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

[Northern Rose]

Wow, thanks for those articles very interesting.

You are welcome.  I am hoping tomorrow will bring some closure.

[no rose colored glasses]

Wow, thanks for those articles very interesting.

You are welcome.  I am hoping tomorrow will bring some closure.

Me too, I'm confused, if this Terri-Lynne is helping police why has this child's remains not been found? Does she not remember where they put Tori's body, or is this just a game she is playing with police?

[Tracygirl]

NoRose thank you for posting the interview with Tara. It is shameful how she was treated and she has every right to consider holding these people accountable. Her son Darrin seems like a well mannered  and sweet little boy, why did they upset him like that? She deserves to hear an apology from not only the police but many people on the internet that made a horrible, nightmare situation so much worse. 

I could say more, but it is nothing but commentary and you all know how I stand, lol.

I want to those reading this thread, if you wouldnt mind popping into the Amber thread and reading, maybe leaving a comment of support for the family, we have an aunt and a grandmother posting with us. There is also some theories being kicked around and we could use your smart monkey minds.

Thanks!

[Northern Rose]

Wow, thanks for those articles very interesting.

You are welcome.  I am hoping tomorrow will bring some closure.

Me too, I'm confused, if this Terri-Lynne is helping police why has this child's remains not been found? Does she not remember where they put Tori's body, or is this just a game she is playing with police?

She may have been stoned out of her mind and can not remember or is just playing.  What matters is that they find Tori and all involved do the time.

[maureen]

thanks again N Rose for all your hard work in keeping us updated!! it is much much appreciated!

[Bearlyhere]

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1123343.html

Farm field focus of search
Police bring Tori Stafford’s accused kidnapper to help with hunt for body
By MICHAEL OLIVEIRA and ALLISON JONES The Canadian Press
Fri. May 22 - 7:58 AM

The search for Victoria Stafford’s body focused on a farmer’s field Thursday, where the woman charged with abducting the Grade 3 student and being an accessory to her murder was taken by police who had investigated the site only one day earlier.

Terri-Lynne McClintic was seen sitting slumped down in the back of an unmarked police vehicle, hands behind her back, as it left the area near Fergus, Ont. — about an hour east of where Victoria, known as Tori, went missing six weeks ago.

"She’s doing everything she can to assist the police fully in their investigation and to try to help them find Tori and to bring her home," said McClintic’s lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy.

McClintic had been scheduled to go out with police Thursday to aid in the search, said LeRoy, who added she did not have permission to address the allegations against her client.

Several officers at the scene spent some time examining an area under a large tree, a spot where police had been the day before with a K-9 unit in the search for the eight-year-old’s body. A forensics vehicle arrived on the scene Thursday afternoon.

The effort to bring Tori home safely turned into a grim recovery operation Wednesday after two people in her hometown of Woodstock, Ont., were charged in her disappearance.

McClintic, 18, is charged with abduction, and being an accessory and Michael Rafferty, 28, is charged with first-degree murder and abduction.

Rafferty and McClintic next appear in court May 28.

Only about a kilometre away from the farmer’s field, police sealed off a large garbage bin, calling it an item of interest.

Several officers were dispatched to watch over the scene — a move that came as a shock to Dean Smith, whose property houses the bin.

He said he returned from work to find a commotion and told police they were welcome to search the bin, which he said is emptied every few weeks and had been used the previous night.

"I have a nine-year-old daughter. It’s sickening," he said.

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino told Toronto radio station CFRB that evidence led police to search the area.

Court documents suggest police Tori died the same day she was taken.

"It’s hard," Tori’s dad, Rodney Stafford, said Thursday. "But without being able to see a body . . . I still have hope.

"I am prepared to hear the worst, I am. But I don’t want to."

He spoke with Tori’s mother, Tara McDonald, Thursday and said his ex-wife "seemed rather upset." Though she had been holding daily news conferences in the past few weeks McDonald did not speak to the media Wednesday or Thursday, opting to grieve in private.

