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

[can]

Thank-you Northern Rose 

You are very welcome.  I will try to capture the press conference.  Was going to cut the lawn but it can wait.

Many thanks NorRose. 

[Northern Rose]

Newsnet
Telephone interview with Nancy McClintic - grandmother of Accused

Nancy says they did not know much about T-L she is a adopted granddaughter and was taken away from eh McClintic family when she was about 3.  Terry-Lynne's mother won custody, Nancy did not know how, but she did, then she and her mother traveled all over.  Her mother was a stripper at the time. 

Q.  You adopted T-L hoping to give her a better life?  What happened?

Nancy - Like every grand daughter T-L used to love to play with our cats and giggle and laugh. When Rob and my daughter Carol broke up, that is when we were in a custody battle and Carol won.  Like I said, we have no idea how she won custody.  T-L was taken away from our family and we shuned Carol.

Q - You shunned Carol the mom , why?

Nancy - We knew there was something wrong with the custody battle.  There is no reasonable way that a stripper  should have won.

Q - There is speculation that Carol used drugs.

Nancy - We have no idea about that.  After T-L was 3 and Carol had custody we never saw them, did not hear from her , we did not want to .  WE wanted to see T-L but there was no way as there was a stipulation that if we wanted to see T-L the mother had to be there.

Q - Rob, the father, he is aware of the situation?  How does the father deal with the arrest of his daughter?

Nancy - He has been doing interviews and trying to help in any way he possibly can too.  He is bitter, upset and frustrated and like myself we feel so bad for little Tori and her parents.  No one wants to lose their children especially under these circumstances.

Q - Can you speak to T-L's early upbringing.  It has been reported that she herself at the age of 4 or 5 may have been sexually abused?

Nancy - I don't know because she was not in our care, we did not get to see her without Carol.  I have no idea.  This is the first time I have heard of it.

Q - you lost contact with T-L?

Nancy - we lost contact after she was 3 years old.

Q - Did you hear throughout the years how T-L was doing?

Nancy - Yes we did hear from the odd friend that had been in touch with them but not much.  We had heard she was living in Woodstock but I had no reason to call her because I knew Carol would be there and would just take right over.

[Northern Rose]

The 3:00 news conference with Tara is supposed to be streamed here:

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

[no rose colored glasses]

Thank-you Northern Rose 

You are very welcome.  I will try to capture the press conference.  Was going to cut the lawn but it can wait.

I can't even believe what I'm reading, that Terri is doing this to help the family 

[Northern Rose]

Pictures from the presser with Tara, I will transcribe it after it is done

[Northern Rose]

Tara is holding up but you can see the pain on her face.

[Northern Rose]

Presser images

[Northern Rose]

ok here are the images.  oooopssss

[Northern Rose]

last batch of images

[can]

Thank-you Northern Rose 

You are very welcome.  I will try to capture the press conference.  Was going to cut the lawn but it can wait.

I can't even believe what I'm reading, that Terri is doing this to help the family 

How the h can that lawyer even begin to try to elicit brownie points for her client at any time, but particularly at this time when Tori is still out there somewhere, where the monsters discarded her!!!!!  I need a devil icon with a frown.

[Northern Rose]

Tara Presser

Tara- The reason why we called everyone heretoday is we wanted to thank everybody.  We wanted to thank all the communities that came together and handed out flyers, and everybody who took time off of work to look for our daughter and who helped to try to find her.  WE wanted to express our thanks to the media, to all the people who sent their prayers, their flowers, the teddy bears, the cards, the phone calls.  We want thank anybody who helped in any way in the last 6 weeks.  I didn't plan anything to discuss with anybody, I just wanted to thank everybody.

Q- How do you feel about the way you were treated by police?

T- I do not think that thats even discussable right now.  That is not what I came to discuss with everybody.  If anybody had any questions.

Q - You must be frustrated by that

T- At this point, I have a million feelings, but that is the last feeling on my plate.

Q. How do you feel about T-L assisting police in searching for your daughters remains?

T - I think that if she knew where our daughter was at this point, then they would not be searching.  I honestly feel that she is just enjoying some helicopter rides and some fresh air because she probably will not be getting very much of that in the near future.

Q - You said you have a million feelings, what are those feelings?

T - Disgust, sadness, anger, theres a million...every feeling you an imagine we have felt.

Q - Tera at one point fingers were pointed at you, you came out every day and braved that.  What do you say now, how did you manage to do all that?

