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

[canadianmonkey]

Accused in Tori Stafford killing seeks change of venue
 
 
By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News October 15, 2010 1:05 PM
 
 

The lawyer for one of the accused in the high-profile kidnapping and killing of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford last year is asking that his client's trial be moved out of Woodstock, Ont.

The motion for a change of venue was heard in court Friday in the small southwestern Ontario city, about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

Defence attorney Dirk Derstine argued that his client, Michael Rafferty, will not be able to get a fair trial if it goes ahead as scheduled in the city where the child went missing.

Rafferty, 29, of Woodstock, faces one count of kidnapping and one count of first-degree murder. The accused's ex-girlfriend, Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, has also been charged with kidnapping and murder in the Stafford case.

Derstine said a hearing on the change of venue request will be heard in February. Rafferty's trial will be held in 2011.

Tori Stafford, a Grade 3 student, was last seen on April 8, 2009. Her remains were found three months later in a deserted field near Mount Forest, Ont., nearly 130 kilometres away from her home.

The search for Stafford involved nearly 100 investigating police officers, and was featured on the U.S. TV show, America's Most Wanted. Her estranged parents made numerous pleas to the public for the return of their daughter.

Her disappearance also brought to light some shortfalls with the provincial Amber Alert system, used to notify the public when a child goes missing. It wasn't immediately initiated in her case because police did not feel that she was in "immediate danger." At the time, police also did not have a description of a vehicle, or knowledge of an abduction.

The criteria for the program have since been changed.

In April 2010, a Superior Court Justice issued a publication ban on a scheduled court appearance by one of the co-accused, Terri-Lynne McClintic.

Lawyers for major media corporations, including Postmedia News, argued against the ban. The issue has yet to be heard before the Supreme Court of Canada.

linnguyen@canwest.com
© Copyright (c) Postmedia News
 
 
 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Accused+Tori+Stafford+killing+seeks+change+venue/3677999/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty wants trial outside Woodstock

The man accused of abducting and murdering Tori Stafford wants his trial moved outside of Oxford County.

A lawyer representing Michael Rafferty informed a Woodstock court Friday they will apply for a change of venue for the trial.

The application will be heard in Woodstock starting Feb. 2. A trial date will follow.


Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, defence lawyer Laura Giordano would not comment on why or where they are seeking the relocation.

"That is something we are in discussions with the Crown and there is a very real possibility this application will succeed," she said.

A change of venue is sometimes requested in cases where the defence is unlikely to get a fair trial in the same city the incident occurred.

But the Crown contends the case should be heard locally.

"Our position is the whole matter should be tried in Oxford County," Crown attorney Brian Crockett said.

Raff erty, 29, is charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder in the April 8, 2009, disappearance of the eight-year-old girl. Her body was found in a remote area near Mount Forest last summer.

The high-profile case has made headlines across the province and attracted attention across the border, having been featured on America's Most Wanted.

A woman in Alberta has also already written a book about the impending trial.

Tori Stafford's mother, Tara McDonald, is skeptical that an unbiased jury could be found anywhere.

"Is it possible to find 12 people anywhere in Ontario who hasn't heard about the case? I mean, it was a huge case. We made sure of it," said McDonald, who recently moved back to Woodstock.

But she added she doesn't want Raff erty to have an opportunity for a mistrial if it is held in Woodstock.

"I don't want to have to do this again. It will be bad enough going through it once," she said, adding she still has her good days and bad days.

In June, the province decided to fast track Raff erty's trial by quashing his preliminary hearing scheduled for this past June.

Rafferty, who was not in court Friday, will be there in person in February

http://www.oxfordreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2804963

[Nut44x4]

Guilty plea in Tori Stafford murder can now be revealed
 
By Linda Nguyen, Postmedia News December 9, 2010 10:52 AM
WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Eight-year-old Tori Stafford was abducted on her way home from school in April 2009 because she happened to be the first child her abductor spotted.


For three months, while more than 100 police officers pored over thousands of tips as to the whereabouts of the blond-haired Grade 3 student, and her family made desperate pleas for her safe return, the little girl's remains were buried in a garbage bag under a rock pile hours away from the spot where she disappeared.


Today it can be revealed that Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case. The surprise plea was entered in court on April 30 here in Woodstock, about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto.


Until today, the proceedings were kept secret under a publication ban. Anyone in court to witness McClintic's plea, including reporters, had been prohibited from revealing her guilty plea. This is also the first time any details of the crime have emerged.


Ontario Superior Justice Dougald McDermid has sentenced McClintic to life in prison with no chance for parole for 25 years and ordered her to submit a blood sample to the National DNA Data Bank.


"No sentence imposed can take that pain away or bring Tori Stafford back," McDermid said to the courtroom packed with national media, McClintic's family and Tori's family — parents, grandmothers, aunts and uncles.


A previous charge of kidnapping was withdrawn when McClintic entered her plea. She had waived her right to a preliminary hearing. The primary basis upon which McClintic accepted responsibility for first-degree murder was that the girl's murder took place during the commission of the offence of kidnapping and forcible confinement.


At the hearing, McClintic, dressed in a black suit, her long brown hair tied in a messy bun, was led to the prisoner's box by a police officer. Her eyes were downcast and her voice low as she mumbled into a microphone that she wanted to enter a guilty plea because "a little girl lost her life."


The admission of guilt proved too much for some members of Tori's family, who ran out of the courtroom. Those who remained huddled together, crying and holding hands.


A pale McClintic hung her head in the prisoner's box as she read a three-page statement she had prepared.


