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

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford: Remains ID'd; investigation continues

Tue, July 21, 2009
By PATRICK MALONEY
THE LONDON FREE PRESS
 


WOODSTOCK — It may still be several weeks before the body of Victoria (Tori) Stafford is returned to her loved ones.

Investigators confirmed Tuesday that remains found Sunday near Mount Forest are those of the Woodstock girl who disappeared April 8, but further forensic tests could delay a formal funeral by as much as a month, the Stafford family says.

“They (police) said it could be some time yet,” said Doreen Graichen, Tori’s paternal grandmother. “It could be from a week to a month. They were very general.

“There are some ways it’s a relief, because now we know where she is, but it’s not what we wanted to happen. I just feel kind of numb.”

Stafford’s family, aware of the discovery in rural Wellington County on Sunday, was told Monday night the remains were Tori’s, dental records having been used for confirmation.

On Tuesday, Rodney Stafford said his daughter’s funeral will be private, a public memorial already held June 6. He, too, expressed some relief amid the sadness.

“With the positive identity (done), we know where she is and we’ll be able to bring her home and lay her to rest,” Stafford said.

Tara McDonald, Tori’s mother, grieved privately, addressing reporters at her home through a hand-written note taped to the front door.

“Give us peace and time to process everything that is happening,” it read. “I will contact the media if I wish to speak to anyone.”

Though it’s been nearly two months since two Woodstock residents, Michael Thomas Rafferty and Terri-Lynne McClintic, were charged with kidnapping and killing Tori, her family admitted a glimmer of hope remained she might still have been found alive.

Sunday’s recovery — made by veteran OPP Det-Sgt. Jim Smyth, who found the remains after he turned down a rural lane near Mount Forest on a hunch — has removed any doubt.

The case’s lead investigator was relieved to have the uncertainty over.

“We’re just very thankful we now have this closure and we can bring Tori home,” OPP Det.-Insp. Bill Renton said Tuesday. “We’re all parents, we all have nieces and nephews. A case of this type is extremely difficult.”

Renton had praise for the Centre of Forensic Sciences team conducting tests on the remains and Smyth, a 21-year OPP veteran. He wasn’t a member of the emergency response team that searched field and ditches, but a detective whose “job is to do interviews,” said Wellington OPP Const. Mark Cloes.

Smyth was driving along the Sixth Concession of Arthur Township when he saw an area similar to what police were seeking — “with the house close to the road and field access opposite the home,” Cloes said — and turned down a laneway.

“He was just a detective driving up the road and said 'geez, that’s looks good, let’s take a look in there.’”

Calls requesting an interview with Smyth were not returned, though he has told Sun Media “something clicked” when he saw the rural setting.

Investigators were back at the scene Tuesday, searching for more evidence, Renton said. He declined to discuss what led investigators to that area but said McClintic, the 18-year-old accused who had joined police on earlier searches, hasn’t been out of custody in some time.

Investigators don’t expect anyone else to be charged.

The investigation continues. A tip line dedicated to the case — 1-866-825-4222 — will remain active and police are still looking for a car’s rear seat that’s believed to be connected to the crime, Renton said.

Rod Freeman, the new chief of the Oxford Community Police, said he expects Woodstock to begin a “long healing process” following the discovery.

“Certainly, we hope that returning Victoria to our community and to her family will bring some sense of relief to Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford and all the family,” he said.

Stafford, who Tuesday described the past three months as “a living hell,” expressed similar hopes as he pushes ahead with plans for a cross-country bike ride in support of Child Find Ontario, a charity that helps search for missing children.

“Everybody’s got to continue moving on, we have to,” he said. “You can’t just stop.”

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/07/21/10212786.html

[Northern Rose]

Sister of Murdered Calgary Girl Feels "Sorry" for Reginans
Worries Killer Might Reoffend
 
Story Tools
ShareThisReported By Geoff Smith
Posted July 21, 2009 - 5:23pm
The sister of a murdered five-year-old whose killer is now being given unescorted absences in Regina is calling on Parliament to protect Canadians. CJME's Geoff Smith reports.

"You can't keep letting people like this out to hurt people," said Tina, sister of Kimberley Thompson. Kimberley was murdered in Calgary by Harold Smeltzer, who confessed to raping forty women and children.