T- I did it for my daughter.  I did it because every single day we came to the media I knew they would post it in the newspaper, post it on t he internet, post it on television and that why I did it.  For the fingers that were pointed, I told everybody from the eh beginning that we had nothing to do with it and we had nothing to do with it.

Q- How hard was it for you with fingers pointed at you?

T - IT was hard, BTU at the end of the day like I said to everyone , there were two things we were sure of at the end of every single day and number 1 we had nothing to do with it and number 2 that we were amazing parents.  And anyone who said any different whether it was that we had something to do with it or whethere we were not good parents, those were two things we went to bed at night positive that we knew we were good parents and that we knew we had nothing to do with it.

Q - Police mentioned that there was some relationship with you and the accused T-L, what is that relationship?

T- I met her twice .  Over at her mothers house.  We were going to breed our dogs. Thats not a rumour, that is a actual fact.  We offered them furniture because when we went into their home they did not have any. They said that their stuff was in a storage unit that one of my friend's uncles owns that storage unit.  When we moved in here and had a truck we offered to help them get their things because I felt bad that they had no furniture and I was gonna try to help them get their belongings.  Like I only met her on two or three occasions and it wasn't like we were even talking to her, we were speaking to her mother.

[can]

Thank you NorRose for delaying your grass cutting chores to bring us those images. 

[Tracygirl]

Thank you so much no rose. We would not know any of this without you! You are one awesome monkey! 

The looks on Tara's face just broke my heart. So sad.....

The interview with the grandmother, what the heck is with people who abandon children when they suspect abuse, or neglect may happen. They didn't want to see T-L because they would have to see Carol? Given the fact T-L is stuck with her, that doesn't give them reason to check in on the girl? Geez, families are the only way these kids can survive! WTH???

[Northern Rose]

Tara presser cont'd

Q - What is your response to other rumours int he community that the accused had allegedly sold pills to you?

T- Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

Q - What was T-L's manner when you met her, what was she like?

T- They were both , her and her mother, and I said this to James, after we had met her mother twice, she had asked that we drop off there for a day or two and I said absolutely not. I am not taking my dog over there, I don't want to breed my dog with their animal. They were just strange people.  Like the mother was a very shifty individual. She was twitchy and weird and I just did not feel comfortable there.

Q - Had you ever met Micheal Rafferty?

T - No, I have no idea who he is

Q - Did either of the accused ever meet your daughter?

T- Never.  James went over there om Tuesday the day that we found out what was going on and on that day James said we don't think that Terri had anything to do with it because she never met our daughter.  At that time T-L's mom said she knew who tori was and she said ht at she had seen Tori walking her dog.  Now I don't know if that meant she had seen Tori walking our dog or if that meant that she had seen Tori while out walking their dog. I am not sure what that meant but she did make it clear that T-L knew who Tori was.  Not that she was our child but that she knew who Tori was.

Q - You ere so convince that Tori was still alive, you went to many vigils, you just got 4,000 posters, now police are saying she was gone shortly after she vanished. what are your thoughts now?

T - I don't really have any thoughts.  I haven't thought about it.

Q - You don't want to make funeral arrangements.

T - I said that I won't make any funeral preparations. It is not that I don't believe what is going on I know what is going on , but I will not be able to go through that twice.

Q - What have you been able to help with detectives int eh last two days.  We have seen you  coming and going from the house and leaving with detectives, what are you doing with that situation.  Are you assisting them as well?

T - We came home to give them some more of Tori's clothings.  Things we have given them before they need to make a DNA profile.  They swabbed Rodney, they swabbed myself, earlier on we gave them a tooth we had of Tori's in a  plastic tooth container and that was not enough to give them what they needed so we came home to give them some more of her clothing and another baby tooth we had.

Q - According to the paper you said you re extremely angry with police on the eh way they treated you.

T- Anybody would.  When they said there were 100 police officers working on the his case and 5 were forcussed on us I said that was 5 too many.  When somebody tells you something, I know people lie all the time, we did our lie detector tests, we told them repeatedly we had nothing to do with this but still not only the police but the community.  I am not saying the entire community but there are still people who still have their doubts even though we said we had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Q- Did they say you were the number 1 suspect?

T - At one point yes.

Q - How did you feel ?

T - I was disgusted.  I walked out of my lie detector results and everybody wondered why I was feeling what I was feeling and behaving how I was behaving because any one person that was not spending time looking in any direction other than ours was wasting time as far as I am concerned.

Q - When the composite sketch came out there was questions about that as well.  Now that the person has been arrested did you feel that was the person who would be arrested?

T - When we saw the sketch we did speak to somebody and said that T-L fit that description.  After we saw the video we said that T-L was someone who fit that description.