"I didn't wake up on that morning thinking I was going to take a child," she said in a whisper. "Every day I think that maybe if I hadn't walked down the street that day, that precious little angel would still be here. Every day I ask myself why."


On April 9, 2009, the day Tori Stafford was kidnapped, McClintic went to Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock with the intention of abducting a child.


Tori, a little girl who loved shopping and butterflies, "happened to be the first child (McClintic) observed walking towards her from the school," according to an agreed statement of facts entered in court.


McClintic approached the girl and asked her if she would like to meet her dog, a Shih Tzu named Precious.


Tori, who also had a Shih Tzu, named Cosmo, agreed and trustingly took McClintic's hand and followed her, not knowing she was being led away to her death.


A grainy image of Tori walking away with McClintic was captured by surveillance video shot from a camera mounted at a high school across the street. It was the first time she had been allowed to walk the few short blocks home alone after school.


According to the statement, Tori was driven to a secluded location more than 130 kilometres away, north of Arthur Township.


On the way there, around 5 p.m., McClintic stopped at a Home Depot in Guelph and used cash to buy some garbage bags and a hammer. The girl was then driven north of Guelph to a deserted field off 6th Concession Road in Mount Forest, Ont. The vehicle was driven down an incline along a little-used laneway, over a culvert and up a slight hill, turning left in front of a large rock pile close to a stand of trees.


There was a light covering of snow on the ground that day in early April.


This was where Tori was killed.


The girl was struck several times with a blunt object. Her small body was then placed in a garbage bag and buried under a dozen rocks near a pine tree.


It wasn't found until three months later, on July 19, 2009, by a lone Ontario Provincial Police officer.


An autopsy determined that the cause of death was multiple blunt-force impact. The body was severely decomposed, and examiners had to use dental records to identify her. Also found with the body were a Hannah Montana T-shirt, a pair of butterfly earrings and parts of a headband — some of Tori's favourite things.


As McClintic read her statement to the court, she said she had been dealt "pretty low cards in the game of life" and admitted she was high on OxyContin pills when she took Tori.


"Every time I close my eyes, I'm flooded with the memories of that day. I will never forget what happened, the mistakes I made, the failure I was. A million tears will never be enough and a million words would never be able to express how truly sorry I am," she said. "I would give anything to be able to trade that amazing little girl places, but I can't, and man, that hurts."


The unemployed woman apologized a number of times for the killing and said her plea was about "justice for an amazing little girl."


"Enough people have been hurt as a result of this and I refuse to drag anyone through the proceedings of a trial," she said. "Spending the next few decades of life in prison is nothing compared to what Tori was robbed of . . . I am trying to make amends the only way I can by giving you my life today."


The Woodstock courtroom was under heavy police guard on April 30, with everyone attending the public proceedings ordered to turn over any recording devices, including cellphones.


The publication ban issued by McDermid prevented the media from reporting anything about McClintic's appearance in court for the scheduled hearing and drew criticism it was too sweeping in nature. A few weeks later, McDermid modified it but then had to restore the original sweeping ban because the defence attorney for a second accused person in the case, Michael C.S. Rafferty, appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.


Rafferty's lawyer, Dirk Derstine, argued that allowing the media to publish McClintic's plea and any details surrounding the case would jeopardize his client's right to a fair trial.


Iain MacKinnon, a lawyer representing the media, including Postmedia News, argued that the public's right to hear developments in the case superseded the arguments for keeping the ban in place.


Tori's disappearance had triggered a massive search involving a number of police forces, including Oxford Community Police and the Ontario Provincial Police. Thousands of tips came in to investigators.


Her estranged parents spoke to the media each day, pleading for the return of their daughter.


At times, arguments between the couple overshadowed the search for the little girl, with her parents seemingly blaming each other for her disappearance.


The case was highly publicized, with photos of the smiling young girl splashed across newspapers and on televisions across the country.


Tensions continued to grow and police were castigated for not having issued a provincewide Amber Alert when Tori went missing.


Police argued her disappearance did not meet the strict criteria for triggering an alert, such as a description of a vehicle, or knowledge of an abductor, or any indication that the girl was in danger of serious bodily harm.


Since Tori's death, changes have been made to the system. Last year, guidelines were relaxed so police can issue an alert more quickly if it is believed a child is in any kind of danger.


McClintic has been co-operative with investigators since her arrest in early April. She assisted police in their search for Tori's body, and helped create sketches of the crime scene. Yet it was still difficult to locate the remains because the changing seasons affected the appearance of the terrain, and because at the time of Tori's death, McClintic was high on drugs.


Tori's disappearance and death have shaken the small city of Woodstock, population 35,000.


Her mother, Tara McDonald, said in a victim impact statement that she has thought about killing herself.


"My heart, mind, body and soul feel like I will never ever find peace or closure," she said. "A piece of me will be missing for the rest of my entire lifetime."


Tori's father, Rodney Stafford, read a touching statement on behalf of his son, who was not in court on April 30.


Daryn Stafford, 11, wrote that most nights he would crawl into bed with his mother and cry, thinking his sister's abduction was his fault because he hadn't walked her home from school that day.


He wrote that he doesn't trust strangers and won't go anywhere by himself, especially not the street where his sister was abducted.


"I lost my only sibling. She was the closest person to me," Daryn said in the statement. "Me and Tori could barely be apart for a weekend, let alone for a lifetime. Me and my sister were never apart, we were always together no matter what."


Rodney Stafford said he still feels anger and hate toward McClintic, but thanked her for helping police find his daughter's remains.


Stopping a number of times as he read his statement, Stafford said he will miss not being able to help his daughter choose a prom dress, see her get married, take her camping or even just ask her to hug her brother.


