November 21, 2021 • 42 mins
On April 8th 2009, the Oxford community police received a report of a missing eight year old girl. Victoria Stafford was last seen leaving Oliver Stephens Public School in Woodstock, Canada. It would take over 100 days for the search to end, and years for some type of justice to be obtained.
This is part one of a two part case.
Thank you to our sponsor for this episode Elfster. The number one secret santa service that makes gift giving easier. Check out elfster.com or download the elfster app.
Don't forget CrimeCon is coming back to the UK in June 2022, you can get tickets on crimecon.co.uk, if you use our code WINDOW you'll get a discount and we will send you a merch pack.
This is part one of a two part case.
Thank you to our sponsor for this episode Elfster. The number one secret santa service that makes gift giving easier. Check out elfster.com or download the elfster app.
Don't forget CrimeCon is coming back to the UK in June 2022, you can get tickets on crimecon.co.uk, if you use our code WINDOW you'll get a discount and we will send you a merch pack.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Welcome to Crime Laps. I amAileen and I am Charlie. First of
all, we might apologize for oursilence over the past few months. There's
been a lot going on that wasbeyond our control. If you follow us
on social media, you'll know thatCharlie has had chronic health problems and as
kick cancers asked four times already,but our health takes precedent over everything else,
so we needed to take a break. But we're back. Why was
(00:28):
our crime con UK in September andit gave us the push we needed to
get back at it. So withoutany further delay, this is Complicity.
On April eighth, two thousand andnine, the Oxford Community Police received a
report of a missing eight year oldgirl. Victoria Stafford, was last seen
(00:50):
leaving Oliver Stevens Public School in Woodstock, Canada. Victoria, known as Tory
to friends and family, had beenin great spirits that morning. The little
girl had happily raided her mother's bedroomto borrow a headband and some butterfly earrings
to where to school, and shewas looking forward some exciting changes in her
life. Tory, her brother Darren, and a mother Tara, had just
(01:12):
moved to a new home, andthat day would be the first time that
she walked back to their new homefrom school. Victoria was supposed to go
see her father that week. Shehadn't seen him in a few months and
was looking forward to it. Shealso wanted to watch high school musical with
her friends. Darren took his bigbrother duties seriously, and he usually walked
(01:34):
Tori and a few other younger childrenfrom their neighborhood to and from school.
On April eighth, Tori was supposedto walk the few blocks back to the
new house with Darren. She wasexpected back by three forty five pm,
twenty minutes after she was dismissed fromclasses at school. Darren walked another child
(01:55):
home and went to their cousin's houseand buried a bicycle to make his way
home, and when he couldn't findTory at the house, he cycled around
the neighborhood looking for her. Torywasn't a shy kid. She would happily
engage in conversation or get distracted alongthe route home, so her mother presumed
she was just dawdling somewhere. Shewas supposed to be watching High School Musical
(02:15):
three with her friends that evening,and one called and left a voicemail about
it. Darren rode around until fivepm. Then he went back to his
cousin's house and his mother called tosay Tory had still not come home.
Shortly after five pm, Tara McDonald, Tory's mother, phoned her own mother,
Linda Winters, to tell her thatTory hadn't come here from school.
(02:38):
Linda was close to the family Tara, Darren and Tory had been living with
her in the months before they moved. The mother and daughter drove around the
neighborhood and when the little girl hadn'tturned up by six pm, they phoned
the police. The Oxford Community Policebegan at ground search almost immediately. They
searched the school, the neighborhoods wherenow lived and where they had lived before,
(03:01):
and by the next morning they hadalerted the media about Tory's disappearance.
The search for the little girl thenintensified, with more officers and the fire
departments searching the Woodstock area. Whenpolice spoke to Tory's teacher about seeing her
leave school the previous day, theywere told that students who walk home from
school usually line up at the southeastentrance before they had dismissed, but tor
(03:24):
had forgotten her bus flight earrings inclass and went back to get them.
She left just as the bell rang. Police obtained CCTV footage from College Avenue
Secondary School, which was just fivehundred meters from the public school Tory attended.
The footage showed a little girl identifiedas Victoria Stafford being led away by
(03:45):
an adult woman with a dark ponytailwho was wearing a white jacket. This
development raised the case from a missingchild to a possible abduction case. Children
were kept home from school as newsspread and the footage released to the media.