Q- Did police investigate that?

T- She was arrested on the 12th of April for other charges, I believe a warrent for breach of probration so she was in custody the entire time.  From what I have been told and I don't know if it is true or not that the only reason that she confessed is that she found out that he had found another girlfriend out here and that was pretty much her way of getting back.

[no rose colored glasses]

Northern Rose, again thanks so much for the screen caps and the presser. ( Tara - I think that if she knew where our daughter was at this point, then they would not be searching.  I honestly feel that she is just enjoying some helicopter rides and some fresh air because she probably will not be getting very much of that in the near future.) I couldn't agree more with Tara.

[Northern Rose]

Tar Presser Cont'd

Q- Did you get an apology

T - Community yes,  we have received letters from people who doubted us that said they were very very sorry.  Police no.  Do not know if they are planning one.

Q- What do you want to say to the two accused?

T - It is not something I can say on Television. People need to think how you would feel if you were in the same situation and if what was done to our child was done to your child

Q - What do you think were possible motives.

T- She admitted straight out that she did not know it was our child and that if she had known she would not have taken her.  There was absolutely no motive other than the fact that they are sick and twisted.

Q - How do you feel about T-L saying she is trying the hardest to find the body and that it is important that you know that.  What is you reaction to that.

T - I have none.  If she is just saying she wants us to knwo and there is no apology or remorse than I think she is even sicker than I thought.  I expect nothing from her.


Q- Should she be granted leniency with her actions of helping.

T - no .  She was the one who lured my daughter.  I have heard she was around the school repeatedly so she knew what she was doing

Q - How is Daryn

T - we are trying to keep him occupied and keep his mind off of things.  On Tuesday he went in the back yard with a metal mopstick and broke a metal mopstick in the backyard to let his aggression out.  He knows he can talk to Rodney, Me, James, anyone one of us at any time.

Q - Who told him ?

T - It was me , James and Rodney.

Q - What would you tell others to do in your situation?

T - As crazy at is sounds write down every single thing, where you were, who you were with, who you called, what you do, when you do it.  That way when the police ask you those questions you have those answers.  When you are in the middle of this you just can not remember and look like a fool.

Q - Since Tuesday , the way police is dealing with you have things changed?

T- They are not dealing with us they are concentrating on MR and T-L

Q- Have they asked you to accompany them on the search.

T- I don't think they would want to do that no.  I would not want to do that myself.

Q - Did you get a sense they were changing directions with the investigation

T - Up until Tuesday night nothing had changed.  Tuesday night James' mom drive James's dad home and they drove by Wilson street and there was a police car with spotlights on the he house.  That  is when we knew in our minds and hearts that they had something to do with it.

Q - was there any other connection to T-L other than the dogs?

T- we had hardly spoken to her.  She came over when we were speaking to the mother about the dogs and the mother was very vulgar and like I said after the two visits I told James I am never going back there.  IT was not so much T-L but her mother was something else.

Q - Did you wonder motive?

T _ I have never cared what motive was I openly thought where was my child.  We have forever to figure out who did this and why our only priority was to get our daughter home.

Q - How do you want to have Tori remembered?

T - All you have to do is look at her pictures.  See videos, just remember her because she was the most prettiest most beautiful girl in the world.

Q - Will it help you if they find the remains.

T - Yes.  we need to deal with it and it is wide open right now.

Q - You said you thought it may be T-L have you heard other things to make you think that?

T - Since the arrests .There was a rumour , that black thing slung around her, I was told she had one of their puppies in there,  If that is true and Tori saw that puppy she would be all over it,.  They had one dog that was 14 no teeth and blind, and one dog that they wanted to breed with.  I have heard that she was patrolling the area.

Q - Do you want police to tell you what happend when they find out?

T- Not really no.


Are you guys done?  I want to thank everybody that did anything to help find out daughter.  I have Herod that people were close to loosing their jobs because they took days off of work to help find Tori and I just want to thank everyone.

Done.

[Northern Rose]

I missed a few of the question because I could not hear them.  One was about the speculation that she had no reaction.  She just said that everyone deals with things differently and she has never been openly emotional.  Sorry for missing some but the important things are in the previous posts.  Be back in a  bit  I have to get pizza dough going for dinner and a lawn to cut.

[Kat_Gram]

T- She was arrested on the 12th of April for other charges, I believe a warrent for breach of probration so she was in custody the entire time.  From what I have been told and I don't know if it is true or not that the only reason that she confessed is that she found out that he had found another girlfriend out here and that was pretty much her way of getting back.
..........
This is a pretty sick person. And they need HER to make the case against him as  it stands right now. This is a Bernardo / Homolka kind of legal issue.
This isn't looking good with her not being able to find the place where.. 

