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

[Lovinlife]

What a beautiful little girl, God bless Tori!

[Lovinlife]

Same gist but a little bit more info: 

Mysterious car triggers tips in Tori case

Tori Stafford's mom cancels news conference -- dad steps in with statement

By RANDY RICHMOND

The London Free Press     

WOODSTOCK -- The mother of missing eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford yesterday broke a month-long vow to hold daily news conferences to highlight her child's abduction, after a night of "bad dreams."

After a short news conference held by her ex-husband, police swooped down on the streets surrounding Tara McDonald's house and began going door to door again conducting interviews.

Oxford Community police Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland wouldn't say if there was a particular reason investigators were on those streets again.

But she said police were getting many tips after the release Monday of a new video showing a station wagon whose driver may be a key witness in the April 8 abduction.

"They're still continuing to come in. This morning there were 2,568 and counting," Maitland said.

An OPP detective canvassing a street near McDonald's home said police received good tips on Monday from students at College Avenue secondary school, close to the site of the abduction, and would head back there today. 
 

As with many of the days since Tori went missing, only bits of clues into her disappearance and the police investigation into that disappearance surfaced yesterday.

Perhaps the most startling development of the day was the no-show on her own front lawn of Tori's mother.

About 15 minutes before the 1 p.m. news conference was to begin, Rodney Stafford showed up and went into his ex-wife's house.

He came out alone.

"Tara was up all night. I guess she was having some pretty bad dreams," he said.

Stafford then read a prepared statement.

He had decided not to continue his high school studies this term to dedicate his time to finding Tori, Stafford said.

He urged the public not to give up handing out flyers, ribbons and pamphlets, or stop arranging vigils and rallies.

Then Stafford spoke directly to the abductor or abductors.

"Victoria is just a little girl, a little girl with hopes, hopes and dreams . . . I am begging you not to take that away from her," Stafford said.

"No matter the reasoning behind this, Victoria herself does not deserve this. No child does."

Take his daughter to a mall, or store where she can tell someone who she is or to a pay phone and dial 911, he told the abductors.

Pausing to gather his composure, Stafford ended his short statement with another promise to his daughter.

"You call me your daddy for a reason, baby girl. I made you and I will defend you until I die."

Stafford didn't comment on a tape from a surveillance camera released by police Monday that shows a small to mid-sized dark coloured station wagon driving north on Fyfe Avenue.

Moments earlier, Tori and an unknown woman are seen walking north at the same spot.

"We'd like to question this person just to see what they saw," Maitland said.

She said she didn't know if the abductor and Tori passed in front of the car, or how many seconds after the pair walked through the scene the car passed.
 
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/05/06/9365276-sun.html

[Tracygirl]

Thanks for posting the news report. Where is this little one? Her fathers words are so sad...The mom is probably coming out of shock now, poor woman I feel for her.

[Edward]

She is mind/heart connected to her daughter. The nightmares are real.
The situation is real. She is awakened to that.

[cookie]

so sad....I feel so bad for these families with missing loved ones..how do they cope from day to day?

[canadianmonkey]

Unfortunately people are coping very well at all.  This is the newest article.  I feel badly for Victoria's Mom if she isn't involved with Tori's disapperance but this disappearence just keeps getting stranger.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/630325

[Tracygirl]

Unfortunately people are coping very well at all.  This is the newest article.  I feel badly for Victoria's Mom if she isn't involved with Tori's disapperance but this disappearence just keeps getting stranger.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/630325

They should get a family spokes person, but then that will most likely cause people to wonder. Poor woman....

[cookie]

Very sad for Tori and her family...

[victorian]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090507.wblatch0507/BNStory/National/home

Tori's mother deflects suggestions she might be a suspect
CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD

From Friday's Globe and Mail


May 7, 2009 at 10:02 PM EDT

WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Tara McDonald hinted Thursday that police consider her a suspect in the now month-long disappearance of her eight-year-old daughter, Victoria (Tori) Stafford.