"Just what could have Victoria done so wrong [sic] in her eight years that she deserved to lose her little innocent life?" he asked the court. "Nothing at all. Victoria was only ever guilty of being a little girl."


The second accused in the case, Rafferty, 29, also of Woodstock, faces a charge of first-degree murder and kidnapping. His trial is expected to occur in 2011. Both he and McClintic were arrested in May 2009.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Stafford+publication+lifted/3951478/story.html

[Sister]

He can have his case moved to hell for all I care . . . justice will prevail!!!!

[Northern Rose]

Holidays will be tough, says Stafford's grandmother

Christmas will be a difficult time for the family of murdered eight-year-old Tori Stafford after a long-standing publication ban on details of the case were lifted, her grandmother said yesterday, adding that she "can't forgive" an Ontario woman who had pleaded guilty to murder.

Doreen Graichen said the family had been told a sweeping publication ban preventing media from revealing any information from a court case would be lifted months ago. A ruling from Canada's top court resulted in the lifting of the ban on Thursday.

She said she doesn't understand why the information, specifically Terri-Lynne McClintic woman had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, had to be released right before the family gathered for what is expected to be a very difficult Christmas.

"This is the absolute worst time of the year for it to come out. I can't understand why it couldn't have been put off … past the holidays and into the New Year," Graichen told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

"If we had to wait this long, why not just go a little further?"

McClintic pleaded guilty to first-degree murder when she appeared in an Ontario court in April, just over a year after Stafford first disappeared.

Details about Stafford's disappearance were revealed in that hearing. Until Thursday, that information was not allowed to be released.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said on Friday that he hopes Stafford's family can begin to heal after "horrific" details of her murder were released.

McGuinty told reporters in London, Ont., that the court's decision meant Tori's brother, mother, father and community would have to relive "this terrible experience."

"The hardest part is that it is two weeks before Christmas now," Graichen said. "My grandchildren were not aware of anything that did happen; now they will be. Last year was the first Christmas we had to experience without Victoria. This Christmas will be hard again because now the kids will know a little bit of the reason behind it all."

McClintic admitted that she struck up a conversation with Stafford the day she disappeared after leaving her school in Woodstock, Ont., in April 2009.

Stafford was the first child McClintic saw when she approached Oliver Stephens Public School that day.

The two talked about dogs and Stafford agreed to come see a shih tzu that McClintic said she owned.

A few hours later, McClintic went to a local Home Depot to buy garbage bags and a hammer.

Police have never revealed how Stafford died, but the court revealed that her death was caused by multiple blunt force impact.

Stafford's body was found three months after she disappeared, in a field north of Guelph, Ont., more than 100 kilometres away from where she lived with her family in Woodstock, Ont.

Prior to Thursday, a publication ban prevented the media from reporting details on McClintic's case.

But when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the matter, those details could be publicized.

Steven Skurka, CTV's legal analyst, said the publication ban may have been put into place to ensure another person charged in Stafford's death received a fair trial.

"There was this notion that if all of this information surrounding McClintic's plea was released to the public essentially it would poison (the person's) ability to have 12 jurors come into the courtroom and try his case properly," Skurka told CTV's Canada AM.

Skurka said the scope of the ban was unsettling and led some people to think that McClintic may have received some sort of plea bargain.

"We now know that is not true, we know that she has pleaded guilty to the most serious charge known in criminal law known as first-degree murder," Skurka said.

When McClintic entered her plea to the court in April, she entered a statement about her actions.

"I didn't wake up that morning thinking I would take a child," McClintic said, adding that she was "honoured to have been able to spend even a brief amount of time with such an amazing person."

Graichen, who was in the courtroom when those statements were made, said she felt sick to her stomach when McClintic said she was honoured to spend time with Stafford.

"It's not my place to forgive her for anything, in my own opinion. I can't forgive her and I never will. She took my granddaughter away. We don't have Victoria because of that day. That is something we have to live with for the rest of our lives," Graichen said.

McClintic's first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence.

Michael Rafferty, 30, is charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the same case. He has been committed to trial on those charges.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101210/stafford-grandmother-101210/20101210?hub=TorontoNewHome

[Northern Rose]

Killer vows to dedicate life to protecting children

Ont.--It was a strange thing for a killer to say about her young victim.

"I am honoured to have been able to spend even a brief amount of time with such an amazing person, and it pains me to think about how many people won't get to see what a beautiful and brilliant woman I just know she would have grown up to be."

In a mumbled, sob-ridden and rambling statement to court, Terri-Lynne McClintic tried to explain how the little girl she killed--Victoria(Tori)Stafford, 8--would remain with her forever.

"Tori will never leave my heart. She'll hold my heart in her hands until the day I die.She has made me realize that I need to deal with my issues," McClintic said.

"Every day I think that maybe if I hadn't walked down the street that day, that precious little angel would still be here.Every day I ask myself why. Why did I tell myself that everything would be OK? Just why? I can't honestly explain my thought process on that day."

Because of Tori, McClintic vowed, she will dedicate her life to keeping children safe and keeping other women off the path that led her to the horror of April 8,2009, in this shocked southwestern Ontario city.

Yet she could offer no expla-nation for what she did to griev-ing family members, hanging onto her every word.

For more than a year, the woman caught on a surveillance video luring Tori after school away had kept her silence.

On April 30, she spoke for the first time in public, and now that a publication ban has been lifted, those words can be heard by others.

She pleaded guilty in a soft, monotone voice.

Several times, Justice Dougald McDermid questioned McClintic on her understanding of the court process and what was going to happen to her that day, that her pleading guilty to first-degree murder gave him no choice about the sentence.

