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

[Northern Rose]

Flyers pleading for Tori Stafford's safe return found in accused's home


In the days, weeks and months following the disappearance of Victoria (Tori) Stafford, hundreds of flyers of the smiling eight-year-old girl were plastered all over Woodstock, Ont., with the hope that she would someday return home.

Photos of the pretty little girl were passed out on street corners and tacked onto lampposts and car windows in the small city, 135 kilometres west of Toronto.

One of these flyers ended up in the home of a man currently on trial for killing the Grade 3 student, his murder trial heard Thursday.

Investigators found the poster tucked away in a kitchen drawer of the threestory Woodstock home Michael Rafferty shared with his mother on May 22, 2009 - two days after he and ex-girlfriend TerriLynne McClintic were charged with murder.

A duplicate of that flyer was also found in the trash bin of McClintic's home.

 ::snipping2::


During the search, police found a black pea coat in the front closet, like the one McClintic testified was used to cover Tori in the car during the kidnapping.

Police also found a bluehandle Mastercraft knife that was missing a blade, similar to one McClintic described using to cut out pieces of Rafferty's car back seat after the girl had been killed.

Investigators also found water bottles with caps similar to ones found in the bags containing Tori's body; a number of empty unlabelled pill bottles and an Oxycodone prescription in his name.

The trial will continue Tuesday.

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Flyers+pleading+Tori+Stafford+safe+return+found+accused+home/6421062/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Michael Rafferty Trial: DNA Evidence To Be Outlined At Tori Stafford Trial

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/04/10/michael-rafferty-trial-dna-tori-stafford_n_1413997.html

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty lawyer ill; trial adjourned

LONDON, Ont. – The trial of a man accused of killing Victoria Stafford won’t sit today in London, Ont., because one of the lawyers is ill.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Heeney told jurors that Michael Rafferty’s lawyer Dirk Derstine is sick with the flu.

 ::snipping2::

http://metronews.ca/news/canada/97724/rafferty-lawyer-ill-trial-adjourned/

[MuffyBee]

Praying for justice for Tori. 

Tori's candles:

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=Tori

[Northern Rose]

Update From Rafferty Trial

Testimony at the Michael Rafferty trial today continues to focus on women who knew and/or dated the accused in the years prior to the disappearance of death of Woodstock 8-year-old Tori Stafford...

At the same time trying to prove that the place where Tori's remains were found, wasn't selected by accident.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.cjbk.com/LocalNews/Story.aspx?ID=1688124

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty knew highway leading to crime scene well, witness tells court

Michael Rafferty was familiar with the north-south highway that leads to the secluded rural spot where 8-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford’s body would later be found, and he was driven up and down the road many times, his murder trial was told Tuesday.

The evidence came from prosecution witness Jennifer Etsell, a medical secretary who lives in Hanover, north of the small town of Mount Forest. A few minutes’ drive southeast of Mount Forest is the patch of woodland where Tori was allegedly raped before being killed in April, 2009.

Ms. Etsell, 30, told the jury that in March 2006, she met Mr. Rafferty on the dating web site PlentyofFish.com.

“He said he was looking for a Christian girl,” she testified. “He said he wore his heart on his sleeve and was a ladies man.”

He was living in Guelph at the time, about an hour’s drive from Mount Forest, and during the four or five months that the couple dated that year, Ms. Etsell would drive down to Guelph to see him almost every weekend, she said.

Sometimes she would stay over in Guelph, but more often she would bring him back up Highway 6 to her home in Hanover.

For most of that time he had neither a car nor a driver’s licence, so she usually drove. And Ms. Etsell’s purpose as a witness was evident – to buttress the prosecution’s case that when Tori was abducted and taken to the crime scene, it was no accident that Mr. Rafferty selected the spot that he did.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rafferty-knew-highway-leading-to-crime-scene-well-witness-tells-court/article2405142/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A%20RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=Home&utm_content=2405142

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford trial hears that Michael Rafferty was familiar with area where body was found

LONDON, Ont. — Three years before the remains of Victoria (Tori) Stafford were found in a rural field near Mount Forest, Ont., the man accused in her death regularly travelled through that town, court heard Tuesday.

 ::snipping2::

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/17/tori-stafford-trial-hears-that-michael-rafferty-was-familiar-with-area-where-body-was-found/

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty trial hears from former girlfriends of accused killer

Warning: Story contains disturbing details

LONDON– As the first-degree murder trial of Michael Rafferty resumed on Tuesday, the court heard from more of his former friends and girlfriends.