During what has become a fixture since the little girl vanished on her way home from school on April 8 – Ms. McDonald's almost daily news conference on the front stoop of her small house – the 30-year-old mother was asked if detectives from the Ontario Provincial Police-led investigation “have ever actually come out and said to you they consider you a suspect?”

“Not blatantly, no,” Ms. McDonald replied. “Not flat out.”

But literally in the next breath, she began to back-pedal from that statement.
Victoria Stafford's mother Tara McDonald and father Rodney Stafford speak to reporters outside Tara's home in Woodstock, Ont., on May 6, 2009, four weeks after Victoria (Tori) was abducted.
Enlarge Image

Victoria Stafford's mother Tara McDonald and father Rodney Stafford speak to reporters outside Tara's home in Woodstock, Ont., on May 6, 2009, four weeks after Victoria (Tori) was abducted. (Dave Chidley/The Canadian Press)
The Globe and Mail

“Ummm, like I mean, they've said they have to rule out from the inside out first, and that's all they've said. You know, like I mean like I said, if something was wrong, then I'm sure I wouldn't be standing here right now.”

She has offered a similar explanation before when speaking of her polygraph test, never saying directly that she had passed, but rather that if she hadn't, she wouldn't be a free woman now.

Asked if she believes she is being treated more as a suspect than a victim, Ms. McDonald quickly replied, “Not by the police,” but complained of her treatment on the Internet, in particular, on Facebook sites, some of them set up to help find Tori.

“It's ridiculous,” she said. “It's absolutely ridiculous. And the point of the matter is, there's nobody to point a finger at, so point it at me or at my family, and I just think it's disgusting because there is absolutely no evidence pointing at me or any of my family members, at all.”

But she said that despite the accusations made on Facebook, no one in this town of 35,000 about 130 kilometres southwest of Toronto has said anything cruel to her in person.

When out in public, she said, “People have said to me, ‘You know people are looking at you,' and it doesn't faze me at all. Like some people have come up to us like acting like we're some kind of movie star, ‘Omigod I can't believe that it's you!' – they want to hug us and everything.

“Like you know, if they're offering their hugs and their prayers and their positive thoughts, then [okay], but nobody's ever had the balls to be brave enough to come up and say anything negative. No, no, no people just hide behind their computers and do that, the ones that have absolutely no jam,” she said.

She referred to the infamous mystery woman, captured in surveillance video walking with Tori from the school, and said, “The lady in the video, like I said, when the video first came out – I'm five-foot-nine, I weigh 175 pounds, there's absolutely no way [the woman is me].

“And there's absolutely no reason why I would have something done to my child, you know kidnap or other, and if I was going to have one child kidnapped, why not the other one?” Then, using the words “kidnap” and “protect” as though they were interchangeable, she added, “You know, why would I only protect Victoria and not Daryn [her 11-year-old son]? It just doesn't make sense.”

Ms. McDonald and her ex-husband, Rodney Stafford, appeared Thursday with Daryn. “We brought out some backup,” Mr. Stafford said with a warm smile, while Ms. McDonald joked that their son “felt left out because he hasn't got to come to any press conferences.”

Daryn said he wanted to show his new shirt – the three all wore T-shirts with a balloon painting done by Mr. Stafford over which a photograph of Tori has been superimposed.

Bright and articulate, Daryn was asked if his friends have been helpful. He said quietly that they're “being nice about this,” expressed gratitude that the teachers and counsellors at the school are being so kind, but added that “there's always kids at school who are also being really rude about it [his sister's disappearance]. And it's very upsetting.”

During the 20-minute news conference, the bespectacled boy stood between his parents, seemingly comfortable as his mother in particular was peppered with questions. He grinned when she described how his little sister was usually pokey leaving the school, even if he was yakking at her to hurry; the mere mention of Tori's name seemed to bring him pleasure and make him happy.

