seat on the side road that had since been removed. The back seat of Rafferty's car was missing by the time police seized his vehicle. It's unclear if it was ever located.

The court heard again from OPP identification Const. Gary Scoyne Wednesday, who said the shoes were of particular interest to police because of how the laces had been tied.

Earlier this month, McClintic testified that she and Rafferty drove on Side Road 6 following Stafford's murder so they could throw out her shoes.

She also told the court that she often tied her shoes in a curly-type of fashion and hid her laces behind the tongue, which was how the basketball shoes were found. Police later found another pair of shoes in McClintic's Woodstock home with the same type of laces.

McClintic told the court she had gained the girl's trust with the promise of showing her a puppy and then shoved the child into Rafferty's car.

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When Rafferty parked in a rural field in Mount Forest, Ont., she alleges he repeatedly raped the girl, which McClintic said sent her into a murderous rage due to her own childhood molestation.

She told the court she killed Stafford with the hammer and that the two buried the girl's body in a rock pile.

That testimony contradicted what she had told the police following her arrest — that it was Rafferty who wielded the hammer.

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http://www.theprovince.com/news/Tori+Stafford+trial+evidence+expected+about+area+where+body+located/6372140/story.html 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/03/30/stafford-rafferty-trial.html
Tori Stafford investigator describes finding girl's body
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details
March 30, 2012

Photos at Link

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty jury sees where Tori's body found

Members of the jury in the Tori Stafford murder trial are out of the courtroom today to visit the site where the body of the eight year old Woodstock girl was discovered.

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http://chch.com/index.php/home/item/7546-rafferty-jury-sees-where-toris-body-found

[Northern Rose]

Jurors in Rafferty trial visit scene where Tori Stafford's remains were found


LONDON, Ont. - Jurors in the case of a man accused of first-degree murder in the death of Victoria Stafford have finished getting a first-hand look at the farmer's field where the eight-year-old was killed.

They were at the scene today southeast of Mount Forest, Ont., where the judge said he hoped the jurors would get a better understanding of the evidence.

Members of the media are being allowed to view the area now that the jury has left.

On Friday, the panel saw video and photos of where Tori's remains were found in July 2009, wrapped in a garbage bag and buried under a pile of rocks in a farmer's field.

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http://www.660news.com/news/national/article/347317--jurors-in-rafferty-trial-at-scene-where-tori-stafford-s-remains-were-found

[Northern Rose]

Judge warns Stafford jurors ahead of autopsy photos

LONDON, Ont. — The trial of a man accused of killing Victoria Stafford has been warned that the evidence today will be the worst to date.

Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist, will testify about the autopsy he performed on the eight-year-old girl.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney warned jurors that Pollanen's photographic evidence will be disturbing, but said they must decide the case without emotion.

Heeney said the evidence "cannot help but tug at your heartstrings" but warned jurors against allowing their emotions to cloud their judgment.

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http://edmonton.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120403/stafford-judge-jury-autopsy-photos-120403/20120403/?hub=EdmontonHome

[Northern Rose]

Blatchford: Jury's tour of murder site seems to show killer was telling the truth


MOUNT FOREST, Ont. — Just about the only features Terri-Lynne McClintic didn't tell police about in this almost garishly bucolic place where Victoria (Tori) Stafford died were the decorative bridge, small silver-bladed windmill and that curious statue of a be-hatted black farm worker seated by a pond.


Otherwise, McClintic's descriptions — and the crude but detailed maps she drew to illustrate them — of the area where the sunny eight-year-old was killed on April 8, 2009 were uncannily accurate

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http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Blatchford+Jury+tour+murder+site+seems+show+killer+telling+truth/6399845/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford trial: Graphic evidence expected at murder trial


LONDON, Ont. — Ontario Superior Justice Thomas Heeney on Tuesday warned the jury at the murder trial of Michael Rafferty that upcoming pathology evidence will be the "worst" they will see in this trial.


Dr. Michael Pollanen, the chief Forensic Pathologist for Ontario, who examined Victoria (Tori) Stafford's remains after they were found, is expected to testify Tuesday.


Rafferty, 31, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm in the young girl's death.

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http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Tori+Stafford+trial+Graphic+evidence+expected+murder+trial/6402840/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Autopsy Photos Will be Shown at Rafferty Trial

The Michael Rafferty trial moves back into the courtroom today with more graphic testimony as the Crown continues it's prosecution.

Newstalk 1290's Mark Carcasole is at the courthouse and says the farmer that owns the property where Tori Stafford's body was found in July 2009 testified today.

He says he used the laneway off where the little girl's body was discovered, very rarely, but that month when the incident allegedly happened there, he noticed car tracks on the laneway and thought it was odd because it was so slushy.

He then heard about the missing girl's investigation after that.

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http://www.cjbk.com/LocalNews/Story.aspx?ID=1680778

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford trial: Jurors visit site where missing Ont. girl's body found

MOUNT FOREST, Ont. — The secluded field where the remains of missing Ontario schoolgirl Victoria (Tori) Stafford were discovered can only be found near a long rural laneway that goes up a hill to a clearing dotted by trees and anchored by a large rock pile.

Buried in this rock pile, next to an evergreen tree, is where a lone police detective found the eight-year-old girl's beaten body in green garbage bags in July 2009.

On Monday, jurors in the trial of a man charged with killing the Grade 3 student were given the opportunity to take a first-hand look at the farmer's field on a concession road just southeast of Mount Forest, Ont.

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The 12 jury members were dropped off a coach bus and given guidebooks indicating markers of significant points of interests, so they could each make the journey on their own.

Each juror walked up a hilly 300-metre laneway, passing by a small stream to the clearing where investigators had found the decomposing remains following an exhaustive three-month search.

The Crown alleges that Tori was killed the same day she was abducted. At that time, the site would've greatly contrasted with what jurors saw. There would've been a light dusting of snow on the ground. Monday, the field was dry and the trees were green.

What was clear though, was that cars going by on the concession road were barely audible from the field. A number of silos also could seen across the vast rural area.

Jurors spent about 30 minutes at the scene viewing each landmark, which were labelled with foot-long yellow markers with the letters A-H.

The court had instructed the jury to remain silent during the visit and restricted communication on the bus during the 2-1/2-hour road trip.

Rafferty was taken to the scene Monday but remained in a parked police vehicle. His lawyers, the Crown and Ontario Superior Justice Thomas Heeney also were present.

The little girl's family members also made the trip to see what the jurors were going to see.

A number of blockades were set up along the roads next to the property, restricting public access during the viewing. Accredited members of the media were allowed to visit the site after the jurors had left.

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http://www.theprovince.com/news/Tori+Stafford+trial+Jurors+visit+site+where+missing+girl+body+found/6396867/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Photos: The site where Tori Stafford’s body was found

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/photos-the-site-where-tori-staffords-body-was-found/article2390274/