She answered yes and nodded slightly.

"Have you been promised anything for pleading guilty?" he asked.

"No."

"Is it your free will?" "Yes."

Her voice breaking, McClintic explained, "It seems like the right thing to do."

She later threw up in a blue recycling bin.

Speaking to court, McClintic began with a rambling refer-ence to her own harsh upbring-ing and how she tried to bury her own pain--in and out of foster care as a child, and later a drug addict.

"I never thought my method of survival, my method of pro-tection, would wind up hurt-ing me more than the life--the hardships life threw at me."

Yet McClintic acknowledged there was no excuse or explana-tion for what she did.

"Yes, I was under the influ-ence of drugs, and yes, there are things that I've experienced in the past that may have affected my reactions to the situation I was in, but regardless of those reasons, it doesn't make what happened acceptable."

McClintic was taken into cus-tody only four days after the kidnapping on an outstanding warrant for another offence


http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2885161

[Northern Rose]

SEARCHING FOR THE ABDUCTOR

A timeline of the police investigation, according to the statement of facts and information released by police and family members.

April 8,2009 Oxford Community police get a report Tori is missing and begin a ground search around her school and neighbourhood and at her residence.

April 9 Details of the disappearance are released to media. Police obtain a surveillance video from College Avenue secondary school near Tori's school. The video shows a woman walking with Tori shortly after school. Police release the video to the media later in the day. Tips come in immediately. Some suggest the woman is Terri-Lynne McClintic. A number of people also provide police with more detailed contact information about McClintic.

April 12 Police discover McClintic is wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant for a minor o 5ence and bring her into headquarters. She is questioned about Tori and shown the video, but denies any involvement.

April 15 Oxford police ask the OPP for help. One thousand tips have been received.Police continue to investigate other suspects, including Tori's mother, Tara McDonald and boyfriend, James Goris.

April 21 Police release a composite sketch of the suspect, based on a witness's account.

April 23 McDonald and other family members take a limousine ride to Toronto to meet an anonymous donor willing to pay a ransom. A few days later, police announce a$50,000 reward. It is later suggested the limousine ride was conducted by police in order to question McDonald and other suspects within her family.Neither police nor McDonald have commented since about the ride.

May 4 Police release a surveillance video that shows a dark- coloured station wagon driving by moments after the abductor and Tori walk by. The driver may be a key witness and they'd like to talk to him, police say.

May 12 Investigators interview McClintic for a second time. She tells them she had gone to the employment centre April 8 and later illegally bought some Oxycontin pills. She recalls walking up Fyfe Avenue across from the high school but says she did not stop.She describes what she was wearing.

May 15 McClintic goes to court in Woodstock on the outstanding warrant. Investigators meet her there and ask if she would provide a written statement to police. She agrees, with a lawyer present.

May 19 McClintic takes a polygraph test and is interviewed. She then admits she is the woman in the video. McClintic is arrested for abduction of a child under 15, is later arrested for accessory to murder. On both arrests, she declines to speak to a lawyer and agrees to help police.

May 19-23 McClintic- still in custody-tries to help police find Tori's body. Police take her to the Guelph area. She gives a verbal description of a house close to where Tori was murdered. She also identifies a Home Depot in Guelph where she bought garbage bags April 8.Investigators seize the store's surveillance videos which show McClintic buying garbage bags-and a hammer.

May 20 Police tell McClintic she is going to be charged with first- degree murder. She waives her right to speak with a lawyer and agrees to continue helping police.

May 21 A helicopter search with McClintic fails to find the site. McClintic has trouble identifying the site because there was snow on the ground April 8, but now leaves, plants and grass had grown.

June 1- 3 McClintic provides a drawing showing the location of the house and its relationship to the murder scene. She also gives a more detailed house description.

July 19 An OPP investigator searching near Mount Forest, Ont., notices a house that looks like the house in the sketch. A laneway across the also matches the description of the location. The "odour of decomposition" hits him as soon as he gets out of his vehicle.He nears a group of trees beside a rock pile and sees part of a green garbage bag under the rocks under one pine tree. He has found Tori. Her remains had su5ered "significant decomposition" and dental records are used to identify her. Portions of a headband, Hannah Montana T-shirt and butterfly earrings, are also found nearby.

April 30,2010 McClintic pleads guilty to first- degree murder and is sentenced to life in prison.

http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2885161

[Northern Rose]

Tori a random target, killer admits
 Teen pleads guilty to murder. 'If I hadn't walked down the street that day that precious little angel would still be here'


Eight-year-old Tori Stafford was abducted on her way home from school in April 2009 because she happened to be the first child her abductor spotted.

For three months, while more than 100 police officers pored over thousands of tips as to the whereabouts of the blond Grade 3 student, and her family made desperate pleas for her safe return, the little girl's remains were buried in a garbage bag under a rock pile hours away from the spot where she disappeared.

It can now be revealed that Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the case. The surprise plea was entered in court on April 30 in Woodstock, about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

Until yesterday, the proceedings were kept secret under a publication ban. Anyone in court to witness Mc-Clintic's plea, including reporters, had been prohibited from revealing her guilty plea. But yesterday the Supreme Court of Canada said it would not hear an application by a lawyer for a man accused in the killing to extend that ban. This is also the first time any details of the crime have emerged.

Ontario Superior Justice Dougald McDermid has sentenced McClintic to life in prison with no chance for parole for 25 years and ordered her to submit a blood sample to the national DNA databank.

"No sentence imposed can take that pain away or bring Tori Stafford back," Mc-Dermid said to the courtroom packed with national media, McClintic's family and Tori's family -parents, grandmothers, aunts and uncles.