At least twice Thursday, Ms. McDonald appeared to dodge pointed questions by deflecting attention elsewhere.

When being asked about her daughter's leave-taking from Oliver Stephens school that day, for instance – which of the doors she usually used; who were the adults approved to pick her up – she said, “Sometimes it surprises me because all the parents at the school know whose kids belong to who, so you, and you have to call ahead of time to the school if you're going to be sending somebody different to pick up your child.

“There's normally a teacher's aide, a principal, somebody's out front of the school almost every single day, even before this mishap,” she said. “So normally, if a child was leaving with somebody that didn't belong to them, then some sort of alarm should have been raised.”

In less than a minute, however, Ms. McDonald was backtracking from that suggestion: “I'm not saying that they're [school officials] responsible for not seeing where Victoria went, but I'm saying there's a lot of parents, like when you go into the school, I know which, not all the kids, but in Tori and Daryn's grades, which kids belong to which parents.”

And it was shortly after she was asked, what with police seizing her family's computers weeks ago and officers appearing to be watching her house, if detectives had told her she was a suspect that Ms. McDonald cheerfully volunteered the fact that her brother John Jacklin's house in Calgary was searched on Wednesday.

“I don't even know if I should even be mentioning it,” she said, “but they searched his house and his mum's house out there Thursday, so they're being as thorough as they absolutely can be. Like he's way out in the middle of absolutely nowhere in Calgary, and the police went out and searched his house and his mum's house and everything out there, so I mean, they're doing everything they can.”

Mr. Jacklin had been in Woodstock, at his sister's side, until recently.

She said she didn't think the search came late in the investigation. “Well, he was here you know, so I mean, so if you think about it, like his mum was my dad's first wife, so she would have nothing to do with it, but the fact that they're out there and checking, we appreciate the fact that they're checking into everything.”

She said Mr. Jacklin was happy about the search. “He said you know that means they're being thorough. He wasn't offended whatsoever.”

[victorian]

*there is no web link to this article as it was pulled.

Tara McDonald's best friend speaks out
Woodstock Sentinel Review - Woodstock,ON,Canada
WOODSTOCK — She bears an uncanny resemblance to the abductor of Victoria ‘Tori’ Stafford in a police sketch and a surveillance video.

She’s been questioned repeatedly by police and they’ve searched her house.

She’s heard the accusations by Woodstock residents, and seen herself convicted online on Facebook.

She’s the best friend of Tori’s mother, Tara McDonald, and accompanied her on an infamous limousine ride.

She’s said nothing publicly, until now.

Sara Leeper told The Free Press yesterday — contrary to all the rumours — she had nothing to do with the abduction of Tori Stafford.

“It’s not me,” she said in an exclusive interview. “I haven’t done anything. It’s ridiculous.”

Leeper, a housewife and mother, has been thrust into the spotlight by a series of events that began with Tori’s abduction April 8.

Leeper’s appearances at news conferences and vigils prompted members of Facebook groups to note the similarity between her and an unknown woman seen with with Tori on a surveillance tape the afternoon she disappeared.

The accusations intensified after police released a composite sketch of the woman and further description from a witness’s account on April 21.

Many Woodstock residents have said they tipped off the police about the similarities between Leeper and the mystery woman.

Neighbours said police have interviewed them about the Leepers.

One father said police asked his children about seeing any “extra kids” on the street.

Police have been to her house three times, Leeper said.

“The cops keeping asking me, ‘you have to know something,’ ” Leeper said. “I have nothing.”

Police have searched her house, with no need for a warrant, she said.

“I let them in. I am trying to be co-operative.”

She spoke openly with The Free Press. The only question she didn’t answer is if she had taken a lie detector test.

Sitting on her spacious backyard deck on the modern home she rents, Leeper described a normal family life disrupted by the accusations.

Her husband works in a body shop and she’s licensed to sell cars. They raise a girl, 9, and a boy, 13, from her first marriage.

