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

[Northern Rose]

Search continues for evidence in Tori Stafford case

Wed, June 3, 2009
By PATRICK MALONEY, LONDON FREE PRESS
 
 search focusing around a Wellington County town and at the Salford landfill continues Wednesday, nearly two months after the abduction of Victoria (Tori) Stafford.

The search for what Oxford Community Police call “Victoria Stafford’s remains” is in Fergus, while OPP officers are at the Salford landfill in Oxford County and the ditches along the westbound lanes of Highway 401.

Investigators are also looking for anyone who may have seen the suspect vehicle, a 2003 Honda Civic, blue with black spray paint, in Woodstock, Guelph or that area between April 8 – the day Tori disappeared – and May 19, when two accused were arrested.

Police are also re-iterating that a grey, cloth-covered back seat may be a key piece of evidence in the case. People are asked to check their properties for any such item.

Ron Fraser, the Oxford police chief, and OPP Det.-Insp. Bill Renton, the case’s lead investigator, offered their thanks to the public for the continued help.

Michael Thomas Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, are charged with abduction and murder.

Tori, 8, will be memorialized this Saturday at Calvary Church in Woodstock.


http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/06/03/9661896.html

[Northern Rose]

Man offers candy to girls at local playground
Posted 19 hours ago
 

In the wake of the tragic end to the Tori Stafford case in Woodstock, Saugeen Shores Police Service are reminding parents and children to be extra vigilant.

Thursday evening around 8 p.m. a group of girls were approached by a teenage man with brown curly hair in a red sport utility type vehicle, possibly with a roof rack. The man offered the girls some candy.

The girls quickly ran to their parents and reported the incident later to police.

"These girls did the right thing," said Dan Rivet, Saugeen Shores chief of police, in a release. "But living in fear and worrying about this type of event all the time is not healthy for you or your children. Teach them who they can go home with, who they should talk to, where they can go if they do not feel safe."

The key, Rivet said, is to do this with the children in a way that educates them as opposed to scaring them.

In light of the incident, police will be providing extra supervision in playground areas. This is the second incident in a playground this month, as razor blades were found in the sand at Port Elgin Saugeen Central School earlier in May.

Rivet implores the public to contact police if they see any suspicious behaviour, especially with regard to the youngest citizens of Saugeen Shores.

http://www.shorelinebeacon.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1594876

[canadianmonkey]

Stafford Search Widens

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:37:05 EDT
 
As fears widen that the body of Victoria Stafford won't ever be found, extra efforts have been called in. Oxford police, Waterloo Regional Police and Guelph's Police Service will begin searching the Salford landfill just outside of Woodstock, the westbound 401 ditch-area from Woodstock to Guelph, as well as areas around Fergus. Police have also extended their search to Erin Township and Durham County. Today, Police issued a renewed call for information surrounding any possible sightings of a grey cloth back seat from the suspect vehicle.

http://www.myfmradio.ca/1057/wire/news/5280068_Stafford_Search_Widens_103628.php

[Edward]

landfill areas have been a very common spot for disposal of bodies over the years.
mo.

[Northern Rose]

Search for Tori Stafford's body continues; police search outside of county
by David Meyer

WELLINGTON CTY. -

OPP officers were combing the ditch of Middlebrook Road and Concession 8 of old Pilkington west of Elora on Saturday.

For most of last week, the search had focused on Well­ington County, particularly the Rockwood area, and then in Centre Wellington.

They were searching for the body of 8-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford, who was kid­napped in Woodstock on April 8. On May 21, police charged Michael Thomas Rafferty, 28, of Woodstock with first degree murder and abduction of a child under 16. Lynne Mc­Clintic, 18, of Woodstock was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder and abduction of a child under 16.

On May 29, her charges were changed to that of first degree murder, too.

Police were busy on Sat­urday searching the ditches west of Elora on Middlebrook Road. Officers accompanied by a cruiser covered both sides of the road as they walked for miles, unearthing dumped cloth­ing and probing for any indication Stafford’s body was there.

“We’re searching every­where,” one officer said before continuing into a steep ditch.