Smeltzer is now at a Regina halfway house, and is allowed unescorted passes.

"I feel sorry for people who live in Regina, because pedophiles can't be rehabilitated," sister Tina told CJME's Charles Adler.

"He runs the risk of hurting somebody else's family."

Tina says she feels for the family of Tori Stafford, the missing Ontario girl whose remains are confirmed to have been found. Two people are charged with her murder.

http://www.newstalk650.com/story/20090721/19796

Yup, our system is royally screwed up

[Northern Rose]

'Sadly, there is evil in society'

Hopes his sad find finally will give Tori and her family some peace

By JOE WARMINGTON

The Toronto Sun

"It's an unfortunate situation but hopefully it will bring some relief to her family."

-- OPP Det.-Sgt. Jim Smyth

The veteran cop just went for a drive to take a look at an area near Mount Forest, an area the task force looking for Tori Stafford's remains intended on searching.

"It was an area we had not been to yet," says Smyth, a 40-year-old, 21-year veteran cop. "I was just scouting it out."

Then something stuck out to him.

"You could say something clicked," he says.

The information focusing on the area came in as a tip, and other leads including helicopter searches with murder suspect Terri-Lynne McClintic.

Smyth got out of his car and followed his lead.

"I started to notice items relevant to the case," Smyth says.

Then he found the remains.

"I was startled," he told the Sun.

But he was also glad the search appears to be over and that if forensic tests confirm it's Tori, she can finally rest in peace.

"He is like all of the police officers on this case who worked extra hard and never left any stone unturned," says OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino.

It was "tenacity, determination and intelligent police work" that led Smyth to the remains, Fantino says.

Smyth started his career with York Regional Police in 1988 and joined the OPP in 1997. He's been a major crime detective and also worked in the child and sexual abuse units.

Since 2007, Smyth has been in the Polygraph Unit, Behavioural Sciences and Analysis Services and was brought in to assist Oxford Community Police.

He told CP 24's Sue Sgambati "a lot of investigators on this case have been taking back roads to work" and had followed "hundreds of hunches" that never led to anything.

This time it did.

From a technical point of view, Fantino says finding her body "closes the loop in the investigation," helpful for police bringing murder charges to a jury.

But from a "human point of view," he says the discovery revolves around "allowing her family some closure."

Smyth, a father of two, told me he noticed every cop or citizen who tried to find Tori feels the same way.

"There are a lot of parents on this team and I don't think there's anybody who didn't feel for Tori," he says.

Fantino says the "outstanding" Smyth and all of the "fantastic" cops involved in the search continued doing just that all day yesterday -- searching for clues and anything that will help gain a conviction in the pending kidnapping and first-degree murder trials of Michael Rafferty, 28, and McClintic, 19.

"Sadly, there is evil in society who stalk and target vulnerable children," says Fantino.

And because of that evil, there will be no more birthdays, no graduation from high school, university, boyfriends, engagement, marriage, children or achievements for Tori or her family to look forward to.

The best this world will be able to do for her, and her family, is to allow the dignity of a proper funeral.

But Tori does leave behind a legacy, which could save other children.

One is the Amber Alert system now under review by the province with a view to altering the criteria allowing it to be utilized based on a belief a child has been abducted and not just tangible evidence as is currently the case.

Another adjustment could be the creation of a provincial flying-squad or task force available to assist smaller police services seeking a missing child. Third, maybe nothing more than a reminder for people to keep an open mind and not narrow the hunt down to one specific theory or suspect.

The search for Tori is most likely over but the pursuit for an explanation of how something could ever happen to a child continues.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Features/2009/07/21/10210891-sun.html

[Nut44x4]

A dignified farewell
Posted By Gregg McLachlan
Posted 2 hours ago
 

It was a heart-tugging image that will stay in many minds for a very long time: OPP officers standing at attention, saluting a hearse as it carried the remains of Victoria Stafford from a farmer's field on Monday.

It's certainly not a regular protocol that is performed by police at crime scenes as bodies are removed.

But there they were Monday, two police officers, one old, one young, paying the utmost respect.