While Stafford was understandably shaken by news of the arrests, hearing McClintic’s name didn’t come as a surprise, he said.

About two weeks into the investigation a friend of his, Jessica McDonald, told him she was suspicious about her neighbour, Terri-Lynne McClintic.

"She gave me a lot of pretty specific details," Stafford said.

Police have provided few details on the accused or the evidence against them. Neighbours and acquaintances have talked about the couple.

McDonald said she became suspicious of her neighbour in the days following Tori’s disappearance.

"She was acting funny, just some of the things she was doing and saying," McDonald said Thursday. "I was 95 per cent sure it was her by Easter Sunday."

A surveillance video showed Tori walking outside her school with a woman with long, dark hair and around the time it was released to the public McClintic cut her hair to shoulder length, saying she had gotten gum in her hair, McDonald said.

She said McClintic and her co-accused were in a romantic relationship, though she did not know how long they had been a couple. Rafferty bought McClintic hair dye that she never got a chance to use, McDonald said.

When McClintic appeared in court Wednesday her hair was in cornrows.

Easter Sunday was also the day that McClintic was arrested on an unrelated breach of probation, McDonald said.

She hadn’t seen the surveillance video at that point so she went to the police station and asked to see it and believed the woman on the tape in the white, puffy jacket to be her neighbour.

"Her body language is very distinguishing," McDonald said. "I could tell Terri-Lynne a block and a half away by the way she walks."

McClintic moved in next door to McDonald two months ago with her mother, Carol. McDonald said they were "going through a rough time."

"Once they paid their rent they had nothing. . . . It’s rough when you’re starting over sometimes."

As McDonald’s suspicions were aroused she asked Carol McClintic if her daughter had a white coat, and she replied that she used to have a white parka but had thrown it away, McDonald said.

McDonald’s friend Craig Racine, who is a frequent visitor to McDonald’s house, made up a story on one of the days after Tori’s disappearance, but before McClintic’s arrest, that he needed to borrow her laundry facilities.

Shortly after he took a bundle of clothes over police arrived, doing door-to-door canvasses. McClintic hid in the bathroom, Racine said.

He tried to coax her out, saying: "You didn’t take the little girl, did you?" to which McClintic replied: "No."

Only hours before Tori went missing, the status update line on Rafferty’s Facebook profile read: "Everything good is comming (sic) my way."

[Bearlyhere]

I say let Tori's father have at him and then give her mom a chance with him.

 

[can]

I was only able to read yesterday and I so appreciate all the information you wonderful Monkeys bring to this thread.

Since the area where they are searching was known to Rafferty, it's possible that McClintic was only in the area once hence the difficulty zeroing in on the correct area immediately. 

I heard on the news this morning the judge's order for McClintic to be with police to assist in search expired last night @ midnight.

Sure hope the police have all they need to find Tori today and return her to her loved ones.

[Northern Rose]

OPP using all resources available in search for body of Tori Stafford
by David Meyer

WELLINGTON CTY. -

One of the most intensive pol­ice searches here in years here continued early Friday morning south of Fergus as OPP officers looked for the remains of 8-year-old Tori Stafford.

She was abducted in Wood­stock April 8 and that created a province-wide search for her abductors.

On Wednesday, the search by helicopter began in Welling­ton County.

At a press conference in Woodstock that afternoon, Ox­ford Community Police Service Chief Ron Fraser formally an­nounced that Michael Thomas Rafferty, 28, was charged with first degree murder and ab­duction of a child under 16, and his girlfriend, Terry Lynne Mc­Clintic, 18, was being charged with accessory after the fact for murder and abduction of a child under 16.

While that was taking place, a police helicopter was doing ground searches centred in the Rockwood area and later ex­panded to north of Guelph. It has now  been confirmed that McClintic is helping police in the search.

On Thursday afternoon, pol­ice officers located and sealed a dumpster just south of the intersection of County Road 22 and Jones Baseline.

But there was no announce­ment of the finding of Staf­ford’s body.