But by Monday, OPP Constable Laurie-Anne Mait­land, who has been issuing press releases from OPPheadquarters, stated the search had moved on to the Highway 401 corridor. Officers were specifically searching on the west side of that highway between High­way 24 in Cambridge and High­way 59 at Woodstock.

The OPP Emergency Re­sponse Teams also returned late last week to a landfill site locat­ed east of Salford.

Police have told Stafford’s parents her body may never be found. Investigators conti­nue to ask area property owners within a 50 minute drive of Guelph to check their fields and report any suspicious or significant changes they notice to landscape or familiar landmarks.

The police also continue to seek the assistance of the public who may recall seeing the suspect vehicle or suspects either Woodstock, Guelph, and surrounding area. The vehicle is described as a 2003 Honda 4-Door car, blue with black spray paint over portions of the vehicle.

Police describe the interior of the vehicle as being a grey coloured cloth material and are seeking help from the public in locating the entire rear seat of this vehicle that had been removed. If located, police ask that the finder report it to police immediately and without phys­i­cally touching it, try to protect it from the elements until investigators can attend the scene.

To view a photo of the rear seat, visit  http://files.news­wire.ca/380/Rear_Seat_2003_Honda.jpg.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Oxford Community Police at 519-537-2323 or toll free at 1-877-537-6277, their local police, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Information about this case can be also found on the OPP Missing Persons and Uniden­ti­fied Bodies website at www.opp.ca or at www.­ox­fordcommunitypolice.on.ca or America's Most Wanted, www.amw.com or gtasmost­wanted.com.

http://www.wellingtonadvertiser.com/index.cfm?page=detail&itmno=3524

[Northern Rose]

Police searching landfill for clues in missing girl case
Posted By PATRICK MALONEY, SUN MEDIA
Posted 7 hours ago
 

Officers sifting through 1,700 tonnes of Oxford County trash for evidence in the Victoria (Tori) Stafford case could be forgiven for wishing they only had to find a needle in a haystack.

That would likely be an easier task than digging into the mountain of waste that has arrived at the Salford landfill since April 8 -- when the Tori mystery began -- and twice has been crushed by a 32,000-kilogram compactor and ripped apart by an excavator.

"If they find what they're looking for, I'd think they're the best guys in the world, because in my mind, I could never find it," said Dave Vermeeren, Oxford County's waste management supervisor.

"It's a nasty job."

To critics who wonder why police have been searching so long, Vermeeren said they likely have no idea just how much garbage is at the site.

He offered this comparison: Imagine throwing a penny in a garbage bag, then going back a week later to find it.

"How long would that take you?" he said. "And before you look through that bag I'm going to run it over with my truck a few times.

"Now multiply that four-pound bag of garbage to 1,700 tonnes."

Every day, about a half-dozen officers are at the landfill -- which covers about 20 hectares -- to go through the trash that's arrived since the day the eight-year-old Woodstock girl was abducted.

Officers first arrived April 20, just after OPP took the case's lead from Oxford Community Police, and stayed until May 9. They returned last week.

Oxford Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland noted in a statement Wednesday police are looking for Tori's "remains" near the Wellington County community of Fergus, suggesting officers at the landfill and along Highway 401 are searching for other evidence.

If they're looking for the rear car seat linked to a Honda Civic that sources say is owned by the man accused in Tori's presumed death, the landfill job will become all the more daunting.

A Tillsonburg company, Johnson Controls, makes those kinds of seats, Vermeeren says, and their rejects end up at the dump.

"A car seat to my (staff) is like a seagull; you see a million every day," he said.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1597837

[canadianmonkey]

Victoria Stafford: a deeply happy child who loved ice cream but hated socks
June, 5, 2009 - 12:22 pm Jones, Allison - (THE CANADIAN PRESS) 
THE CANADIAN PRESS
WOODSTOCK, Ont. - Victoria Elizabeth Stafford did not have the easiest life. Her parents split up when she was 2 1/2. Her father admits he wasn't always around. Her mother admits an addiction to painkillers.