It was a deeply personal moment for police, symbolic of countless hours spent on this case. For many, officers, the day marked the end of more than three months of an experience most had never endured before: the disappearance of a young child, and the burden of not being able to find her.

After all those searches of ditches, fields, roadsides and landfills, the mission had been accomplished.

Ontario hasn't seen many cases like eight-year-old Tori Stafford's disappearance and murder in recent years. Or to be more specific, cases where an eight- or nine-year-old murdered child's remains are missing for many months. In fact, you'd have to go back several years. In late 2003, Cecilia Zhang, 9, was abducted from her Toronto home and murdered; her remains were not found for five months (the killer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder).

Ontario's two other recent cases involving girls in similar age to Tori have not been solved: Nicole Morin, 8, disappeared from Toronto apartment in 1985 and has never been seen again; Christine Jessop, 9, vanished from her Queensville home in 1984. Her body was found three months later.

The obvious difference in the Stafford case is two people - a man and woman - who stand accused of her abduction and murder.

That instantly draws comparisons to another famous Ontario case - Homolka and Bernardo - that to this day is scrutinized for the way it was handled by police forces not sharing information and for its plea bargains.

Make no mistake about this case involving Tori Stafford - the Oxford Community Police Service and the OPP are making a very public statement for a little girl whose life was cut short.

"This is a very tragic event, no doubt," OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said Tuesday, "but the end result is gratifying from the point of view of what we can put before the courts and see justice is done."

Acting Oxford Community Police Service Chief Rod Freeman added: "The discovery of Tori's remains ... have brought us a little bit closer to closure."

From saluting the hearse, to protecting the integrity of this investigation (anonymous leaks from 'police sources' have been nil), police are making a statement about this investigation.

They deeply care about a child they never met.

http://woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1667332

[Northern Rose]

Tori's dad remembers his 'beautiful' child
 
 
Canwest News ServiceJuly 22, 2009 8:01 AM

Victoria Stafford's father, Rodney, said Wednesday he can't understand why his daughter had to die, but that he hopes she will be remembered as the happy, eight-year-old girl she was.


"Over the past three months, everybody has come to learn who Victoria was," he told CTV news Wednesday. "She was a beautiful little girl, sweet and innocent. Just taken way too early."


Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Tuesday that human remains found in a secluded country field over the weekend have been "positively identified" as those of third-grader Victoria (Tori) Stafford, who disappeared on April 8.


The Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto used dental records to make the identification late Monday. Police say the forensic examination of the findings, described as "consistent" with how remains would appear if they were left out in the elements for a number of weeks, was ongoing.


Tori's Aunt, Rebecca Stafford, who lives in Alberta, told CTV she can finally stop looking in the back seat of every car, now that her neice's body has been found. "(Tori) could have been anywhere, coast-to-coast," she said.


The family held a memorial for the little girl on June 6 in her hometown of Woodstock, Ont., before her body was found. Rodney Stafford said that helped to prepare his 11-year-old son, Daryn, for the inevitable outcome.


The family intends to hold a private funeral for the child, but no date will be set until the forensic examination is complete and her body is returned to Woodstock, which could take weeks.


The girl's mother, Tara McDonald, has not yet spoken to the media, saying in a note she posted on her front door that she is too distraught to address the public.


Police said Tuesday they will not reveal how the girl died, citing it as evidence that will be presented in court.


Oxford community police Chief Rod Freeman said at a news conference Tuesday that police will now be able to concentrate on preparing the court cases of the two people charged in her slaying.


On May 20, more than a month after the girl disappeared, Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28 were charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.


Both lived just blocks away from the girl's family in Woodstock. McClintic is expected to appear in court via video on Aug. 12, according to her lawyer. Each is being tried separately.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Tori+remembers+beautiful+child/1815832/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Family was prepared for the worst, says Tori's dad
Updated Wed. Jul. 22 2009 9:04 AM ET

ctvtoronto.ca

The father of slain Woodstock, Ont. girl Victoria Stafford said his family was prepared for the worst when they were told by police that they had located his daughter's remains. But he continues to struggle with the question of how something so horrible could happen to someone as innocent as his little girl.

Rodney Stafford told CTV's Canada AM on Wednesday that the news was "definitely something you don't want to hear" but that his family had feared the worst from the moment Victoria was kidnapped in April.

