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

[Northern Rose]

Search for Stafford's remains resumes for sixth day
Katherine Laidlaw, Canwest News Service 
Published: Monday, May 25, 2009

WELLINGTON COUNTY, Ont. -- The search for the remains of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford continued Monday, as authorities entered their sixth day of looking for the slain Ontario girl.

Meanwhile, the two accused in the disappearance and murder of the little girl -- Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, -- are expected in court later this week to face charges.

Ms. McClintic has been assisting police with the search and has been in their custody by special order, but it was expiring Sunday evening unless police seek to extend this.

Early Monday, Const. Laurie Anne Maitland said she had no information about Ms. McClintic's involvement in the search and could not confirm whether she would be helping police.

"All I know is that the search is resuming today somewhere around Wellington County," she said.

Investigators appealed to the public Sunday to be on the lookout for a grey, cloth-covered seat from a suspect vehicle seized Friday.

The Oxford Community Police Service are asking everyone to check their properties for the grey cloth coloured seat and report it to police immediately. Const. Maitland would not say where the car was found.

Late Friday, Oxford police released an image of the vehicle believed to be "significant" to helping them find Victoria's remains.

Const. Maitland said they were appealing to anyone who may have seen a blue 2003 four-door Honda with black spray-paint over portions of it at the Home Depot store in Guelph, Ont., on April 8 -- the day Victoria was abducted.

Specifics of the search area are not being released but police have said they are looking for evidence in and around Wellington County, in proximity to the city of Guelph.

Guelph is about 80 kilometres northeast of Woodstock and approximately 100 kilometres west of Toronto.

Approximately 80 Ontario Provincial Police officers from several detachments and 25 Oxford Community police officers have been working on the case since Victoria's disappearance was deemed suspicious.

Victoria went missing April 8 and was last seen near her home in Woodstock, Ont., on a surveillance tape, willingly walking after school with an unknown woman in a white jacket.

Her disappearance wasn't classified by the Oxford police as suspicious until 10 days after she went missing, when they started to treat it as an abduction. The Amber alert system was never activated.

On Wednesday, Ms. McClintic was charged with abduction and accessory after the fact to murder. Mr. Rafferty faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of abduction. Both are set to appear in court Thursday.

Both were charged in Woodstock, following a 42-day search for the Grade 3 student.

According to court documents, it is believed the young girl was killed the same day she disappeared.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1627999

[Northern Rose]

Search to continue for Tori Stafford's body without the help of one charged in connection to her murder
The Canadian Press and 680News staff 2009-05-25 09:37

The 18-year-old charged as an accomplice to murder in the Tori Stafford case won't be helping police Monday in the search for the eight-year old's body.

That's because the judge's order allowing Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, to accompany police expired Sunday night.

After five days of searching fields in the Guelph area, there is still no sign of the third grader's body.

At this point, officers are also searching for the back seat of a blue 2003 Honda Civic that had been partially spray-painted black.

Police added  they consider the missing car seat a key piece of evidence.  They have urged anyone who finds it not to touch it, but to cover it and call police immediately.

The two suspects in Tori's abduction and death - McClintic, who has been charged as an accessory, and Michael Rafferty, 28, who has been charged with first-degree murder - are scheduled to appear in a  Woodstock court on Thursday.

Tori disappeared on April 8 after seen leaving her Woodstock school with a woman wearing a white puffy jacket.

http://www.680news.com/news/headlines/more.jsp?content=20090525_081012_724

[Northern Rose]

Dad not giving up hope as emotions run high

Mon, May 25, 2009

HOLDING ON: Rodney Stafford says he isn't ready to let go
Over the weekend, Rodney Stafford cleared his daughter Tori's bedroom of teddy bears given at vigils where thousands prayed for her safe return.

But while police tell him his precious eight-year-old is dead, her body still missing, Stafford can't bring himself to entirely clear his heart of hope.

"I don't want to believe she's dead," he said. "I don't want to do any sort of memorial (service)."

For six weeks, Stafford had been in the glare of national media, showing remarkable poise despite the pain evident in his voice and face.

But that composure turned to rage brought on by the kind act of a stranger who had posted a video on the Internet.

"It was a beautiful video," Stafford said. "There were pictures of Tori with the song Still Holding Out For You."

As he watched, a horrible thought emerged: "The next time I'm going to see my little girl, I'm going to see freakin' decayed body parts."

He burst into tears, ran from the house and started punching his fence.

"That's the first time I felt rage."

While Stafford isn't ready to let go of his daughter, he knows the tether that binds them in this world is fraying.