But by all accounts she was a deeply happy and well-adjusted child, surrounded by an enormous amount of love.

Her little body has not been found, but a memorial will be held Saturday to remember a girl those who were central figures in her short life - her father, grandmothers, aunts and uncles - say was a bright spark of life filled with love.

[continued below]

 
She was a beautiful, sweet baby, but would just not sleep. Full of energy, when Tori the toddler was put down for the night she would keep popping up and peering over the rail of her crib.

Her maternal grandmother's trick was the scratch her back to get her to sleep. It was a custom Linda Winters shared with Tori and that started with her older brother, Daryn.

Victoria's spunky spirit would abound for the rest of her almost nine-year life, as her relatives remember a girl who was always on the go.

"People should remember her as a burst of life," her aunt Randi Millen says.

She loved music as spunky as her, and whenever her uncle Steve Millen put on "The Hamster Dance" song Victoria and her cousins would start bouncing around.

The only times Randi Millen ever saw Tori sitting still were at Medieval Times - a Toronto dinner-theatre show that features jousting - and the Nutcracker ballet.

Even movies were difficult for the active child to sit through. The longer she sat, the antsier she got.

"She was always a little pistol," her paternal grandmother Doreen Graichen says.

As a younger girl she was more timid and quiet, but as she grew so did her outgoing personality. She was not afraid to talk to anyone and showed compassion for all people.

Tori was often hyper, but she was also loved to hug and to cuddle. She would spend many hours with Winters, sitting in a chair together, wrapped up in a blanket and reading the Bible.

In pictures, her white blonde hair and beaming face show a radiant little girl. In several photos she seems to have decided a simple smile would not suffice and instead flashed the camera a massive, open-mouthed grin that nearly enveloped her face.

That somewhat impish smile has been transmitted all across Canada and on flyers her family made when Victoria went missing. Two people have now been charged with first-degree murder and tragically the search for the bright, bubbly girl has become a grim hunt for her remains.

In many regards she was a typical eight-year-old, but while she was a giggly girly-girl she was also fascinated by insects and nature.

Victoria loved to play dress-up, staging fashion shows and painting her nails with her cousins and having tea parties. She loved to shop and had several T-shirts with that fact proudly emblazoned across the front.

Known as Tori to some and Princess Victoria to others, she loved the popular girl-oriented franchises of Hannah Montana, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Barbie and Bratz, Winters recalls.

And sparkles. She loved sparkles.

Victoria had a penchant for ice cream, especially bubblegum flavour. Winters remembers her picking out the pieces of gum one by one and saving them for last.

Little Victoria was also a budding artist, putting careful effort into creating beautiful birthday, Valentine's Day and Christmas cards for her relatives - often with a roses-are-red-"vilitse"-are-blue poem inside.

She was content to spend hours drawing and sketching and was happy as long as she had a pencil and paper. In fact, when no paper was available Tori would make do. Her dad recalls many an important document getting covered with smiley faces and stick figures.

But she was also a nature-buff and was constantly exploring the world around her. Victoria was always catching snakes, worms and salamanders - sometimes while wearing a dress.

She would even play with spiders and other bugs that made their way into the house.

Outdoorsy to the core, she spent what time she could swimming, biking, skipping stones and helping Graichen in the garden, taking time and great care to figure out the perfect spot for each flower she planted.

Victoria was in her element on a trip to Alberta last summer, surrounded by the beautiful mountains and nature.

"It was stuff that was supposed to be a lifetime of memories for her," Graichen says.

The little princess was a carefree, "fluttery" girl who would spend her summer days running across neighbours' lawns barefoot.

That neighbours spotted the little girl barefoot would come as no surprise to family members, who say Tori absolutely hated socks. She went without them whenever she could and her shoes would stink as a result.

Even in winter they would have a hard time getting her to put anything on her feet. The last time her father took her on one of their many walks, in the cold days before she went missing, Victoria wore only Crocs on her feet - with no socks, of course.

The refusal to wear socks even in inclement weather is indicative of the little girl with a big personality. And an attitude to match, her dad says.