Perth County media rela­tions Constable Glen Child­erley, covering for local OPP media spokesmen, said in an interview only that that the dump­ster, which was sealed, was “of interest.”

In fact, Childerley said the ground search for Stafford was continuing, and he added that the OPP was using all the resources it needs to find Stafford’s remains.

That included the Canine Unit, the Emergency Response Team, Detectives, and road patrol police.

Childerley said a likely rea­son Wellington County was being searched was there were tips that Stafford’s body might be found in the area, but he added that searches are con­tinuing in other places too. He said police will check out all tips until Stafford’s body is found.

As for the dumpster, he said, “We don’t know if there’s anything in there.”

Early Friday morning a source at the OPP said there was no change in the status of the search, which  continues.

http://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/index.cfm?page=detail&itmno=3441

[Northern Rose]

Tori's mother says she wants her daughter's killers "dead," as search continues for her body
Jamie Pulfer and 680News staff  | Friday, May 22nd, 2009 7:53 am

Home > News > Headlines > More
Tori's mother says she wants her daughter's killers "dead," as search continues for her body
Jamie Pulfer and 680News staff  | Friday, May 22nd, 2009 7:53 am Tori Stafford's mother is speaking out about the way police treated her after her daughter disappeared.

Tara McDonald lashed out at police and those charged in the death of her eight-year old little girl as she told the London Free Press "my daughter's not coming home.  I want the killers dead".

McDonald said she and her boyfriend were targeted by investigators for 42 days.

"Three times I was interviewed by police [...] they said 'we know it's you' [...] with one telling her 'you are my prime suspect,'" she explained.

McDonald added she can barely bring herself to think about the final hours of her "beautiful little princess" and has refused to make funeral arrangements until she sees her daughter's body.

Michael Rafferty, 28, has been charged with the first degree murder of Tori, while his 18-year-old girlfriend Terri-Lynn McClintic has been charged as an accessory.

Little Tori vanished April 8 after leaving her school in Woodstock.  In a surveillance video she was seen with a woman wearing a puffy white jacket.

Meantime, the search for Tori's body has been meandering across farmland north of Guelph.

At this point, it's unclear if McClintic, who was helpling police with the search, will be involved Friday because the judge's order to allow her to accompany OPP officers expired 10 p.m. Thursday.

A dumpster in the area was loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck Thursday and led away by the OPP.

http://www.680news.com/news/headlines/more.jsp?content=20090522_075213_6928

[Northern Rose]

Suspect helping police in search for Tori
Updated: Thu May. 21 2009 11:53:22 PM


The female suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Victoria Stafford has been accompanying police as they urgently search for the remains of the young victim.

Reporters spotted Terri-Lynne McClintic in an unmarked police vehicle and in an OPP helicopter as the search focused on an area between Guelph and Fergus, Ont.

The lawyer for the 18-year-old woman facing charges of abduction and being an accessory after to fact to the murder says her client is co-operating with police in the intensive search for the eight-year-old Woodstock girl's remains.

"I can tell you that she is doing it voluntarily, she feels a real obligation to do this, and genuinely wants to help," Jeanine Leroy told CTV News on Thursday about Terri-Lynne McClintic.

Police have obtained a judge's order allowing McClintic to stay with them and assist in the search for Tori's remains, she said.

CTV Toronto's Jim Junkin reports that McClintic was taken up by helicopter on Wednesday to point out landmarks near the location where the girl's body might be found. Officers also searched a rockpile near Guelph on Thursday.

They are also conducting a meticulous search of a garbage dumpster on a property north of Fergus, which is about 90 kilometres northeast of Woodstock. Police have cordoned off the dumpster with police tape and an officer is standing guard at the site.

Meanwhile, Tori Stafford's mother criticized police and lashed out against those responsible for the girl's death.

"My daughter's not coming home. I want the killers dead," said Tara McDonald in an exclusive interview with the London Free Press Thursday night

There are multiple stories about what linkages McClintic may have had with McDonald. But it isn't known yet if the accused and Tori were known to each other.