At the hearing, McClintic, dressed in a black suit, her long brown hair in a messy bun, was led to the prisoner's box by a police officer. Her eyes were downcast and her voice low as she mumbled into a microphone that she wanted to enter a guilty plea because "a little girl lost her life."

The admission proved too much for some members of Tori's family, who ran out of the courtroom.

Those who stayed huddled together, crying and holding hands.

A pale McClintic hung her head in the prisoner's box as she read a three-page statement she had prepared.

"I didn't wake up on that morning thinking I was going to take a child," she said in a whisper. "Every day I think that maybe if I hadn't walked down the street that day, that precious little angel would still be here. Every day I ask myself why."

On the afternoon of April 8, 2009, McClintic went to Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock with the intention of abducting a child.

Tori, a little girl who loved shopping and butterflies, "happened to be the first child (McClintic) observed walking towards her from the school," according to an agreed statement of facts entered in court.

McClintic approached the girl and asked her if she would like to meet her dog, a Shih Tzu named Precious. Tori, who also had a Shih Tzu, named Cosmo, agreed and trustingly took McClintic's hand and followed her, not knowing she was being led away to her death.

A grainy image of Tori walking away with McClintic was captured by surveillance video shot from a camera mounted at a high school across the street. It was the first time she had been allowed to walk the few blocks home alone after school.

According to the statement, Tori was driven to a secluded location more than 130 kilometres away. On the way there, around 5 p.m., McClintic stopped at a Home Depot in Guelph to buy garbage bags and a hammer. The girl was then driven to Mount Forest, Ont.

The vehicle was driven down an incline along a little-used laneway, over a culvert and up a slight hill, turning left in front of a large rock pile close to a stand of trees.

This was where Tori was killed. She was struck several times with a blunt object. Her small body was then placed in a garbage bag and buried under a dozen rocks near a pine tree.

It wasn't found until three months later, on July 19, 2009, by a lone Ontario Provincial Police officer.

McClintic told the court she was high on OxyContin pills when she took Tori.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Tori+random+target+killer+admits/3956679/story.html

[Northern Rose]

How Tori was taken (with video)
Judge lifts publication ban on horrible details of little girl’s abduction, murder

All it took to pluck Tori Stafford out of a bustling, end-of-day crowd of school­children and lure her to her death was the promise of a visit with an adorable shih tzu dog not unlike her own.

Had Tori not been so eager to see a cute little dog, had she not run back into her school to fetch a cherished pair of butterfly earrings, had her brother walked her home from school on April 8, 2009, as he had every other day that school year, the day might have unfolded very differently.

Instead, a terrible confluence of events put Tori in the path of drug-addled, 18-year-old Terri-Lynne McClintic.

As McClintic ambled toward the school in Woodstock, Ont., the first child she saw walking toward her was the one on which she set her sights: a little girl with butterfly ear­rings.

Most of what Canadians have known about that fateful meeting outside Oliver Stephens Public School on April 8, 2009, came from a grainy, out-of-focus image taken from surveillance camera footage released in an effort to shake loose clues about Tori’s disap­pearance.

On Thursday, thanks to a Supreme Court of Canada deci­sion that essentially lifted a long-standing and controversial publication ban on details of the case, that image — and the heart-rending circumstances surrounding it — finally came into sharper focus.

Among the more chilling details were McClintic’s own words on April 30 of this year, when she admitted to the facts of the case in a Woodstock courtroom and pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree mur­der.

“This is about one thing: justice for an amazing little girl," she said in a chilling statement to the court.

“I am honoured to have been able to spend even a brief amount of time with such an amazing person, and it pains me to think about how many people won’t get to see what a beautiful and brilliant woman I just know she would have grown up to be."

Police never released the cause of death, but it was re­vealed in court that Tori died of multiple blunt force impacts.

McClintic’s boyfriend, Mi­chael Rafferty, now 30, was also charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder. His case has been committed to trial.

Some of the information McClintic admitted to in court was “sensational, inflammato­ry, and evokes a visceral re­sponse," Ontario Superior Court Justice Dougald McDermid said at the time as he imposed a partial publication ban to pre­serve Rafferty’s right to a fair trial. That ban remains in place.

McClintic, who described herself as having been “dealt pretty low cards in the game of life," began her day on April 8, 2009, by visiting a church, where she picked up food vouchers. After buying grocer­ies, she went back to the church to turn in her receipts.

Later that day, she obtained her drug of choice, OxyContin — a prescription painkiller that’s widely abused in Wood­stock. In a narcotic haze, she headed for the elementary school.

As Tori lined up with her Grade 3 classmates at the end of the school day she realized she forgot her butterfly earrings inside. She ran back to get them, returning to the lineup just as the dismissal bell rang.

Tori’s big brother Daryn, 10 years old at the time, always walked her and several other children home. The kids had been staying with their ma­ternal grandmother for a few months, but that night Tori was to sleep over at her mom’s house.

It was the first time she was allowed to make the short walk alone.

McClintic introduced herself as “T." The friendly little girl replied that her name was Vic­toria, but said everyone called her Tori. McClintic told the little girl she had a shih tzu named Precious. Tori had a shih tzu too, she said, and agreed she would like to see McClin­tic’s dog.

The now-famous surveil­lance­video footage of a woman in a white puffy coat leading away a little girl in a Hannah Montana jacket marked the last time the world at large would see Tori Stafford alive.

A little more than 90 minutes later, McClintic was at a Home Depot in Guelph, Ont., buying garbage bags and a hammer.

That was 5:12 p.m.