Victoria had an ear-piercing scream that would sometimes come out when she was mad, sometimes when she was happy, and sometimes just for the fun of showing everyone how loudly she could scream.

When she didn't get her own way, Victoria would storm off to her room and slam her door not once, but twice. She was just learning how to best get her own way and could turn the waterworks on and off as needed.

But what truly upset her the most was fighting with her beloved brother Daryn. He was just two years older than his sister and she was always trying to keep up with him, all her relatives say.

Daryn is an A or B student while Tori was a B or C student, and it was a constant source of frustration for her. She didn't really like doing her homework, so she and her dad had to have a little chat about that. It would be one of the last times they talked.

Victoria and Daryn went through a lot together and had a rock-solid bond. They were everything to each other and would do anything for one another.

Whenever Tori was crying, protective Daryn would try to comfort her - even if he was the reason why she was crying.

"She never liked fighting with her brother," her dad Rodney Stafford says.

"Every time he got mad at her she felt like she was losing her best friend."


http://www.news1130.com/news/national/more.jsp?content=n054104526

[canadianmonkey]

Oxford County : McClintic Rejoined Police Search For Stafford
Posted by Ashley DeGroote 

Accused Terri-Lynn McClintic has rejoined police in the search for Victoria Stafford. The 19 year old's lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy told a London radio station police contacted McClintic and released her for three days this week to assist them in the search, but she has since returned to custody. LeRoy would not say where police took her client this week though. LeRoy also said any talk of making a deal with the Crown for her client to testify against Michael Rafferty for a lesser sentence was premature.
 
on 2009/6/5 12:28:16 (19 reads
 
http://cd989.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16591

[no rose colored glasses]

Oxford County : McClintic Rejoined Police Search For Stafford
Posted by Ashley DeGroote 

Accused Terri-Lynn McClintic has rejoined police in the search for Victoria Stafford. The 19 year old's lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy told a London radio station police contacted McClintic and released her for three days this week to assist them in the search, but she has since returned to custody. LeRoy would not say where police took her client this week though. LeRoy also said any talk of making a deal with the Crown for her client to testify against Michael Rafferty for a lesser sentence was premature.
 
on 2009/6/5 12:28:16 (19 reads
 
http://cd989.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16591

She was of no value helping the first time, why bother again 

[canadianmonkey]

Oxford County : McClintic Rejoined Police Search For Stafford
Posted by Ashley DeGroote 

Accused Terri-Lynn McClintic has rejoined police in the search for Victoria Stafford. The 19 year old's lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy told a London radio station police contacted McClintic and released her for three days this week to assist them in the search, but she has since returned to custody. LeRoy would not say where police took her client this week though. LeRoy also said any talk of making a deal with the Crown for her client to testify against Michael Rafferty for a lesser sentence was premature.
 
on 2009/6/5 12:28:16 (19 reads
 
http://cd989.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16591

She was of no value helping the first time, why bother again 

I think they are desparately trying to find Tori before tomorrows memorial service.  It also gives me a bad feeling that they really don't have anything against MR.

[Northern Rose]

Huge Turnout Expected For Tori Stafford Memorial In Woodstock
Friday June 5, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff
Hundreds of people will fill a church in Woodstock, Ontario this weekend for a memorial service honouring Tori Stafford, even though the 8-year-old's body still hasn't been found.

The little girl's family had originally said they weren't going to hold a memorial service until police located her remains. They've since changed their minds, saying that this tribute, being held at 1pm on Saturday at Calvary Church, is their way of thanking the community for their help with the search as well as their prayers and support along the way.

"(It's) a way to have closure for a lot of people out there, by making Victoria's story as big as we did, it drew in, I can probably say millions from across the world did something. Whether it was an e-mail or just something to show support," Tori's father Rodney Stafford explained.

"Mind you, it's still not over for us, but we kind of want to do (this) to say thank you to everybody and remember Victoria for who she was."

Tori's disappearance hit the community of Woodstock hard, and Stafford admitted Saturday would be a difficult day.

"You can't prepare for something like this. It's not possible," he said.