The teen's 28-year-old boyfriend, Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, faces kidnapping and first-degree murder charges. Both suspects appeared in court Wednesday and were remanded in custody until May 28. Police don't anticipate any further arrests.

Const. Glen Childerley says the search for Tori's body will be a long and complex process. When asked if the public should join the search effort, Childerley said police are trained for such work and they have all the resources they need.

Legal analyst Steven Skurka says even if no body is found, there are cases of people being convicted of murder.

"At the press conference yesterday it was indicated that police could confirm that murder was the proper charge, so it seems to me that they have a body of evidence that indicates without any doubt whatsoever that this poor child was murdered," Skurka told Canada AM from Toronto.

Coping in Woodstock

Woodstock Mayor Michael Harding said while there has been an outpouring of anger among residents, he thinks the ongoing emotion is going to be one of grief.

"There are many ways of dealing with this but I think the overwhelming feeling is grief," Harding told CTV Newsnet. "I hope we don't turn ourselves over to fear because when we live in fear we do transform this very, very safe community into something that we don't like."

He said residents understand that the incident is an isolated one.

"We can't live in fear but there is concern for the streetproofing of our children and this is a terrible, terrible way to learn that lesson," he said.

Counsellors are at Tori's school Thursday, where the flag flies at half-mast, to help children cope with the loss of the little girl. Bill Tucker, the director of education at Oliver Stephens Public School, says the goal is to "normalize things as quickly as possible so kids have a feeling of safety in a school environment."

Tori and her family used to live in a co-op development near the school before moving a few blocks away to a new home.

A few doors away from her old home, Heather Baker set up a tea party memorial. It featured a teapot, crackers, stuffed animals, flowers and plenty of purple-coloured decorations -- in honour of Tori's favourite colour.

Heather's daughter Emma, 7, was best friends with Tori.

Emma had been looking forward to another tea party with Tori when her friend was found, Heather said.

"They told her at school before she came home and she just cried," she said.

"(Emma) knows the finality of death and she was just devastated. She wondered who did this. She wanted to know who did this to her best friend and why."

Everyone at the co-op has been hit hard by Tori's death, Baker said.

"We can still see Tori running back and forth across the lawns in her bare feet," Baker said. "I guess it occurred to all of us that this may be an outcome, but you just choose not to believe it."

With reports from CTV News correspondents and files from The Canadian Press

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090520/stafford_search_090521/20090521?hub=Toronto

[Northern Rose]

Police continue search for Tori Stafford with suspect's help
Last Updated: Friday, May 22, 2009 | 6:53 AM

The police search for the remains of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford continues Friday in Ontario's Wellington County, efforts that involve the help of one of the two people charged in her death.

Police spent hours on Thursday searching a farmer's field near Fergus, about an hour's drive from the girl's hometown of Woodstock.

They were led to the field by Terri-Lynne McClintic, whose lawyer told CBC News that her client was helping police with the investigation.

"I can't go into the specifics of the police investigation, because it is ongoing, but she was assisting them, out in the field if you will, doing everything she can to fully co-operate with them and to assist them in finding Tori," said Jeanine LeRoy.

Police left the field on Thursday without sealing off the area as a crime scene, said the CBC's Lorenda Redekopp, reporting from the area. They also siezed an industrial dumpster — located about a kilometre from the field — as evidence, she said.

The London Free Press reported that police on Thursday asked Tori's mother, Tara McDonald, for a tooth Tori had lost shortly before she went missing. Police also reportedly asked for a pair of Tori's shoes. The report quoted McDonald's boyfriend, James Goris as saying police asked for the items in order to create a DNA profile of the girl.

Tori went missing on April 8, when she was last seen on surveillance footage leaving her school accompanied by a woman in a white coat. Police believe she was killed that day, or shortly after, by her abductors.

On Wednesday, McClintic, 18, and Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, of Woodstock were charged.