“We’re pretty normal. We try to make the best lives for our children.”

She and McDonald have known each other since Grade 6.

“Tara and I were really super close when we were younger. We are close but we have taken different paths.”

Those different paths took Leeper out of Woodstock. For the past six years, the pair kept in touch mainly by Internet and phone calls.

Leeper missed her hometown, but her husband and children didn’t want to move.

“I fought tooth and nail to come here,” she said, with a laugh. “I love Woodstock. I still do.”

She moved a week before Tori was abducted — another sign, say her accusers, of something suspicious.

In that week, though, Leeper said, she didn’t get a chance to meet Tori.

Police say Tori knew her abductor well enough to leave school with her.

“Tori couldn’t pick me out of a crowd,” Leeper said. “I don’t even know Tori.”

Police have asked Leeper to account for her whereabouts the day of the abduction.

“I don’t remember. Got up, put the kids on the bus, maybe cleaned the house, maybe got groceries,” she told The Free Press.

The afternoon Tori was abducted, she was waiting at home for her own children to get off the school bus — as she does every day, Leeper said.

When police released the composite sketch, her first reaction was “oh oh,” Leeper said, because of the similarities.

“Absolutely I did because I am Tara’s best friend. This is an obvious conclusion to come to.”

But Leeper said there are several differences between her appearance and the descriptions of the abductor given by police.

The abductor, police say, is about 5’2” and about 125 lbs.

Leeper said she’s 5’5” and 155 lbs.

“I am no little toothpick.”

The abductor is described as between 19 and 25.

Leeper is 31.

The abductor is described as white, and Leeper is half Ojibway.

The abductor has long straight hair. Leeper’s is curly.

The abductor didn’t wear glasses. Leeper said she wears sunglasses outside at all times because of one “lazy eye” that inhibits her ability to focus in daylight.

At home, she wears reading glasses, “24/7,” Leeper said.

Leeper backed up McDonald’s story that on April 23 they and two others were whisked by limo to meet a mysterious benefactor in Toronto who offered to help with any ransom money.

It was “exactly the way Tara explained it. It happened. We were nervous. You do what you can.”

Occasionally, Leeper will show up before or during the daily news conferences McDonald holds on her front lawn.

“They can say whatever they want about me. I am not going to desert my friend,” Leeper said.

“The cops, it’s no secret they suspect her (McDonald), which is crazy. When it comes to being a mother, she is exceptional. Because I am her best friend, they automatically suspect me.”

Leeper said she’s been tempted to respond online to allegations.

“I haven’t been replying to them because I don’t want to give them any more ammunition. They are going off on one picture.”

Leeper said she’s co-operated with police, letting them search her house without a warrant.

Hanging on the back of a chair in full view during that search was her own white jacket, a different style than the one worn by the abductor, Leeper said.

“My white coat has burgundy sleeves. It is not stylish. It is to go tobogganing with children in

[can]

Thanks for the above articles victorian.

[Lovinlife]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/05/08/9392746-sun.html

Friend of Tori's mom resembles abductor

By RANDY RICHMOND, LONDON FREE PRESS

The London Free Press     
 




At left is a composite drawing of a mystery woman sought in the disappearance of Tori Stafford. At right is a photograph of Sara Leeper, best friend of Tori's mother, Tara McDonald.


WOODSTOCK -- She bears an uncanny resemblance to the abductor of Victoria (Tori) Stafford in a police sketch and a surveillance video.

She's been questioned repeatedly by police and they've searched her house.

She's heard the accusations by Woodstock residents, and seen herself convicted online on Facebook.

She's the best friend of Tori's mother, Tara McDonald, and accompanied her on an infamous limousine ride.

She's said nothing publicly, until now.

Sara Leeper told The Free Press yesterday -- contrary to all the rumours -- she had nothing to do with the abduction of Tori Stafford. 
 

"It's not me," she said in an exclusive interview. "I haven't done anything. It's ridiculous."