Police have expanded their search for the child's body across a wide area of southwestern Ontario, and there are fears that they may never find her remains. The eight-year-old went missing on her way home from school on April 8th.

Both of Victoria's parents, along with her brother Daryn, will speak at the service. A sign outside the church sums up the feelings of many in this tragedy. "God," it reads, "weeps with us."

Two suspects, Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, have been charged with first-degree murder in the case.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_35111.aspx

[Northern Rose]

Strain precedes memorial for missing girl
 
 
By Jordana Huber, Canwest News ServiceJune 5, 2009
 
The grandmother of Tori Stafford said she has "mixed emotions" about the memorial service to be held for the missing and presumed slain eight-year-old on Saturday.

"I don't want to believe this is a necessary step," said Doreen Graichen. "I am struggling dealing with it because I know it has to be done."

More than 1,100 people are expected to attend the service for Tori, who went missing April 8 from Woodstock, about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

The memorial will be held in Woodstock's largest church where Tori's mother, father, brother and aunt will speak.

Tori's friend Brooke McCoy, 8, wrote a song called "Never Forget Me" to remember her classmate.

"Sometimes, I start to cry when I sing it," Brooke said quietly Thursday, taking comfort in her mother's arms outside school.

Her mother Monica McCoy said she won't leave her side, fearful someone will try to take her away and angry she can't play with a friend she considered "like a sister."

"She feels mad. She punches her pillow," McCoy said.

"She wants me to go get Victoria and bring her back. She doesn't understand why they had to take her friend away."

Brooke and Tori had an after-school play-date set for the day she went missing. They planned to watch High School Musical 3, but Tori never called for her to come over.

Early on in the search, there was hope Tori would be found safe.

For weeks, her mother Tara McDonald held daily news conferences along with her ex-husband Rodney Stafford that, at times, were emotionally charged.

Hope was dashed May 20 when Oxford Community Police Chief Ron Fraser, along with Ontario Provincial Police, announced two arrests had been made in the case.

"To stand there and have to tell a community you've lost a child is hard," Fraser said. "It's like losing one of your own and it's difficult."

Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, have each been charged with first-degree murder.

At McDonald's house, reporters and cameras have been replaced by flowers and plants delivered by friends and strangers offering condolences. Many are purple, Tori's favourite colour.

Calvary Pentecostal Church Pastor Keith Bishop said he hopes the memorial will help ease the fear felt by some in the community and begin a process of healing.

"It doesn't happen in a one-hour service, but it helps," Bishop said. "People don't want to move on and forget but there is a desire to move on and to make sense of things.

"This is an opportunity to collectively grieve," Bishop said.

A sound system will be set up outside the church to accommodate possible overflow crowds.

Meanwhile, investigators continue to scour fields in southwestern Ontario for evidence.

"We'll search until we've reached the point where we've found every piece of evidence that is possible to find," Fraser said.

http://www.canada.com/Strain+precedes+memorial+missing+girl/1665994/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Waterloo, Guelph police join search for little Tori

Fri, June 5, 2009

The search for the remains of a missing Woodstock girl and evidence in her abduction likely won't end any time soon, a police expert says.

Today marks two months since the hunt for Victoria (Tori) Stafford began -- she was abducted while walking home from school April 8 -- and the massive police search centring on a huge Woodstock-area landfill and much of Wellington County shows no signs of slowing.

"It's the realistic opportunity to recover Tori -- that's what keeps them going," said Dave Perry, a former Toronto homicide detective who now works as a consultant. "Once the dump is completely searched, that's when they'll stop (looking there).

"We've done it before where we've been in dumps for months and months."

A spokesperson for the investigation says the complement of officers now searching may be bigger than ever, with Waterloo and Guelph police pitching in.

The search for what police called Tori's "remains" has focused on the Guelph area, with a continued presence southwest of Fergus. But officers have now fanned out northwest of that town and are also looking in Waterloo Region, said Oxford Community Police Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland.

Police are still receiving tips, she said.