Rafferty was charged with abduction and first-degree murder, while McClintic was charged with abducting the child, assisting Rafferty in escaping the area and being an accessory to murder after the fact.

Their next court appearance is scheduled for Thursday.

Meanwhile, CBC News has learned there have been two child abduction attempts in Fergus in the last two weeks, prompting area schools to look out for a dark-coloured vehicle.
The April 8 surveillance video appeared to show a similar dark-coloured vehicle. Police are not saying if the attempted abductions and Tori's murder are connected.http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/22/police-search-tori459.html

[no rose colored glasses]

Thanks for the updated articles. I have a question, since Terri-Lynne's help isn't helping that much, why don't they take Rafferty out there to help instead? Or is it because Terri-Lynne was the one and only one to get rid of Tori's remains?

[canadianmonkey]

Thanks for the updated articles. I have a question, since Terri-Lynne's help isn't helping that much, why don't they take Rafferty out there to help instead? Or is it because Terri-Lynne was the one and only one to get rid of Tori's remains?

Just a theory on that...I think Terri-Lynne has already made or is in the process of making a deal regardless of what her lawyer says.  She was already in jail when they figured out it was her and I think they only caught him because of her "confession".  He more then likely isn't being offered a deal so why should he help them?

They did the same thing with Bernardo/Homolka case.  Terri-Lynne will barely see any time involved with this case.  It makes me sick.

[canadianmonkey]

Police ask mother for Tori's tooth, shoes

Fri, May 22, 2009

By ROB LAMBERTI AND RANDY RICHMOND, SUN MEDIA
     

 
A teddy bear brought by a well wisher,Denise Klock of Tillsonburg, sits among the flowers and stuffed animals that have been placed at Tara McDonald's doorstep. The note says" "Canada's Angel, You are in our prayers. Stay strong Tara Rodney and Daryn." (Susan Bradnam Sun Media) 
 
GUELPH -- Police made a sudden visit to Tori Stafford's mother in Woodstock last night, asking for a tooth and shoes from the little girl, as officers searching for Tori's body combed a farmer's field an hour away, north of Guelph.

Tara McDonald's boyfriend, James Goris, said police asked the couple to help them find items to create a DNA profile of the eight-year-old.

"When Tori lost a tooth a month ago, she wanted us to save it," Goris said. "We put it in a container. Police wanted the container."

Police picked up the couple at Goris's house and drove them to McDonald's home about 7 p.m.

The couple and forensics officers looked for any shoes Tori may have recently worn, a task Goris called "a grim one."


 

A DNA profile can help police to identify a body.

Police said nothing about the roundup of the girl's articles, 43 days after she vanished. They also were mum about what Terri-Lynne McClintic -- one of the accused in Tori's death -- led them to yesterday, in a field 15 km northeast of Guelph.

The Woodstock woman was brought to the wooded area on Wellington Rd. 22 east of Hwy. 6 by OPP detectives, and was later seen trying to hide from news cameras by crouching between seats in the unmarked silver police van as it left the field.

The area she toured with police was scoured Wednesday after she zeroed in on it by helicopter. Yesterday, she was again flown over the area.

When police left Wednesday, residents were relieved, thinking the search found nothing. Resident Teeny Matter believed it was over when police and dogs left and "that was a relief."

Michael Rafferty, 28, also charged in the girl's death, and McClintic, 18, his girlfriend, were arrested Tuesday night.

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino told The Free Press in an e-mail that the force is committed to recovering the girl's body.

"This is a brutal crime of enormous proportion that continues to be investigated by the best of the best of the best, and who are now committed to recover Tori's remains," he said.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/2009/05/22/9535591-sun.html

[can]

Thanks for the updated articles. I have a question, since Terri-Lynne's help isn't helping that much, why don't they take Rafferty out there to help instead? Or is it because Terri-Lynne was the one and only one to get rid of Tori's remains?

He's probably maintaining his innocence and not cooperating with police.