Police found the eight-year-old girl's body Sunday afternoon but didn't confirm the remains were those of Victoria until Tuesday.

Victoria, also known by her nickname "Tori", was last seen alive on April 8, walking away from her school with an unidentified woman. The child and the woman were captured on a security camera near her school.

Stafford said his son, 11-year-old Darren, is "not doing too bad" since finding out about his sister's murder.

He said Darren had been prepared from the moment police arrested two suspects in connection with the case back in June and charged them with first-degree murder.

Stafford said a public memorial, also held in June, gave Darren a chance to mourn his little sister.

"He's coming to grips with it a lot better than if he had just found that out," he said. "The memorial helped prepare him for the outcome."

At the memorial, Darren gave a speech about his sister, saying he understands that Victoria is gone, even though he waited day after day for her safe return. He broke down in tears after saying, "I love you Tori."

The Stafford family will never stop asking themselves why this happened to them, Victoria's father said Wednesday.

"I've been struggling with that since Victoria disappeared," he said. "I've never been able to understand that. Why someone so innocent? Why my baby?

"She was a beautiful little girl who was sweet and innocent," he said. "She was taken way too early."

Two suspects, 28-year-old Michael Rafferty and 18-year-old Terri-Lynne McLintic, have been charged with first degree murder and kidnapping. They are currently in police custody.

 
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090722/stafford_family_090722/20090722?hub=Canada

[Northern Rose]

Interview with Tori's dad Rodney and Aunt Rebecca on right.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090722/stafford_family_090722/20090722?hub=Toronto

[Tracygirl]

Thanks for posting all of the news articles. This story is just so sad....the image of Tori walking away with the woman...the anger I feel is overwhelming. I hope the 2 are put away for the rest of their lives, never to know a day of peace.

[Northern Rose]

Trial the place for McClintic
Lee Prokaska
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 23, 2009)

It is too easy to call it a deal with the devil, part two.

Terri-Lynne McClintic, charged in the Tori Stafford killing, is not Karla Homolka.

But it is understandable anger and horror are among the initial reactions to the idea of a plea bargain for McClintic, who faces charges of kidnapping and first-degree murder in connection with the little girl's disappearance and death.

That sense of horror is particularly palpable in our area, where Paul Bernardo and Homolka so traumatized families and communities.

But this is not the Karla Homolka deal revisited. It's not even a deal at this point. And lawyer Jeanine E. LeRoy is simply doing her job in raising the possibility of a plea bargain for Terri-Lynne McClintic, one of two people charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder in the Stafford case.

Stafford's remains were discovered Sunday near Mount Forest. The little girl disappeared from her hometown of Woodstock in April.

LeRoy wants a plea bargain for McClintic because her client assisted police in their investigation. The lawyer points out plea bargaining is done in "almost each and every case that comes before the criminal court. It is a normal, regular and appropriate occurrence."

Grudgingly, we understand the practice of plea bargaining injects an expediency into justice that permits the system to keep working. It is by no means the optimal solution to every criminal case. It is clear, though, that without plea bargains -- particularly for relatively minor charges -- our court system would grind to a halt fairly quickly. It is also clear the practice of plea bargaining is open to error and abuse; the justice system must monitor the practice closely.

It's important to remember a judge is not obligated to accept a plea that has been negotiated and agreed upon by Crown and defence counsel. A judge has the authority to refuse a guilty plea to a lesser charge. A judge also has the authority to accept the guilty plea, but reject the negotiated sentence and impose a sentence of his or her own determination. A plea bargain is not automatically carved in stone.

It's also important to remember the circumstances surrounding any plea bargain are unique and particular. The Homolka deal was ostensibly acceptable because prosecutors were worried there was not enough evidence to convict Bernardo without Homolka's help. Incriminating video tapes emerged only after the deal and that is what turned a plea bargain into a deal with the devil.

We don't know the extent or the usefulness of the assistance McClintic provided to police. We don't know the extent of her alleged involvement in the crime. We don't know what other evidence police have against co-accused Michael Rafferty.

We do know the painful Stafford story has made us angry and fearful for the safety of our own children. The crime is abhorrent. The perpetrators must be punished.