When Tori didn’t arrive home as scheduled, her mother Tara McDonald began making phone calls. Brother Daryn jumped on a bicycle and rode around the neighbourhood, looking for his sister. McDonald and her moth­er soon joined the search by car. At 6:04 p.m., Tori’s grand­mother reported her missing to police.

By the time McClintic return­ed home around 9 or 10 p.m., Tori Stafford had been mur­dered. Her little body would go undiscovered for more than three months, until police reco­vered her badly decomposed remains — along with a pair of butterfly earrings.

Though she wasn’t charged until six weeks after the mur­der, police had an eye on McClintic almost from the be­ginning. The video footage prompted a deluge of tips, some of which pointed the finger in her direction.

She was arrested April 12 on an outstanding warrant — the same day the people of Wood­stock crammed a parking lot to hold a candlelight vigil and pray for Tori’s safe return. More than a month later, McClintic gave police a statement, and she and Rafferty were charged.

A year later, on April 30, 2010, McClintic told her story to a courtroom packed with the family members of both the victim and the accused. An agreed statement of facts was read into the record, followed by a series of victim impact statements from members of the Stafford family.

The exercise appeared to make McClintic physically ill.

She remained hunched over, clutching her stomach; at one point her lawyer brought her a bucket.

Clad in a black pantsuit, with her hair in a bun, McClintic’s statement quickly took on a bizarre and sinister tone as she talked about the bond she formed with Tori in the brief time they spent together.

“Tori will never leave my heart," she said.

“She’ll hold my heart in her hands until the day I die. She has made me realize that I need to deal with my issues, that I can’t continue on the road I’ve been walking. I owe my life to that precious little angel."

TORI’S FAMILY POURS OUT THEIR GRIEF:

Daryn Stafford, Tori’s 12-year-old brother:
“Tori was the most important person in the world to me, and the worst part about losing her, which has more reasons then one, is I don’t ever get to see her again. I lost my only sibling. She was the closest person to me. But me and Tori could barely be apart for a weekend let alone a lifetime.
. . . I would have given anything and I still would give anything to get my baby sister back. I just love her more than anything.“

Tara McDonald, Tori’s mother:
“It has been just over a year since the loss of my baby and I have tried many times to put to words how this has impacted my life. My life will never be the same without Victoria. I think of her every single day and the pain never gets any easier to accept in my heart. I miss her so much that many times if I didn’t have my son I probably would of taken my own life be­cause the agony of not having her here with me is so great."
. . . I don’t think that anyone can ever understand how the loss of a child impacts a person’s life. I, my family, our community, the world has been emotionally affected and traumatized by the loss of Victoria. The emptiness is overwhelming.“

Rodney Stafford, Tori’s father:
 “It plays in my mind over and over again. Just what could have Victo­ria done so wrong in her eight years that she deserved to lose her little Innocent life??? Nothing at all!!! Victoria was only ever guilty of being a little girl.
. . . Suddenly news of finding Victoria’s remains became a relief.
What the hell??? Relief??? That they found my daughter’s re­mains?? How messed up does that sound?? Most definitely messed right up, but Victoria was able to come home and so many other children are still out there missing.
. . . Terri-Lynne, over the course of the last year I have been forced to have feelings of hurt, anger and worst of all hate towards you . . . I hope that during your sentence, you find peace with yourself and with God. And just maybe one day I could learn to forgive you. But for now, excuse me, I don’t. My little girl is gone.“

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/9018963.html

[Northern Rose]

Father relieved as details of plea finally made public
 Hopes people will show his family 'more compassion'



The Supreme Court of Canada did a "good thing" yesterday in allowing the media to publish some information on the trial of a woman who confessed in April to the abduction and murder of Tori Stafford, the deceased girl's father said.

"My original reaction was 'Why? Why so close to Christmas?' " Rodney Stafford said during an interview with Postmedia News yesterday.

"(But now) people can realize what's going on and who all is out there. This is a special time of year, with Christmas. Hopefully, it'll help a lot of parentshold their kids and their family a lot closer."

The Supreme Court refused yesterday to hear an application to extend a publication ban placed on the court proceedings of Terri-Lynne Mc-Clintic, one of the accused in the 2009 Ontario murder.

On April 30, McClintic, 19, agreed to a statement of facts and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The ban prevented the media from publishing anything about the hearing until now.

Tori Stafford went missing on April 8, 2009. Her body was found nearly three months later, more than 130 kilometres away from her home in Mount Forest, Ont.

Rodney Stafford said the family, particularly the children, have had to deal with a lot of judgments from some people in Woodstock -a southern Ontario community of 35,000.

And now that more details of the case are released, he

hopes people will show "a little more compassion" to what his family has been going through, and, like the media, were prevented from talking about.

"We knew far more information than anybody else did," he said.

Other children have relentlessly teased his daughter's young cousins, and his neighbours have wrongly speculated that he and his estranged wife, Tara McDonald, may have played a role in the disappearance of his daughter.

It got so bad, Stafford said, that he felt compelled to delete his Facebook account.

Yesterday McDonald, her boyfriend, James Goris, and Tori's only brother, Daryn, left Woodstock to avoid the crush of reporters who have descended on the town in light of the court decision.

During the time prior to Tori's remains being discovered, her parents, particularly McDonald, held strained news conferences outside her home each day, pleading for the safe return of the little girl. The appearances sometimes were tense when the personal problems between the couple surfaced in front of the national media.

Stafford and McDonald have also tried to shield 10-year-old Daryn, who still blames himself for not protecting his sister, from the spotlight.

In the past few months, he was finally told about the details of his sister's death.