About a half-dozen officers daily sift through 1,700 tonnes of trash at the Salford landfill, where they may be looking for evidence linked to the abduction. That job alone -- not including the search for a body -- is a "massive undertaking," Perry said.

And though he wouldn't guess how long the search can continue, Perry said it's unlikely to be stopped in one fell swoop.

"If they ever get to the point where they stop searching, that's going to be very difficult, for the family and for investigators," he said. "I can't say there will be a day where they'll say 'that's it, no more searching.'

"If they don't find her, they're going to continue searching with smaller teams."

Michael Thomas Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, were arrested May 19. Both are charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/06/05/9683541-sun.html

[Northern Rose]

WOODSTOCK, Ont. -- Hundreds of people attended a memorial Saturday held to celebrate the life of eight-year-old Tori Stafford who was abducted and believed killed in the southwestern Ontario city nearly two months ago.


"She was my best friend in the entire world," said the girl's mother, Tara McDonald, to the crowd that packed into Woodstock's largest church. "(She believed) the sun set and the moon revolved around her mummy. She was so full of love, happiness and life."


Tori went missing after she was seen on surveillance camera willingly walking away with an unidentified woman in a white jacket after school on April 8.


Her body has yet to be found.


"Her positive attitude radiated from her," McDonald said, holding back tears. "I would give my life just to hear her voice one more time. My daughter will never be forgotten, not by me or anybody."


Next, Tori's older brother, Daryn, stood up at the podium and tried to read from a speech he wrote.


A few lines in, he broke down in tears and couldn't continue.


"I love you Tori. I miss seeing you every night. . ." said the bespectacled 10-year-old.


He said that as her older brother, he should've protected her and regretted that he couldn't.


McDonald, and her ex-husband, Rodney Stafford, held their son and read the rest of the speech the boy wrote to the mourners.


Stafford said at the memorial that he has now realized that he had neglected his children in the past, and vowed to make a difference in their lives now.


"My heart will never fully mend," he said. "I still have the belief that I broke that promise to you (Tori) and I'm sorry."


Calling the eight-year-old his "diva with attitude," Stafford said that he will fight to ensure that changes will be made in the community and in legislation in her memory.


"We will make that difference in the world for you whether that be parents holding their children close, safer communities or changes in legislation including the Amber Alert," he said, his voice trembling. "I love you baby girl and I will never let you go."


Early on in the search for the missing girl, there was hope that Tori would be found safe.


For weeks, her mother held daily news conferences that, at times, were emotionally charged.


These hopes, however, were dashed May 20 when two arrests were made in the case.


Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, both from Woodstock, have each been charged with first-degree murder. They are to stand trial separately.


On Friday, police investigating the murder case opened up a dedicated tip line in hopes for bringing in more information from the public in hopes of locating her body. It's believed she was killed the same day she had been snatched off the streets.


The Victoria Stafford Tip line can be reached by calling 1-866-825-4222.


Woodstock is about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

http://www.canada.com/news/Slain+girl+full+love+Mother/1670373/story.html

[Northern Rose]

Family of Tori Stafford remembers 'spunky little princess' at memorial
By THE CANADIAN PRESS – 11 minutes ago

WOODSTOCK, Ont. — The mother of Victoria Stafford choked up as she remembered her "best friend in the entire world" during a memorial service for the murdered eight-year-old.

Tara McDonald recalled her passionate, positive daughter who was the best parts of her two parents - a diva and a fisherman.

She told a crowd of about 800 mourners gathered at a Woodstock, Ont., church she would give her own life just to hear Tori's "sweet voice one more time."

Victoria's father Rodney Stafford, several of her aunts and her 11-year-old brother Daryn also reflected on their "spunky little princess."

Woodstock was gripped by her April disappearance and then shocked, saddened and angered to learn of her death.

Two people are charged with first-degree murder and police continue to search for her body.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iqjfDdLIc3ODwFr6iLH9_P5LbogA

[Northern Rose]

WOODSTOCK - Hundreds of friends, loved ones and total strangers are gathered at a Woodstock church at this hour to share their grief and celebrate the life of Victoria (Tori) Stafford.