In any criminal case, it is appropriate for defence counsel to look for a plea bargain. In this case, it is not appropriate for such a deal to be made. McClintic's lawyer should make her case in a public court before a judge and jury and let the justice system take its course.

http://www.thespec.com/Opinions/article/605062

[Northern Rose]

Woman accused of killing Tori deserves no deal


We can’t stomach another Deal with the Devil.

Tori Stafford deserves more than that.

It shouldn’t matter one damn bit that Terri-Lynne McClintic — accused of kidnapping and murdering the eight-year-old Woodstock girl — helped police find Tori’s tiny decomposed body. It shouldn’t matter how strong her testimony could be against her co-accused boyfriend, Michael Rafferty. Or that she is, quite likely, the first female accomplice in Canada to be charged with first-degree murder.

And it shouldn’t matter that McClintic is only 18 or that she has had a rough life or might feel remorse.

The suggestion being put forth by McClintic’s lawyer that her client ought to have her very own sweetheart deal because she assisted police is astonishing.

In an interview with AM 640 Radio Tuesday — the very day police confirmed the remains found in a farm field were that of Tori — lawyer Jeannine LeRoy said she would like a plea bargain because it is done in “almost each and every case that comes before the criminal court. It is a normal, regular and appropriate occurrence.”

Normal and regular? Unfortunately true.

But appropriate?

Last time there was a Deal with the Devil, the devil clearly got the better end of the deal.

It has been 16 years since Karla Homolka convinced us — or more accurately our attorney general — that she was the lesser of two evils. That she was our only hope of putting the really sick and dangerous guy — her husband Paul Bernardo — away.

So the deal was done. Accused kidnapper and killer and rapist Karla Homolka traded testimony against her partner in crime for a deal so sweet it was sickening: two manslaughter convictions and a 12-year sentence.

And then the truth came out.

Karla was much more than a bystander. Far more than a pawn. The videotapes found after her deal were shocking proof of that. But by the time that evidence was discovered, the deal was signed. Sealed. Irreversible.

Later, both the judge on Bernardo’s appeal and Justice Archie Campbell, who led a public inquiry into the poorly run police investigation and case, concluded Homolka would have been convicted of two counts of first degree murder if the videotapes had been found and disclosed before the deal was struck.

Thanks to that deal — a deal so wicked it has come to be known as The Deal with the Devil — Homolka has her whole life ahead of her. She has been out of prison for four years. Is remarried. Lived in the West Indies and is rumoured to now live in Paris. Has a child.

While schoolgirls Tammy Homolka and Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French are still dead.

Tori was on her way home from school April 8 when she vanished. A grainy video shows a woman in a white puffy coat — presumably McClintic — leading her away.

Police have said Tori was probably killed that same day.

Her body lay in a field for three and a half months before being found on Sunday. It took a forensic dentist to confirm her identity.

On May 20, McClintic and Rafferty were arrested. McClintic was charged with being an accessory to murder and abduction. Eight days later, her charges were upgraded to first degree murder and kidnapping with the intent of unlawful confinement. Rafferty also faces first degree murder and kidnapping.

After her arrest, McClintic went out with the massive police search team to look for Tori’s body.

Searchers were looking for a pile of rocks, off a dirt path in a farm field, across the road from a house.

McClintic’s information appears to have been vague.

“She’s always been willing to help with the search,” her lawyer LeRoy said in May. “She’s obviously under a great deal of stress but still wanting to do all she can to help.”

LeRoy almost made it seem as if her client was trying to do the right thing. That she cared.

Now that “help” may be parlayed into a self-serving legal resolution.

Right now, police don’t even know Tori’s cause of death, let alone what role McClintic played in it.

And nobody knows what further evidence will surface as the investigation continues. 

McClintic should not get a deal. She has been charged as Rafferty’s equal and ought to be tried as such.