When police Thursday night asked for Tori's tooth as a source of DNA, he wondered if they'd found something in their search in and around Guelph.

"Do they have something already? I was wondering about that," he said. "If (police) have even one piece of information that Victoria has passed, please let me know so I can put this to rest."

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/05/25/9558851-sun.html

[Northern Rose]

CP 24

OPP has just started a search in Guelph Lake.  They are currently searching near the shore with their OPP boat with side scanning sonar capabilities. 

The back set HAS NOT been found

Ground search is continuing in a grid pattern

All residents within 1 hours drive are asked to check their properties and empty buildings.

[Northern Rose]

The Guelph Lake Conservation Area, operated by the Grand River Conservation Authority, comprises a 4,000-acre park, most of which is Guelph Lake, created in 1974 with the construction of a dam on the Speed River, a tributary of the Grand.

It offers two beaches, sailing, fishing and some 400 campsites, plus a concert area with a "living roof" on an island in the middle of the lake. There is also the Guelph Lake Nature Centre by the dam, at which area schoolchildren learn about nature and hydro power.

[no rose colored glasses]

Thank-you for the updates, I'm glad that Terri is not assisting today, she is of no help. I'm surprised someone has not found the backseat of the car by now.

[Tracygirl]

Her poor dad, what a terrible realization to have. I bet he has a lot of regrets, I feel bad for him.

Why can't they find this little girl's body? I kept waking up last night and thinking about this. T-L must have been completly high on drugs to now remember. 

[pink angel]

Her poor dad, what a terrible realization to have. I bet he has a lot of regrets, I feel bad for him.

Why can't they find this little girl's body? I kept waking up last night and thinking about this. T-L must have been completly high on drugs to now remember. 

She was in custody quite awhile before she started talking...could Rafferty have gotten nervous that she was in jail and might start talking that he moved Tori?


Just an FYI, they found a car seat:
Waterloo Regional Police are guarding a grey car seat they found in a pile of garbage in the River Road area of Kitchener.



http://www.570news.com/more.jsp?content=20090520_075231_6676

[no rose colored glasses]

I sure hope it is the car seat from the car.

[Mary]

Before I moved back to Toronto we lived at River Rd and Veronica. I doubt if this
is the car seat. It looks like it was put out as part of family garbage. Also the
Waterloo police are watching it and that is the western side of the city. Guelph is
just slightly east of Kitchener and a little north. There is miles and miles of farmland in that area. They have to get that low life SOB to talk. Unless a farmer
finds Tori, its a impossible task. JMO.

[canadianmonkey]

Before I moved back to Toronto we lived at River Rd and Veronica. I doubt if this
is the car seat. It looks like it was put out as part of family garbage. Also the
Waterloo police are watching it and that is the western side of the city. Guelph is
just slightly east of Kitchener and a little north. There is miles and miles of farmland in that area. They have to get that low life SOB to talk. Unless a farmer
finds Tori, its a impossible task. JMO.

I agree with you Mary.  Even with farmers on the lookout it could well be impossible.  When they hid Tori and the carseat there was no spring growth yet.  Since then all the weeds and grasses will have sprouted up covering everything and hiding all kinds of things you would never imagine.  I'm sure that's what they were counting on. 

[Northern Rose]

Stafford investigators inspect discarded car seat
Updated: Mon May. 25 2009 2:10:08 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

Police are testing a discarded grey rear car seat they found in Kitchener, Ont. for forensic evidence, to see if it is connected to the kidnapping and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford.

Investigators asked the public for help this weekend in locating the rear seat of a 2003 blue Honda Civic -- a vehicle they believe is part of their investigation.

Authorities have yet to confirm the seat they found in Kitchener is the one they have been looking for.

The vehicle, which is blue and partially covered by black spray paint, was spotted in a Guelph, Ont. Home Depot parking lot hours after Victoria went missing from her hometown of Woodstock on April 8.

Police had previously asked the public to come forward if they remembered seeing the vehicle that same day.

Investigators ask that it not be touched, so that it can be preserved in its existing state for use in the investigation.

"It could have some forensic value, there could be some trace evidence on it," Bruce Smollet, a retired staff inspector from the Toronto Sex Crimes Unit, told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.

"If the back seat was taken out prior to Tori being taken it certainly shows some pre-planning."

Lake search

Meanwhile police looking for the missing girl's body have called in a dive team to help search lakes in Guelph and Fergus, Ont.

The OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit arrived in Fergus, about an hour-and-a-half northwest of Toronto, early Monday and searched part of the Belwood Lake.

