Gut feelings drove neighbours
Rosie DiManno
WOODSTOCK, Ont.—"Did you take Tori?"
It was a month ago that Craig Racine asked his neighbour that question, straight-up.
Bundling together laundry to use his neighbour's washing machine as an excuse, he'd even gone through the next-door house, looking for evidence of the 8-year-old girl's presence, but found nothing.
"Of course not!" Terri-Lynne McClintic retorted hotly.
But she'd already lopped off her long black hair – this as soon as the surveillance video showing Victoria Elizabeth Stafford walking away with a mystery woman on April 8 had been released by police. And then, when probed further about a white coat she owned, same as that female on the tape, McClintic claimed she'd tossed it out, in London, Ont., for some inexplicable reason.
Racine and his girlfriend, Jessica McDonald, drove to London themselves, searching through garbage bins for the coat, but found nothing.
Such was their gut feeling that McClintic and her boyfriend were somehow involved in the youngster's disappearance – the reason they had quietly called in a tip to a police hotline, a week after Tori vanished, and then physically attended at the station to follow through on their suspicions.
If it turns out they are guilty, the neighbours were right.
Eighteen-year-old McClintic and her lover, Michael Thomas C.S. Rafferty, 28, were arraigned yesterday morning; she for assisting in the abduction of the beautiful bright-eyed little girl, he for first-degree murder and abduction.
McClintic lived with her mother, a former stripper, about four blocks from Tori's house, a residence that had been canvassed by cops going door to door.
It was Carol McClintic who was dragged by police, screaming and cursing, from that Wilson St. house late Tuesday night, as Racine and McDonald looked on.
Her daughter was already in custody, and had been, for several weeks, apparently for breach of probation violations. OPP Det.-Insp. Bill Renton confirmed at least that much at a news conference yesterday afternoon.
Right under the cops' noses all that time.
But Tori was already long dead, as indicated by the police information presented in court yesterday morning, likely slain on the same day she was reported missing by her mother, Tara McDonald.
Dead, all those weeks when McDonald and her ex-husband made repeated public pleas for their child's safe return.
Dead, even as McDonald was being lacerated on social networking websites as the purported killer – because everybody had an opinion, everybody had a conviction. And the woman who insisted all along she had nothing to do with Tori's abduction, attracting severe criticism for her conduct throughout this ordeal – the drug addiction, finally admitted, the bizarre socializing in Woodstock-area bars on weekends, her daily "one-o'clocks," as she called the media scrums – was telling the truth.
As of last night, there was no body yet, police combing through a huge area between Guelph and Fergus.
McClintic, at least, knew McDonald, as Renton intimated in the news conference. "I believe McClintic may be familiar with Tara." He declined to speculate on whether Tori knew the teenager as well. "I'm not saying that at all."
Tori – who had gone so willingly, trustingly, as was evident from the videotape, with an alleged villainess who meant her harm.
"She's a little loopy," said Racine of McClintic, who had moved next door, the far house in a tawdry little stretch of three row houses, only a few months ago. Bed frames and beaten-up furniture are stacked on the porch.
Racine said he was at the house when McClintic locked herself in the bathroom on one occasion when police came knocking.
"I told her, `If it wasn't you, why don't you make a statement to police? Because there are a lot of people who think it's you.'"
It was the police sketch of that mystery woman, publicized a fortnight after Tori vanished, that really made Racine's skin crawl. And then McClintic – who now wears her hair in short cornrows – chopped off her dark mane.
"She said it was because she'd got bubble gum in her hair, but we didn't believe that," Racine continued. "And she had bought hair dye too, which I saw, but I don't think she ever had time to use it before she was arrested."
The house that McClintic lived in with her mother is actually owned by the father of Racine's girlfriend, James McDonald – no relation, apparently, to Tara McDonald. There are flyers of the missing girl posted on the verandas.
Jessica McDonald (also no relation to Tara), who lives next door to McClintic, was one of the first people to alert investigators about her neighbour. "Two days after Tori went missing, she (McClintic) and I went to the police station and for about two hours, we handed out flyers," said 30-year-old Jessica, who said she didn't suspect anything at that point.
But after investigators released the surveillance video, McClintic started acting funny, said Jessica. "She said, `You know, that could be me walking with that little girl.' Who says anything like that? And she said that a few times."