"From what I understand, he was really sad," said Stafford, who recently moved back to Woodstock after living in Brandon, Man., for the past few months. "But like everybody else, he went through so many different scenarios in his head that it didn't really surprise him."

At this point, Stafford said the family is doing what it can to survive.

"It's going to take a lot of time before I can forgive anybody for something that extreme," he said, tears welling up in his eyes. "That was my little girl. I can't bring her back ."

The trial for the second co-accused, Michael Rafferty, 30, is expected to start next year.


http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Father+relieved+details+plea+finally+made+public/3956680/story.html

[Kat_Gram]

Wow, I read all of the Toronto papers on line.
This person did not own a car as I recall. So, Rafferty must have been present and assisted.
Granted, he did not kidnap Tori. So, you have one crazy person with a messed up life and personality and she somehow gets her boyfriend and they take Tori for a ride. Then this happens. He is just as guilty as her.
..
He can rot in hell with her also.
..
I know several persons whose lives have been messed up ( from the day they were born, bad azz parents and all that goes with it ), and they never chose that door. Some of them became addicts to various substances, most of them have recovered. They still have scars because they took it out on themselves, not other persons.
 

[Northern Rose]

McClintic never had a stable life


Terri-Lynne McClintic was an angry young woman with no job, no real aspirations and not much to lose.

Yet residents who knew her in this small, southwestern Ontario city still can't fathom why she committed the murder in what has become one of Canada's most notorious child-abduction cases.

According to court documents outlining her guilty plea and life sentence, even McClintic can't seem to explain what was going through her mind.

Because a trial is still pending for her ex-boyfriend, Michael Rafferty, who is also charged in the slaying, not all details of McClintic's case can be reported, which only deepens the mystery.

She lived with her adoptive mother, Carol McClintic. The pair got by on her mother's disability cheques and food vouchers from the red-brick church down the street.

Carol McClintic also made quick cash by pawning jewelry and other items at downtown stores.

McClintic struggled to find stability in her life. She once got hired for a job at a car company but quit after three days, said Kayla Hurst, 22, who shopped and went on walks with McClintic.

Hurst said McClintic had also sought drug-addiction treatment at the local methadone clinic but dropped out two weeks later.

Some say McClintic's anger was fuelled, in part, by the hot-and-cold relationship she had with her mother. At times, they seemed like best friends. But there were times when her mom would belittle her, Racine said.

McClintic never talked back, and just kept the hurt bottled up inside.

Terri-Lynne spent a good chunk of her youth being raised in the Parry Sound area, in northern Ontario.

She spent at least some of that time in foster care, said Gail MacDonald, whose daughter was friends with Terri-Lynne in elementary school and early high school.

"She was a little sweetie, always smiling, cute as a button," she recalled.

At the same time, "you could see this little lost kid in there."

Terri-Lynne missed her mother and frequently ran away from her foster home.

She reunited with her mother in Woodstock about three years ago, but the instability continued.

A few months before the abduction and killing of Tori Stafford, McClintic started dating Rafferty, who was 10 years older than she was. According to a profile he posted online, he was a "hopeless romantic."

How McClintic and Rafferty wound up connected to the murder of an eight-year-old girl remains a mystery.

Wendy Oldham, a friend of McClintic's mother, is convinced that McClintic was manipulated by her boyfriend.

But Hurst said McClintic would not let a man "push her around, nor tell her what to do."

"I am not really able to say what made her do something this sick and sad."

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/McClintic+never+stable+life/3955345/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Wow, I read all of the Toronto papers on line.
This person did not own a car as I recall. So, Rafferty must have been present and assisted.
Granted, he did not kidnap Tori. So, you have one crazy person with a messed up life and personality and she somehow gets her boyfriend and they take Tori for a ride. Then this happens. He is just as guilty as her.
..
He can rot in hell with her also.
..
I know several persons whose lives have been messed up ( from the day they were born, bad azz parents and all that goes with it ), and they never chose that door. Some of them became addicts to various substances, most of them have recovered. They still have scars because they took it out on themselves, not other persons.
 

You are correct it was his car and the backseat has never been reported as being found. 

[Sister]

McClintic never had a stable life


Terri-Lynne McClintic was an angry young woman with no job, no real aspirations and not much to lose.

Yet residents who knew her in this small, southwestern Ontario city still can't fathom why she committed the murder in what has become one of Canada's most notorious child-abduction cases.

According to court documents outlining her guilty plea and life sentence, even McClintic can't seem to explain what was going through her mind.

Because a trial is still pending for her ex-boyfriend, Michael Rafferty, who is also charged in the slaying, not all details of McClintic's case can be reported, which only deepens the mystery.

She lived with her adoptive mother, Carol McClintic. The pair got by on her mother's disability cheques and food vouchers from the red-brick church down the street.

Carol McClintic also made quick cash by pawning jewelry and other items at downtown stores.

McClintic struggled to find stability in her life. She once got hired for a job at a car company but quit after three days, said Kayla Hurst, 22, who shopped and went on walks with McClintic.

Hurst said McClintic had also sought drug-addiction treatment at the local methadone clinic but dropped out two weeks later.

Some say McClintic's anger was fuelled, in part, by the hot-and-cold relationship she had with her mother. At times, they seemed like best friends. But there were times when her mom would belittle her, Racine said.

McClintic never talked back, and just kept the hurt bottled up inside.

Terri-Lynne spent a good chunk of her youth being raised in the Parry Sound area, in northern Ontario.

She spent at least some of that time in foster care, said Gail MacDonald, whose daughter was friends with Terri-Lynne in elementary school and early high school.