The dive team also went to Guelph Lake for a search.

Three police officers were seen heading out into the murky man-made lake on a small boat with a torpedo-like device called a side-scan sonar.

This device takes an acoustic image of what is underwater and projects it on a computer screen. If police see anything unusual, divers are then instructed to inspect the area.

The search of the lake is not based on any new investigative tips but rather is a sign that investigators are being thorough in their search, a police source told CTV News.

Last week, police charged Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, with kidnapping and murder.

Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, faces charges of kidnapping and being an accessory to murder after the fact.

For the last five days, McClintic has been helping the Ontario Provincial Police find Tori's body in a search radius that covers the span of a 50-minute drive from Guelph, Ont.

The court order allowing McClintic to aid police in the search expired Sunday night.

McClintic's lawyer, Jeanine Roy, said in an email to The Canadian Press that her client is now at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre in London, Ont.

Roy said she did not expect McClintic to have any "direct participation in the search."

Rafferty and McClintic are due to appear in court Thursday.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090525/stafford_search_090525/20090525?hub=Toronto

[Northern Rose]

I am not a car person so could absolutely be wrong here.  I do not think that seat is the same as one that came out of a 2003 Honda.  If you look at the picture comparison I did you will see that the kind of car MF drove, the back seat is molded at the edges (it wraps around) while the seat in the article is flat.  The flat seat looks like something out of an older vehicle even a truck maybe.  A molded seat would not flatten our like that.  I have put around where I mean it wraps around vs the flat seat.

[Kat_Gram]

http://cancrime.com/2009/05/accused-child-killer-left-trail-online.html

Pictures, etc most of it, we have seen, but some of it no.

[Northern Rose]

Thanks Kat.  This family needs closure. It is unimaginable to have a missing child, but to have a child that police are saying has been murdered and not being able to put her to rest must be excruciating.  I really hope they are getting help for Daryn.

[Northern Rose]

Potential Tori Lead Found in Kitchener
Police are testing a discarded grey rear car seat they found in Kitchener for forensic evidence, to see if it is connected to the kidnapping and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford.

Investigators asked the public for help this weekend in locating the rear seat of a 2003 blue Honda Civic -- a vehicle they believe is part of their investigation.

Authorities have yet to confirm the seat they found in Kitchener is the one they have been looking for.

Police looking for Tori's body have called in a dive team to help search lakes in Guelph and Fergus.

The OPP Underwater Search and Recovery Unit arrived in Fergus, about an hour-and-a-half northwest of Toronto, early Monday and searched part of the Belwood Lake.

The dive team also went to Guelph Lake for a search.

Last week, police charged Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, with kidnapping and murder. Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, faces charges of kidnapping and being an accessory to murder after the fact.

For the last five days, McClintic has been helping OPP look for Tori's body in a search radius that covers the span of a 50-minute drive from Guelph. The court order allowing McClintic to aid police in the search expired Sunday night.
http://www.am980.ca/home/News/GeneralNewsDetail/tabid/967/Default.aspx?id=8054

[Northern Rose]

Divers being brought in

[no rose colored glasses]

Thanks Kat.  This family needs closure. It is unimaginable to have a missing child, but to have a child that police are saying has been murdered and not being able to put her to rest must be excruciating.  I really hope they are getting help for Daryn.

Yes, thanks Kat, and I don't think that is the car seat either.

[Northern Rose]

Thanks Kat.  This family needs closure. It is unimaginable to have a missing child, but to have a child that police are saying has been murdered and not being able to put her to rest must be excruciating.  I really hope they are getting help for Daryn.

Yes, thanks Kat, and I don't think that is the car seat either.

No Rose , when I heard that OPP was bringing in the boat with side sonar today I immediately thought Where TH were G&G with their bass boat?  Oh wait...they are probably getting it ready to shoot off fireworks rather than offering to help.  Don't really want them on our side of the border either.

[no rose colored glasses]

Thanks Kat.  This family needs closure. It is unimaginable to have a missing child, but to have a child that police are saying has been murdered and not being able to put her to rest must be excruciating.  I really hope they are getting help for Daryn.

Yes, thanks Kat, and I don't think that is the car seat either.

No Rose , when I heard that OPP was bringing in the boat with side sonar today I immediately thought Where TH were G&G with their bass boat?  Oh wait...they are probably getting it ready to shoot off fireworks rather than offering to help.  Don't really want them on our side of the border either.

I don't blame you for not wanting them in your country  Nice day to go fishing, I'm sure that's what they are doing