But if — God forbid — the attorney general should go down this path again at least be smarter. If it turns out McClintic is the devil — the deal is off.

http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/Local/article/512736

[Tracygirl]

Let me tell you a story of a person I knew. At the age of 4 his mother past away and left him and his siblings in the care of an father who drank too much and cared to little. The children where given and raised by a female relative who was neglectful and abusive. Everyday he was made to feel as a burden. He spent his childhood and teen years fighting for food, he slept on the floor because they would not allow him a bed, he was taken out of school so he could be forced to work and bring money into the home. This life was every bit as hard as a life could be, but there is one difference between the man who lived this life and some others who have lived in similar circumstances, he didn't use it as an excuse to do wrong but rather used it as a reason to do better.

This is the story of my FIL who passed away last week. He would never hurt another human being as he felt it was wrong to do. So the point is, this woman who lured an innocent child to slaughter deserves nothing in return for trying to help find her dead body...She is just as guilty of murder.

[cookie]

I agree with you tracygirl...If this woman would not have lured Tori and made her trust her enough to go with her, this little girl might still be alive...this woman is as guilty as the man involved in my opinion...she deserves the same punishment that he gets...they both deserve to be put away forever or death imo....

[can]

Tracygirl I appreciate your story of your F.I.L and how he took the high road despite his horrific childhood.  Rest his soul.

I agree NO DEAL!!!!

[Northern Rose]

The dark reminders of a hometown's past

Early this week I came across a story on the wire indicating that my hometown was once again in the national eye.
    Sadly, as I thought about it, the only times the rural Ontario town of Mount Forest seems to make the national spotlight  is due to something bad.
    The discovery of the body of missing child Tori Stafford on Sunday on a side road just outside Mount Forest, was the latest in sad tales to come out about the community where I grew up and went to elementary and high school.
    Her body was found just off a sideroad not far from the highway I travelled every day for 14 years to get to school.
    I think the last time this town was mentioned nationally was in the summer of 1988. Ironically, even though I was living there at the time, I remember reading about that incident in a newspaper because I was with my parents on vacation in Newfoundland at the time.
    In that incident, another young girl, Erin Burkholder of Mount Forest, had gone missing. I didn’t really know her — she was a few years younger and was in the separate school system, while I was in the public — but I had seen her a couple of times because I played hockey a few years earlier with her older brother.
    Even at 13, the incident was still shocking to the system. Of course, the shock was heightened when, just like with the Stafford case, it ended with the discovery of a body, albeit much quicker than the current case.
    Showing just how small that community, which, at the time, had a population of 3,500 was, my dad knew the father of the young man who was convicted in the girl’s death.
    It was another dark time and another instant when Mount Forest hit the national spotlight for the wrong reasons.
    The other incident in my memory banks was seven years earlier, specifically on Mother’s Day 1982.
    Early that morning a Mount Forest police officer, Rick Hopkins, was responding to an incident in a neighbouring town when a fleeing man turned a shotgun on him and killed the officer.
    The shooting of a police officer anywhere in Canada is always a big deal across the nation as this incident was in 1982.
    I was in Grade 1 at the time. His one son was in kindergarten and the other was a couple of years away from starting school. As well, his widow would later be my Grade 3 teacher.
    It’s sad that these are the only instances when this little town with the motto of High, Healthy and Happy (the high is referring to the town’s elevation of 1,400 feet, among the highest in Ontario, and not anything else) is in the news.       
    But that’s the way we as a society are — small communities only seem to catch the eye of the public when there’s something horrific because it goes against the norm and most people feel for the people involved more when there’s a tragedy than anything else.

http://mjtimes.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=271938&sc=10

[Northern Rose]

 Saying goodbye to Tori
Published - Jul 24th, 2009

 No life should end this way, let alone the life of a child.
Abandoned in a field, far from loved ones, left to decompose without a proper burial.

Yet, such was the fate of young Tori Stafford.

It is hard to reconcile this end to the pictures we have seen of Tori, the pictures used in the hopes of finding her, before hope ran out.

Every picture shows a smiling, mischievous face. Tori was likely similar to every other eight-year-old girl of her age — she probably listened to her parents some of the time, and tried to get her own way the rest of the time.

She probably wanted to have all the latest toys and gadgets, and giggled with her girlfriends.

She was like every other little girl we know, except for this one, terrible fact. She was never given the chance to grow up. She died horribly and was taken far from her home.

We don’t know what to make of stories like this one. All parents wonder how to protect their children, how to keep them safe, without creating such an atmosphere of fear that our children are unable to enjoy being children.