About 10 days after Tori went missing, Carol McClintic told Jessica that her daughter and her boyfriend had gone to London to "dispose of some clothes. She said they went to get rid of her (McClintic's) white coat and other clothes."
Jessica said Rafferty told her he was in the construction business. "He was a snappy dresser, and he was polite. You know, always expensive clothes, sunglasses and stuff." While Jessica said she never saw Tara at the McClintic house – even though her ex-husband said he thought they were going to breed their dogs – the neighbour said she often saw Tara's boyfriend, James Goris, there. "I never saw Tara but James, oh yes," she said. "I told the investigators all that."
Other area residents expressed drug worries about the occupants of at least two of those row houses.
"There was always police activity there," said Daniel Desjardins, 50, a tattoo artist who lives and works across the street. "About a year ago, there was some kind of hostage-taking. We saw SWAT police come swooping down. It was like a war scene."
Rafferty did not reside in that house but visited frequently. He lived, according to court documents, on a quiet suburban street on the edge of town, with a middle-aged couple believed to be his parents.
"It just made my heart sick to think he was living there, so close," said Gudrun Roux, from her porch a couple of doors over. "We got kids out here playing on the street all the time."
That sickening feeling, like all the air had gushed out of Woodstock, a plug pulled on hope, was everywhere evident yesterday as the news of arrests – and "murder" in the charge – swept across town.
At Tori's home, where pictures of the girl and optimistic messages are still affixed to the modest house frame, friends and relatives came and went all day. Tori's brother, Daryn, came out for a short while, idling on his bicycle, before being summoned back inside by Tara McDonald's domestic partner. Mom never appeared, though visitors relayed that she was devastated.
Police said they had told Tori's parents about the arrests the previous evening, late. But at 10:30 yesterday morning, Tara's boyfriend, James Goris, indicated to reporters they still had no news of Tori's fate.
The child's father, Rodney Stafford, arrived at Oxford Police headquarters in the early afternoon, shuffling in and out of the building on smoke breaks, but didn't speak to reporters. He later watched the news conference with his family from his brother-in-law Steve Millen's home.
Those who were in the courthouse for the early morning arraignment reported that Rafferty wept when the charges were read but McClintic was stoic.
Police removed Rafferty from the building around 1 o'clock, his shirt pulled over his head. A few dozen people who had waited for the moment hurled insults: "You'll get yours!" and "Show your face!"
Robert Stafford, one of Rodney's brothers, was also there and made a movement toward Rafferty as police rushed to separate the men. Although Robert Stafford's fist was cocked, he never did reach Rafferty.
There was almost no illumination on events at the police news conference, just a lot of downcast faces among investigators.
"Profound regret and sadness," Oxford Police Chief Ron Fraser told reporters of the announcement he was about to make – confirmation of the dual arrests. "This exhaustive investigation began 42 days ago. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to locate Victoria."
Fraser, who turned the lead investigative role over to OPP a month ago – and has come under intense second-guessing for his police force's failure to issue an Amber Alert promptly – looked haggard, tearing up as he spoke.
"There are no consoling words to offer. We are left with hundreds of questions that, hopefully, one day will be answered in our courts of law. Perhaps, once we have some answers, that will help us figure out why someone would take the life of a beautiful young lady."
There were crushed expressions from all the primary investigators at the conference, scores of reporters hurling questions that went essentially unanswered. But for this: Police don't have even a crime scene yet, as Renton admitted, though he paused for quite a while before making that comment.
"I wish we were before you today under different circumstances," he did say. "Our work is far from over. We will not stop until we have located Tori Stafford ... albeit, not the way we ever wanted to find Tori."
Renton would not address whether police believe Tori had been sexually assaulted in the short time the couple is alleged to have had her with them. Sex charges were not included on the indictment but this can change as the investigation continues. A great deal depends on finding the youngster's remains.
There were reports last night – not confirmed – that McClintic was assisting police with their investigation. For now, though, there is only regret, aching and a tremendous sense of loss.
Chief Fraser tried mightily to find a kernel of consolation in these awful events. "Perhaps there is some solace in knowing that, because of Victoria Stafford, every child in this city – and for that matter, this entire country – will be a little safer due to the heightened awareness of the need to better protect our children."
But people do forget, as time passes. Parents make mistakes. Sometimes the unthinkable happens, in a moment of craven opportunity.
And a child vanishes.
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