[Tracygirl]

I missed a few of the question because I could not hear them.  One was about the speculation that she had no reaction.  She just said that everyone deals with things differently and she has never been openly emotional.  Sorry for missing some but the important things are in the previous posts.  Be back in a  bit  I have to get pizza dough going for dinner and a lawn to cut.

thank you NoRose, you rock!

[Northern Rose]

The mother of Victoria (Tori) Stafford said she doesn't believe the woman accused of abducting her daughter knows where to find her remains.

Tara McDonald said Friday if Terri-Lynne McClintic knew where the body was, then police still wouldn't still be searching a large area near Guelph, Ont., for the remains of the eight-year-old.

McClintic has been assisting police since she was arrested, along with Michael Rafferty, on Wednesday.

"She's just enjoying some helicopter rides and fresh air because she isn't going to be getting much of that in the near future," said McDonald, who spoke to reporters outside her Woodstock home.
Mother of Tori Stafford doesn't think suspect can help police
Last Updated: Friday, May 22, 2009 | 5:29 PM ET

McClintic has been charged with Victoria's abduction, assisting Rafferty in escaping the area and being an accessory to murder after the fact, while Rafferty has been charged with abduction and first-degree murder.

A judicial order that allows McClintic to aid in the search for Victoria's body has been extended through the weekend to Sunday.

Feels 'disgust, sadness, anger'
McDonald, who has held almost daily news conferences since Victoria was last seen outside her school on April 8, said she feels police wasted too much time focusing on her.


"We did our lie detector tests; we told [police] repeatedly we had nothing to do with this," she said.

At one point in the investigation, a police officer told her she was their prime suspect and that he found her reactions and behaviour in the days following her daughter's abduction unusual.

"I proceeded to get a little excited," she said. "That was when I said, 'Maybe somebody should have dropped me off a handbook on how to behave when your child is missing' because nobody knows how they're going to react."

"The fact that I didn’t come out here and cry ... that’s just my demeanour, who I am as a person," she said.

When asked whether she was frustrated by how police handled the case, McDonald said she has a "million feelings" and frustration is the "last one" on her mind. She added that she did feel "disgust, sadness and anger."

Met suspect 2 or 3 times
McDonald said she met McClintic and her mother "two or three times" because they were planning on breeding their two dogs. However, after the visits, McDonald said she felt they were "strange people" and told her boyfriend, James Goris, that she didn't want to go back to the house or proceed with the breeding.

After the composite sketch of the suspect was released, McDonald said she told police she believed Terri-Lynn should be investigated. McDonald said she doesn't believe McClintic knew that Victoria was her child.

She told reporters she has never met Rafferty and does not know who he is.

McDonald said she's not ready to make any funeral preparations until her daughter's body is found, saying she wouldn't be able to say good-bye twice.

Police recently asked for more of Victoria's clothing and another tooth in order to make a DNA match. McDonald said she and Victoria's father have also given DNA samples to investigators.

McDonald also thanked everyone who helped search for her daughter and offered calls, cards, teddy bears and flowers in support of Victoria.

'Want the killers dead'
While Friday's news conference was her first since the arrests, she did speak to the London Free Press in an interview published on Thursday.


"My daughter's not coming home. I want the killers dead," McDonald told the newspaper.

"I know there are sick and twisted people in the world, but I had no idea. I don't want to sound selfish, and I wish this on no one, but I sometimes think, why did it have to be my daughter?" she told the Ontario newspaper.

She also expressed anger at how she and her family were treated by police, saying her 11-year-old son Daryn was apparently interviewed without a parent or family member present.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about it, but I'm going to do something about it," McDonald vowed. "I don't want anyone else to have to go through this."

2 attempted abductions
CBC News has learned that there have been at least two attempted abductions of children in the area near where police are searching for Tori's remains.

Students attending schools in the Fergus area were sent home with a note warning their parents to be on the lookout for a dark-coloured vehicle, following the two attempted abductions.

In her interview with the Free Press, McDonald also spoke about her relationship with McClintic.

She said she had visited the apartment of McClintic's mother, Carol, on about three occasions to discuss dog breeding.

McDonald said Terry-Lynne McClintic was in the apartment one time, but according to McDonald, the 18-year-old was so high on drugs McClintic barely noticed her presence.

Both McClintic and Rafferty are scheduled to make their next court appearance on May 28.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/22/police-search-tori459.html