In the case of Tori, the only hope that can come out of this is that her tragic death will serve as a sober reminder to the rest of us of our solemn duty to protect the children in this world from harm.

As a society, we need to do everything we can to keep our children safe — from teaching them how to be wary of strangers, to simply being more aware of the children around us, and to note when something doesn’t seem quite right.

We need to combat child pornography, web predators, and never leave our children in positions where they can be harmed.

The sad thing is, of course, that there never is a way to protect our children from all harm. Bad things happen — or bad people happen to good children.

But if we do what we can, if we remember Tori every single day, perhaps we can prevent another tragic death.

In the meantime, all we can do is say a prayer for Tori and her family, and remember her.

Rest in peace, little girl.

http://www.elmiraindependent.com/news.php?id=1672

[Northern Rose]

Let me tell you a story of a person I knew. At the age of 4 his mother past away and left him and his siblings in the care of an father who drank too much and cared to little. The children where given and raised by a female relative who was neglectful and abusive. Everyday he was made to feel as a burden. He spent his childhood and teen years fighting for food, he slept on the floor because they would not allow him a bed, he was taken out of school so he could be forced to work and bring money into the home. This life was every bit as hard as a life could be, but there is one difference between the man who lived this life and some others who have lived in similar circumstances, he didn't use it as an excuse to do wrong but rather used it as a reason to do better.

This is the story of my FIL who passed away last week. He would never hurt another human being as he felt it was wrong to do. So the point is, this woman who lured an innocent child to slaughter deserves nothing in return for trying to help find her dead body...She is just as guilty of murder.

Tracy thank you for sharing that.  My prayers and thoughts are with you and your family.

[Deenie]

For Tori
I never had the experience of meeting you.
The youth within you was shown in your photos -your grace was clear, your artistic ways, your bandanna's wrapped around you,  your creativity of spirit shines so bright. You carried an aura within you that you were a Sage child. That you had experienced things way beyond your duty. What you experienced I have no idea. You a tiny little girl in the midst of life and have carried a lot upon your shoulders yet were strong enough to walk through it.  And you were right with it.

And then someone - So Selfish and without Human Spirit nor Dignity Took You - and rid you from everyone and all -  forever within the living world, and that is incredibly sad. Sad because your no longer here to share yourself with all of us.

Your now free and can be as you were born Innocent. I see you to become an Angel of all children that question someone higher .. Why? Not as in Why Me? Just Why. That you Tori,  will become a Guardian to many and embrace all that find you  very real or  " a Secret" their own private angel. 
-----------
Tori Stafford was within herself a creative, passionate, free loving, being and most important she was a Child herself.
For Tori Stafford I celebrate You -and Your Life.

I think if Tori could sing she would Like this song.  I play it for her.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/BePkLgDWdSI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/BePkLgDWdSI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1</a>

 

God Bless You Tori
Your Spirit Is Just

 

[Northern Rose]

For Tori
I never had the experience of meeting you.
The youth within you was shown in your photos -your grace was clear, your artistic ways, your bandanna's wrapped around you,  your creativity of spirit shines so bright. You carried an aura within you that you were a Sage child. That you had experienced things way beyond your duty. What you experienced I have no idea. You a tiny little girl in the midst of life and have carried a lot upon your shoulders yet were strong enough to walk through it.  And you were right with it.

And then someone - So Selfish and without Human Spirit nor Dignity Took You - and rid you from everyone and all -  forever within the living world, and that is incredibly sad. Sad because your no longer here to share yourself with all of us.

Your now free and can be as you were born Innocent. I see you to become an Angel of all children that question someone higher .. Why? Not as in Why Me? Just Why. That you Tori,  will become a Guardian to many and embrace all that find you  very real or  " a Secret" their own private angel. 
-----------
Tori Stafford was within herself a creative, passionate, free loving, being and most important she was a Child herself.
For Tori Stafford I celebrate You -and Your Life.

I think if Tori could sing she would Like this song.  I play it for her.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/BePkLgDWdSI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/BePkLgDWdSI&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x402061&amp;color2=0x9461ca&amp;border=1</a>

 

God Bless You Tori
Your Spirit Is Just

 

Deenie that was beautiful.  God bless.