"She was a little sweetie, always smiling, cute as a button," she recalled.

At the same time, "you could see this little lost kid in there."

Terri-Lynne missed her mother and frequently ran away from her foster home.

She reunited with her mother in Woodstock about three years ago, but the instability continued.

A few months before the abduction and killing of Tori Stafford, McClintic started dating Rafferty, who was 10 years older than she was. According to a profile he posted online, he was a "hopeless romantic."

How McClintic and Rafferty wound up connected to the murder of an eight-year-old girl remains a mystery.

Wendy Oldham, a friend of McClintic's mother, is convinced that McClintic was manipulated by her boyfriend.

But Hurst said McClintic would not let a man "push her around, nor tell her what to do."

"I am not really able to say what made her do something this sick and sad."

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/McClintic+never+stable+life/3955345/story.html

Well cry me a flipping river.  I gagged when I read she was honored to be in Tori's presence.  No offense to anyone, she reminds me in her statements of Paris Hilton and all the "good" she was going to do after being released from her little jail cell.  Talk is ever so cheap.  An insult to the family IMO

[Leroy]

I gagged too Sister -- how pathetic this woman is.  I dont really give a darn about her bad childhood. 

[Northern Rose]

Public had 'a right to know'

WOODSTOCK -- Woodstonians had plenty to say the day after the release of a flood of information pertaining to the Victoria "Tori" Stafford case.

In local coffee shops, residents poured over the newly released information in local and national newspapers - information the media had been unable to report on until Thursday. Nine months after the fact, local residents finally learned that Terri-Lynne McClintic had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder of Tori Stafford.

"I think it's a good thing -at least we know what is going on," local resident Mary DeSousa said. "We should know what is going on. We have a right to know."

The reason for the nine-month delay in the release of information rests with an appeal filed with the Supreme Court of Canada after a local judge partially lifted a sweeping ban on the information earlier this year.

Lawyers for the defence argued the ban was necessary to protect Michael Raff erty's right to a fair trial and launched the appeal.

On Dec. 9, the Supreme Court determined it would not hear the appeal, which would have prevented the release of important information pertaining to the case, including McClintic's plea.

Mae Livingstone of Woodstock agreed the public deserved to know the circumstances of the case and wasn't worried the information would impact the fair trial process for Rafferty, McClintic's co-accused.

"I think the public has a right to know what was done and what was said," she said.

One man agreed with the lift of the ban, if only to help parents teach their children about the dangers of talking to strangers.

"If there is something good to come of it, it's an opportunity to educate your children about the dangers out there," Peter Haloulos said.

Other disagreed with the released on information, including Janet Talbot and Kelly Wade.

"I think it affects his right to a free trial," Talbot worried.

Wade worried about the effects on Tori's family.

"Let her rest in peace," she said. Many residents, including DeSousa, expressed their sympathy for Tori Staff ord's family.

"What they are going through, it must be heartbreaking," she said.

She also commented on the fact that there is still little information released regarding Michael Raff erty's alleged role in Staff ord's death.

"It's a big question mark," she said. Meanwhile, Raff erty's lawyer, Dirk Derstine, said it's impossible to gauge the damage the information may have caused his client.

"I'm concerned people will see she pleaded guilty and therefore he must be guilty," he said on Sunday. "We'll have to forge ahead and see if it all works out."

Derstine said his client will be pleading not guilty plans to go trial, with the earliest date likely later next year.

Derstine also said he would prefer if his client was tried outside of Oxford, saying "people feel things much more" in the home community. He said he's hoping for "a serene environment" for his client to be tried in.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2887708

[Northern Rose]

Police have no comment on revelations

WOODSTOCK-- Local police are not talking about their investigation into the murder of Tori Stafford after some previously unreported details were released last week when a publication ban was partially lifted.

Woodstock Police Service offi- cials had no comment about the lift of the publication ban, which essentially kept all information about their investigation out of the public scope.


"We have a very serious case currently before the courts and the Woodstock Police Service has no comment to make at this point in time," Woodstock police Chief Rod Freeman said.

He referred media to the Attorney General's office for any further comment on the ban.

On April 30, the court revealed details of the police investigation into the little girl's disappearance that were not made public until Dec. 9 when the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal regarding the partial repeal of the publication ban.

According to court documents, police say they considered Tori's disappearance a possible abduction the day after she went missing. But at the time of the disappearance, police insisted the case was not an abduction until the Ontario Provincial Police arrived to help on April 17 -nine days after Tori went missing.

"We've addressed the AMBER Alert issues time and time again and we are confident of our decisions and actions taken at that time," Freeman said.

He made no further comment. Because of Raff erty's upcoming trial, much of the details of the police investigation still cannot be disclosed.

http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2889321

[Northern Rose]

Death penalty would bring closure


Re: "Don't add to the violence" (Letters, Dec 14).

Peter Huish is deeply saddened by demands to bring back the death penalty. Is he also deeply saddened that Tori Stafford's killer, guilty of first-degree murder, will probably be released from prison at age 55 and continue her life as though nothing bad had ever happened?

The death penalty would bring closure for parents who lost their children to premeditated murder. There would also be closure for them if the murderer spent the rest of his life in prison, no ifs, ands or buts.

Our legal system makes a mockery of a life sentence as lawyers pick away at its edges until their clients are once again set free.

Robert Williams Pointe Claire

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Death+penalty+would+bring+closure/3979873/story.html

[Tracygirl]

God Bless you Tori, Merry Christmas sweet girl.

My thoughts and prayers are with Toris loved ones today.

[Northern Rose]

Stafford's alleged killer seeks venue change

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/01/19/16948641.html