The two attempted abductions in the area involving dark colored car, make me awfully relieved that Rafferty is locked up!  Not saying it was Rafferty...
but...

[Northern Rose]

Thanks for the updated articles. I have a question, since Terri-Lynne's help isn't helping that much, why don't they take Rafferty out there to help instead? Or is it because Terri-Lynne was the one and only one to get rid of Tori's remains?

He's probably maintaining his innocence and not cooperating with police.

The two attempted abductions in the area involving dark colored car, make me awfully relieved that Rafferty is locked up!  Not saying it was Rafferty...
but...

My speculation is that T-L has confessed and that is how Rafferty got found out. She has nothing to lose as she already said she was involved.  I am betting Rafferty is not saying anything and if he takes him to the body that pretty much proves he is guilty.

[no rose colored glasses]

Thanks for the updated articles. I have a question, since Terri-Lynne's help isn't helping that much, why don't they take Rafferty out there to help instead? Or is it because Terri-Lynne was the one and only one to get rid of Tori's remains?

Just a theory on that...I think Terri-Lynne has already made or is in the process of making a deal regardless of what her lawyer says.  She was already in jail when they figured out it was her and I think they only caught him because of her "confession".  He more then likely isn't being offered a deal so why should he help them?

They did the same thing with Bernardo/Homolka case.  Terri-Lynne will barely see any time involved with this case.  It makes me sick.

Thank-you, it makes me ill, so if she sees barely anytime for this crime, I don't even want to know what more this woman is capable of 

[Northern Rose]

CP24

Tara may speak today

Reporters are following the two other reported attempted abductions

Police have now seized surveillance camera video from other places

Reporters have asked OPP if they are going to get the special release extended so that T-L can be out helping today.

They are also now calling Rafferty T-L's boyfriend.  That once they met they were infatuated with each other.

Pictures are from video taken yesterday

[canadianmonkey]

Sweet face now known to many

Fri, May 22, 2009

Over the 42-day mystery, her family has shared bits of her personality

 
By PATRICK MALONEY, LONDON FREE PRESS

With that sunny grin and blue eyes, Victoria (Tori) Stafford's face is no doubt now known by millions who felt they knew her, even if they didn't.

But then again, they did get to know her, little by little, over the 42-day mystery that's ended gruesomely with murder and abduction charges against two locals.

Bits of her personality have been relayed by family members.

She loved animals of all kinds -- cats, dogs, horses.
 

Her favourite colour was purple and she loved to sing and dance. She often watched Barbie movies.

She liked school and also attended Sunday school, where days before her abduction she wrote on a heart-shaped piece of paper about the importance of loving your enemies.

Though a bit afraid of the dark, she was a feisty kid. Artsy and creative but also a tomboy, Tori was a study in contrasts, a kid still figuring out who she was and would become.

She was the first granddaughter born to Doreen Graichen, and grew up with her big brother Daryn and two other boy cousins on her dad's side.

"They're older and they protected her," aunt Rebecca Stafford recalled. "She'd go out and kick the ball but be more interested in playing dress-up in the house."

Her hand-written "resalushon" list for 2009 included getting As, or at least Bs, in school.

She followed her older brother Daryn's interest in collecting coins, kept in a little purse.

"She loved to do what her brother did," said Linda Winters, her maternal grandmother, whom Tori called "nana."

She loved shopping and trying on Winters's clothes.

"She went through my closet once with a cousin and they tried on every one of my clothes," Winters recalled. "I can't say enough about that little girl."

She enjoyed painting her toenails and fingernails.

She would have turned nine this summer.

Her mother, Tara McDonald, who spoke with the Free Press yesterday, is struggling, Winters said.

Tori's death has rattled Woodstock and sent shockwaves far and wide, with even schools in London stopping to pray for her.

She liked school and also attended Sunday school, where days before her abduction she wrote on a heart-shaped piece of paper about the importance of loving your enemies.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/05/22/9533301-sun.html

Edit per canadianmonkey to remove items other then article.