Overflow areas outside Calvary Church were mostly empty but as many as 1,100 people were expected inside to remember a girl many only knew as the girl in the poster, a smiling image so ubiquitous it seemed to have stared out of every Woodstock business and vehicle window since her April 8 abduction.

"We had an obligation to be here," said one woman, who doesn't know the family and drove from London to attend, "to offer support (and) offer sympathy."

A tightly controlled and well-organized event, reporters were kept in a roped-off section outside the church entrance and Tori's family was expected to answer questions after the service.

There were 200 volunteers from Calvary Church assisting with the event.

Pastor Keith Bishop is overseeing the service, which will include a poem written by Gavin Michaels of Tillsonburg and a five-minute DVD.

Expected to speak are Tori's mom and dad, Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford, her brother Daryn and aunt Rebecca Stafford. Bishop will offer a message entitled HOPE.

Those in attendance include long-time local Conservative MPP Ernie Hardeman and Bill Renton, the OPP detective who led the investigation into the Stafford abduction.

Today marks 58 days since the girl was last seen alive -- a moment captured in grainy surveillance footage that showed her walking with an unidentified woman.

People streamed in starting in the late morning, some still bearing thw weather-beaten posters alerting the public that a little girl was missing.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/canada/2009/06/06/9700311-sun.html

[Northern Rose]

Tori's family says goodbye to 'spunky little princess'
Updated: Sat Jun. 06 2009 2:28:18 PM

CTV.ca News Staff

The family and friends of Victoria Stafford undertook the tough job of explaining just how much the eight-year-old girl meant to them, at a memorial service in Woodstock, Ont., on Saturday afternoon.

Her parents, Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford, spoke to the mourners at Calvary Church, which was packed for the start of the 1 p.m. service.

McDonald teared up talking about the positive attitude that "just radiated" from her daughter, and the smiles she put on others' faces.

She called Victoria her "best friend in the entire world."

The Grade 3 student's father said he "never believed he would see what an angel looked like" until the day his daughter was born.

"It was truly an honour to have you in my life and be the one you called Daddy," Stafford said.

The little girl's aunt, Rebecca Stafford told mourners she looked forward to "the time that we are reunited with our spunky little princess."

Victoria's brother, Daryn, read some of his thoughts about his sister, until he could not read any further.

His mother took over and told the church how much his little sister had meant to him and the anguish he felt waiting for her to come home.

"I waited all day, every day...waiting for your safe return," McDonald said, when reading Daryn's heartbreaking words to the church.

Prior to Victoria's family speaking, Pastor David Duncan, the head of Woodstock's College Avenue United Church, remembered the "sweet kid" who sent his wife a card the last Sunday she came to church.

Duncan's wife had been sick and Tori took the time to write a thoughtful "Get Well" card for her, which included a memorable sign-off: "P.S. You rock."

The young girl's death left God "weeping with us, too," Duncan said.

Dozens of volunteers had helped control the crowd at the church, which was expected to number in the thousands, prior to the start of the service.

Victoria, known as Tori to her friends, disappeared on April 8 as she was leaving school just after 3 p.m.

On May 20, police arrested Michael Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, in connection with her disappearance.

They are both charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping, though Victoria's body has not yet been found.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090606/stafford_memorial_090606/20090606/?hub=TorontoNewHome

[Northern Rose]

Some images from the memorial.  Daryn was so strong in trying to read.  He could not finish and Tara read the rest.  It was a beautiful remembrance and I am a mess just watching them.

[Northern Rose]

Hundreds showed up and they are having a lunch outside now.  Many wore purple which was her favourite colour.  Tara and Rodney are expected to speak to media in a  bit.  The reporter is breaking up as he speaks of Daryn reading his letter.  Daryn said he should have protected Tori and failed her.  That when he becomes a Dad he will tell his children about Tori and what a wonderful person she was.

[no rose colored glasses]

Thank-you so much for all the articles and pictures, Northern Rose. So very sad. I sure hope they find little Tori's remains, even if there has to be some deal made. I hate deals being made, but, for the family's sake.