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http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2012/04/17/rafferty-trial-hears-from-former-girlfriends-of-accused-killer

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty's phone records revealed to jury

LONDON, ONT. - The murder trial of Michael Rafferty was shown records Tuesday of calls made from his cellphone on April 8, 2009, near the area where Victoria Stafford's body was later discovered.

Police tracked down the records after they determined Rafferty had exchanged his damaged BlackBerry at a Bell store in London's Masonville Place mall on May 14.

The court was shown a security video of a customer resembling Rafferty in the store on that date.

Documents showed his BlackBerry was sent to Research in Motion in Waterloo and he was given a loaner.

Police used a warrant to get a record of Rafferty's phone calls made during the period.

The court was shown a lengthy list of calls, including ones made in the area of Mount Forest and Guelph on April 8.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.delhinewsrecord.com/2012/04/17/crown-to-tie-rafferty-to-area-where-toris-body-found

[MuffyBee]

Tori's Candles 

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=Tori

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty 'not stressed out'

UPDATE: 12:50 The day eight-year-old Tori Stafford disappeared, Michael Rafferty changed his Facebook page to read "Everything good is coming my way."

Rafferty's first-degree murder trial shifted Wednesday to focus on his Facebook page and social media interactions.

Cassondra Harnum, a former Guelph resident, told the court she had known Rafferty for about six years in 2009.

They met on a bus and dated for a while, but by spring 2009 they mainly communicated by MSN and Facebook.

Harnum said in early April 2009 Rafferty posted on his Facebook status, "Where are my old friends?" and a plea to get in touch.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/raffertytrial/2012/04/18/19648401.html

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty seemed fine after interrogation: Ex-lover

LONDON, ONT. - Michael Rafferty, 31, seemed fine after being questioned by police about the disappearance of eight-year-old Tori Stafford, his murder trial heard Wednesday.

Jessica Meloche, one of several women Rafferty dated in 2009, said she met Rafferty on April 12, 2009, through the online dating service Plenty of Fish. They quickly became a couple.

Meloche said Rafferty spoke of helping a troubled teen named Terri-Lynne who was being targeted in the Stafford investigation.

 ::snipping2::

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/national/2012/04/18/19648676.html

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty bragged 'good things coming his way,' court hears

LONDON, Ont. — Hours before eight-year-old Victoria Stafford was abducted and killed, the man accused in her death bragged online that good things were coming his way.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120418/041812_stafford_trial/20120418/?hub=CP24Home

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty cheery on Facebook the day Tori vanished
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/04/18/rafferty-stafford-girlfriends.html

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford trial: Accused a prolific Facebook user, court hears

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/18/tori-stafford-trial-accused-a-prolific-facebook-user-court-hears/

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty linked to escort service

LONDON, Ont. -- A woman who thought she had an exclusive relationship with accused child killer Michael Rafferty agreed to set up an escort service and give him the money, jurors in his murder trial heard Friday.

The former girlfriend, Charity Spitzig, testified she worked as an escort and gave Rafferty more than $16,000 in the six months before eight-year-old Tori Stafford's slaying.

That sum included $500 deposited into Rafferty's account the day the eight-year-old Woodstock girl was abducted.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3540673

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford trial: Cellphone record shows gap during abduction, murder


LONDON, Ont. — Michael Rafferty was widely known as someone who was always on his cellphone but on the day Victoria (Tori) Stafford went missing, records show several gaps in his BlackBerry usage, his first-degree murder trial heard Thursday.

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http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Tori+Stafford+trial+Cellphone+record+shows+during+abduction+murder/6486178/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Week eight of Rafferty trial begins

The trial of Michael Rafferty, accused of murdering eight-year-old Tori Stafford of Woodstock three years ago, moves into its eighth week at the Middlesex Courthouse in downtown London, ON Tuesday.

Justice Thomas Heeney and Crown and defence lawyers will be in attendance in courtroom 21, but there will be no real progress to speak of Tuesday.  That's because they will be discussing a "legal issue" in the absence of the jury.  While reporters and members of the public can be in the courtroom, what is discussed there Tuesday is under a strict, automatic publication ban and cannot be broadcast until the jury hears the details.

Court will reconvene in "open court," with the jury there, on Wednesday.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.newstalk1010.com/News/localnews/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10374102

[Northern Rose]

Rafferty trial hears legal arguments

The jury in the first-degree murder trial of Michael Rafferty will not sit Tuesday.

The day has been set aside for court to hear legal arguments, which will remain under a publication ban until the jury begins deliberations.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/raffertytrial/2012/04/24/19670396.html

[Northern Rose]

Tori Stafford accused contacted McClintic in detention
WARNING: This story contains disturbing details

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/25/tori-stafford-rafferty-murder-trial.html