Leeper, a housewife and mother, has been thrust into the spotlight by a series of events that began with Tori's abduction April 8.

Leeper's appearances at news conferences and vigils prompted members of Facebook groups to note the similarity between her and an unknown woman seen with with Tori on a surveillance tape the afternoon she disappeared.

The accusations intensified after police released a composite sketch of the woman and further description from a witness's account on April 21.

Many Woodstock residents have said they tipped off the police about the similarities between Leeper and the mystery woman.

Neighbours said police have interviewed them about the Leepers.

One father said police asked his children about seeing any "extra kids" on the street.

Police have been to her house three times, Leeper said.

"The cops keeping asking me, 'you have to know something,' " Leeper said. "I have nothing."

Police have searched her house, with no need for a warrant, she said.

"I let them in. I am trying to be co-operative."

She spoke openly with The Free Press. The only question she didn't answer is if she had taken a lie detector test.

Sitting on her spacious backyard deck on the modern home she rents, Leeper described a normal family life disrupted by the accusations.

Her husband works in a body shop and she's licensed to sell cars. They raise a girl, 9, and a boy, 13, from her first marriage.

"We're pretty normal. We try to make the best lives for our children."

She and McDonald have known each other since Grade 6.

"Tara and I were really super close when we were younger. We are close but we have taken different paths."

Those different paths took Leeper out of Woodstock. For the past six years, the pair kept in touch mainly by Internet and phone calls.

Leeper missed her hometown, but her husband and children didn't want to move.

"I fought tooth and nail to come here," she said, with a laugh. "I love Woodstock. I still do."

She moved a week before Tori was abducted -- another sign, say her accusers, of something suspicious.

In that week, though, Leeper said, she didn't get a chance to meet Tori.

Police say Tori knew her abductor well enough to leave school with her.

"Tori couldn't pick me out of a crowd," Leeper said. "I don't even know Tori."

Police have asked Leeper to account for her whereabouts the day of the abduction.

"I don't remember. Got up, put the kids on the bus, maybe cleaned the house, maybe got groceries," she told The Free Press.

The afternoon Tori was abducted, she was waiting at home for her own children to get off the school bus -- as she does every day, Leeper said.

When police released the composite sketch, her first reaction was "oh oh," Leeper said, because of the similarities.

"Absolutely I did because I am Tara's best friend. This is an obvious conclusion to come to."

But Leeper said there are several differences between her appearance and the descriptions of the abductor given by police.

The abductor, police say, is about 5'2" and about 125 lbs.

Leeper said she's 5'5" and 155 lbs.

"I am no little toothpick."

The abductor is described as between 19 and 25.

Leeper is 31.

The abductor is described as white, and Leeper is half Ojibway.

The abductor has long straight hair. Leeper's is curly.

The abductor didn't wear glasses. Leeper said she wears sunglasses outside at all times because of one "lazy eye" that inhibits her ability to focus in daylight.

At home, she wears reading glasses, "24/7," Leeper said.

Leeper backed up McDonald's story that on April 23 they and two others were whisked by limo to meet a mysterious benefactor in Toronto who offered to help with any ransom money.

It was "exactly the way Tara explained it. It happened. We were nervous. You do what you can."

Occasionally, Leeper will show up before or during the daily news conferences McDonald holds on her front lawn.

"They can say whatever they want about me. I am not going to desert my friend," Leeper said.

"The cops, it's no secret they suspect her (McDonald), which is crazy. When it comes to being a mother, she is exceptional. Because I am her best friend, they automatically suspect me."

Leeper said she's been tempted to respond online to allegations.

"I haven't been replying to them because I don't want to give them any more ammunition. They are going off on one picture."

Leeper said she's co-operated with police, letting them search her house without a warrant.

Hanging on the back of a chair in full view during that search was her own white jacket, a different style than the one worn by the abductor, Leeper said.