[Northern Rose]

100 days of private hell
Posted By REV. ERIC STRACHAN
Posted 8 hours ago
 

The top story on John Walsh's "America's Most Wanted" website this week was that of Victoria "Tori" Stafford, the eight-year- old who was abducted from outside the Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock, Ontario, on April 8, 2009.

Captioned above a picture of Tori were the words "Cops Con-firm That Child's Remains Are Tori's," then superimposed on her picture the word every parent whose child has been abducted dreads to hear -the word "deceased."

It's been a prolonged nightmare for her Mom and Dad and the many who loved Tori, a horrid nightmare that began four days before Easter Sunday and ended 102 days later on July 19, 2009.

No columnist writing about this tragedy can capture the intensity of the anguish experienced by her parents, Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford. It must be inexplicably painful, one must feel that one's heart has literally been ripped out, crushed beyond measure.

Speaking from the personal trauma of losing his own son, John Walsh says, "Adam's abduction was our private hell." And 'hell' indeed it is, every year here in this nation for many parents whose children go missing.

According to the RCMP's latest statistics 60,582 children went missing in Canada in 2007. Of that staggering amount, more than 46,000 were runaways, most found within 72 hours of their disappearance.

The province of Ontario ranks highest with 21,293 going missing in 2007. By far the highest number of abductions occurred at the hands of parents, 120 here in the province. Tragically in this latest year for which statistics are available, across the nation, 56 instances of child abductions were perpetrated by strangers, 17 of those here in Ontario.

Every abduction is a traumatic event, but it is those schemed and planned by strangers that pose the biggest threat to the security of a child. This danger will not dissipate in the days ahead -the availability of Internet porn, much violent in nature, merely fuels the lusts of the pedophiles in our midst. Add to that the sexualization of public school children and you have a sure recipe for disaster.

The Tori Stafford abduction and murder has clearly awakened cries for true justice, and the re-emergence of the death penalty, particularly for such crimes as heinous in nature as this one.

Having served as a jail chaplain for about 12 years here in Ontario, I can tell you that we are too soft on crime and criminals. Too often the offender walks away with a slap on the wrist, and the victim is left to pick up the pieces of a life that has been mercilessly broken and ruined.

The Stafford murder requires a punishment that is commensurate with the crime. It ought to be "an eye for an eye," and nothing less. It also ought to be said, that in this case the OPP and other investigators never gave up. Diligently, relentlessly, they kept on the case, searching, pursuing, mere shreds of evidence.

It was, according to Julian Fantino, the province's top law enforcement officer, "...a Herculean task." The police, often subject to criticism by certain sectors of the general public, ought to be commended for the work they did.

As the hearse containing the remains of Victoria Stafford was driven from the dirt road where they were found, police officers stood at attention with accompanying salute. It was a poignant moment, a little girl's body, and a little girl, being silently dignified by those who had combed every inch of ground to find her.

It was for her parents, Tara and Rodney, "closure" of a sort, never to have found her brings no finality to this trauma, yet, as John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" is so perceptive to note, "Everybody uses this word (closure) and banters it around....I don't have any closure and most parents of murdered children or crime victims don't really have closure, because your life is changed forever by that event."

And life is changed forever. Walsh, following the abduction and murder of his own son, would launch "America's Most Wanted," and turn his personal pain into a pulpit.

Hopefully Tara and Rodney can do the same, and facilitate the healing process in their own lives.

For those of you who are parents of tiny tots and children, the Tori Stafford abduction and murder begs a question of you: "Have you 'street-proofed' your kids?" Have you carefully indoctrinated them with sufficient street smarts that will keep them safe when they are out of your sight? If not, do it right away! Get some help from Child Find Ontario or some other child-friendly agency.

Today, Saturday, there will be a memorial service for the cute little eight-year-old. She went to school on Wednesday, April 8 with her Hanna Montana T-shirt and her purple "Bratz" bag. She was only eight folks, that's all.

Let justice flow down like a mighty river !

Rev. Eric Strachan is the pastor of New Life Community Church in Petawawa

http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1672607

[MuffyBee]

Please say a prayer and light a candle for Tori, may she rest in peace.
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=Tori