"My white coat has burgundy sleeves. It is not stylish. It is to go tobogganing with children in."

At first, Leeper said, she treated the accusations as a joke.

Now, she worries about their long-term effect.

"I like peace in my life. This is absolutely destroying me. You think I will be able to get a job in this town after this?"

They can say whatever they want about me. I am not going to desert my friend.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Other developments yesterday in the Tori Stafford case:

-- Police in Calgary searched the house of her brother, John Jacklin's, and his mother, Tori's mother, Tara McDonald said."The fact that they are out and checking, we appreciate that they are looking into everything," McDonald said. Jacklin had been helping McDonald the past two weeks, but had to return to Calgary earlier this week, McDonald said.

-- Tori's school was given a list of three people who were allowed to pick her up each day, McDonald said. Those three were herself, her boyfriend's mother and a girlfriend who lived in a townhouse complex with her at the beginning of the school year, she said. McDonald said she did not call the school to give anyone else permission to pick up Tori that day. "Normally, if a child was leaving with somebody that didn't belong to them, then some sort of alarm should have been raised," she said.
 

[Lovinlife]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/05/06/9371936-cp.html

WOODSTOCK, Ont. - Since becoming a mom, Tara McDonald has spent every Mother's Day with her two children by her side. But with her eight-year-old daughter Victoria Stafford missing for a month now, McDonald hopes for just one thing this Sunday: to get her daughter back.

"I just wish these people, this person, whoever it is, would just bring her home - let her go," she said Wednesday at a news conference outside her home.

McDonald fondly recalled the Mother's Day card that her daughter - who every calls Tori - made for her last year, and said she will likely spend this Sunday at her mother's place with her 11-year-old son Daryn.

"I really hope to have my child home for Mother's Day," she said.

Tori has missing since April 8, when she didn't return home after school.

Massive search efforts have continued throughout this small southwestern Ontario city, but local and provincial police have failed to turn up significant clues into her suspected abduction.

Standing outside McDonald's tiny white-panelled house, Tori's parents looked the same as they said they felt: drained.

"I'm just at the frustrated point," said McDonald, her pale face framed by large sunglasses that couldn't hide the fact she was on the verge of tears.

"I've hit the sad, the angry. I'm totally frustrated. My main concern is our daughter. Who has her? Is she being taken care of? And why is it that you want our child?"

Rodney Stafford, the girl's father who is separated from McDonald, joined her at Wednesday's news conference, wearing a homemade T-shirt emblazoned with "Daddy's Little Girl" and adorned with a painting he'd created of floating purple balloons and Tori's photo placed just below his heart.

Stafford said questions about his daughter's whereabouts stream through his head "all day, every day."

Tori's parents have continued to speak about the bubbly blond girl in hopes of keeping the case in the public eye, but like police, they too had no new information to share Wednesday.

The Grade 3 pupil was last seen in a grainy surveillance video walking with a dark-haired woman wearing a puffy white coat.

Police say they've determined the girl and her suspected abductor were walking away from her school and toward the parking lot of a nearby nursing home.

Investigators say they have received more than 2,500 tips since releasing a video this week of a dark-coloured car they are calling "a vehicle of interest." They're eager to speak to the car's driver, who passed by the abduction scene moments after Tori disappeared.

A police investigator joined the media Wednesday to record the parents' news conference on video.

"It doesn't bother me, I don't really think about it," McDonald said when asked what she thought of the surveillance, adding she believes "police are doing what they can," in the search for Tori.

The officer later explained he's been sent to several of the news conferences to collect information.

A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever abducted Tori.

A composite sketch of the woman seen on the video suggests the abductor may be 19 to 25 years old, about five feet one, weighing around 125 pounds, with long dark hair tightly pulled back in a ponytail.

Tori's disappearance has also been featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted."

[Lovinlife]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/05/07/9380111-sun.html


Police seize Tori Stafford mom's computer

By RANDY RICHMOND, LONDON FREE PRESS

The London Free Press

WOODSTOCK -- Police seized and are holding the computer of the mother of missing eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford, she confirmed yesterday, but her ex-husband's family seems to have kept theirs.

But neither the seizure nor police surveillance of her house bothers her, said Tara McDonald, who focused not on the stories swirling around her, but on getting Tori home.

"My computer was seized . . . My mom's computer has been seized, any computer the kids have had access to has been seized."

Police told her they took the computers to see if anyone had sent strange messages to Tori or her brother Daryn, 10, either through e-mail or children's websites such as Webkinz and Build-a-Bear, she said.

"That's what they were looking into -- anything that didn't make sense," she said.

Asked if any of his family members had their computers taken, Tori's father and McDonald's ex-husband, Rodney Stafford, said, "No, not that I know of." 
 

As the pair spoke, an officer with Oxford Community police videotaped their comments, as he has for weeks.

McDonald said the daily police presence, including the stream of police cars that drive through her neighbourhood and park on the street, doesn't bother her.

"I don't really think about it. I just come and go in my regular routine and I don't pay attention."

Tori was last seen April 8 leaving Oliver Stephens elementary school on Fyfe Ave., where she's in Grade 3. She was seen on videotape, shot from a surveillance camera at a nearby high school, walking north up Fyfe with an unknown woman.

Her parents expressed surprise yesterday at how their little girl, known for being "pokey," made it off the school grounds so fast with a stranger no one noticed.

The videotape from the high school shows Tori and the unidentified woman walking north on Fyfe at 3:32 p.m., about two minutes after the girl left school.

"That seems very strange," McDonald said. When they lived two doors from the school, her daughter didn't get home until about 3:45 p.m. she said. "She's pokey. She takes her time putting her coat on. She talks to all her friends. I found it very, very odd that at 3:32 she was fully dressed, had her bag and was up the hill."

Stafford said he can't believe parents, bus drivers, classmates and others watched Tori leave with a perfect stranger without noticing something amiss.

"Somebody has had to see something. Now, I'd just like somebody to start talking and we can bring out daughter home."

For the first time since she began holding daily news conferences, McDonald missed one Tuesday.

Yesterday, she gave short answers weighed with exhaustion.

"Up until 10 minutes ago, I wasn't planning on coming out here today. I'm drained," she said.

With Mother's Day looming, McDonald said she's becoming frustrated. This will be the first Mother's Day spent without both her children, she said. "I would really hope to have my child home for Mother's Day," she said.

[Tracygirl]

Did I read correctly, McDonalds Grandfather is at the nursing home next to the school? I am completely guessing, but I wonder if the person who took her posed as someone sent by the mom or mom's family to get Tori because Grandpa was ill and about to die? Maybe that is why she walked away with this person and seemed to not lolly-gag. So this would be someone that knew of the granddad there, an employee or another residents family member? If I knew the mom I would ask if someone at the nursing home had taken notice of Tori, maybe talked with her or if maybe family of another resident did. Just a guess

[cookie]

good thought Tracygirl! anything is possible..

[Edward]

Good thout TracyGirl..I had No idea grandpa was right next door to the school..

If it had been mom picking up Tori somebody would have recognized her.. The police are chasing there taails and wasting time by looking at the mom..
jmho

[cookie]

Good thout TracyGirl..I had No idea grandpa was right next door to the school..

If it had been mom picking up Tori somebody would have recognized her.. The police are chasing there taails and wasting time by looking at the mom..
jmho

I'm not feeling that the mom is involved in Tori's disappearance either...

[Edward]

I must have 2 left thumbs today.. Sorry for all the typos.. lol

[Tracygirl]

good thought Tracygirl! anything is possible..

I hope the police have thought of things like this and are investigating outside of the obvious. Maybe someone in Canada can call and ask them if they have considered this option. It was a guess but you just never know.

That is my newest saying, I think I have said that in 3 different threads so far, lol.