The Oxford community Police were flooded withtips on the unknown woman's identity,
(04:06):
with a number of people, includingTara McDonald, claiming it was a young
woman named Terry Lynn McClintic in thevideo. McClintic was known to Tory's mother,
who was a recovering addict. Tarahad purchased pills from McClintic's mother's house,
and they'd briefly met and discussed theirdogs and the possibility of breeding them
(04:28):
as they were both shitsues. Mcclintickwas also known to the police she had
an outstanding warrant for another offense,so on April twelfth, four days after
Tory went missing, they arrested TerryLynn mclintic and questioned her about the CCTV
footage. McClintic laughed when it wassuggested that she was a woman in the
video, and she denied any involvementin Tory Stafford's abduction. She did admit
(04:53):
to having a white jacket and beingin the area that day, but said
that she was there to buy drugs, not abduct a child. Mcclintick was
reminded an intercustody at Juvenile's Attention Centerin London, Ontario. The police continued
to investigate her further. The searchVictoria began to slow down. Children returned
to school as normal, with victoriousseat remaining empty. The Oxford Community Police
(05:18):
came under public criticism after it wasrevealed that they had not issued an umbrella
once Victoria was reported missing, andthey responded by saying that the case did
not meet the requirements needed to issueone at the time. These conditions without
a child under the age of eighteenhad been abducted, that the child was
in danger of serious harm, andthat there was enough information about the description
(05:41):
of the child and abductor to createa media alert. That has since changed,
and the police only need to havea suspicion that the child is in
danger to issue an alert. OnApril fifteenth, the Ontario Provincial Police were
called into the Oxford Community Police toaid the investigation as they struggled to keep
up with the near one thousand tipsthey had received. Many of these implicated
(06:04):
Tory's parents, insinuating they were involvedin her disappearance. Tara McDonald was publicly
demonized, with members of the communityaccusing her of being high on OxyContin on
the day of Tori's disappearance. Tarahad been attending a methodone clinic for two
years prior to her daughter's abduction andadamantly denied any wrongdoing. Tori's father,
(06:29):
Rodney Stafford, pleaded for his daughter'sreturn in an emotional Facebook post, asking
whoever had his daughter to just dropher off somewhere and promising that Daddy and
the world are coming for Victoria.There was speculation that Tori had been kidnapped
in a revenge plot for a twentythousand dollars drugged at her mother owed,
but no ransom call was ever received, and Tara insisted she did not owe
(06:51):
anyone any money. Tory's parents underwentpolygraph examinations to try and prove their innocence,
but the mounting pressure from the intensemedia coverage of Tory's disappearance caused him
to argue during a press conference whereRodney accused Tara of appearing emotionless and Tara
accused him of crying for the camera. The pair had married when Tara was
(07:15):
just seventeen years old, and theireldest child, Daram, was born A
few years later. Tori was bornin July two thousand and the couple split
up two years later. Tara hadcustody of the children, but was aided
by her mother, Linda. Acouple of years after the marriage broke down,
Tara began to abuse OxyContin, butbegan attending a methodone clinic. In
(07:35):
two thousand and seven, Tara beggedthe public to focus on her daughter and
said that it had nothing to dowith a rumor drug debt. The investigation
reached a large scale, with overnine hundred officers involved, carrying out canvassing
of the Woodstock area, extensive groundsearches, air searches, canine units and
(07:56):
combing through hours of CCTV footage.In early May, investigator's release footage of
a dark colored station Margain they hadbeen seen on the same street that Tory
was seen walking with the unknown woman. Anyone with information leading to an arrest
and conviction for those responsible for Tory'sabduction were offered a fifty thousand dollars reward.
(08:20):
A composite sketch of the woman seenwalking with Tory was released by the
police. She was described as beinga white female aged between nineteen and twenty
five, with a black pony taillter mc donald had been told by some
one that the woman looked just likeTerry Lynn mc clintock, and she told
the police about her suspicions. McClintockwas still in the detention center and investigators
(08:43):
went to meet her on May twelfthfor a second interview. In the interview,
she told detectives as she had goneto the employment center on April eighth
and then went to pick up oxycontontablets. She said that she had been
walking on Fifth Avenue, which wasacross from the school that caught Tory on
CC but she denied going near eitherschool and said that she had taken oxy
(09:03):
that day. On May nineteenth,an order from the Superior Court of Justice
allowed investigators to bring mclintic to OxfordCommunity Police headquarters to provide a statement.
She was read her rights and declinedto have a lawyer present. She agreed
to give a statement while undergoing apolygraph exam and was further questioned afterwards.
(09:26):
Finally, the eighteen year old admittedto investigators that she was the woman seen
walking with Tory Stafford. She saidthat on April eighth, she had begun
her day by going to a churchon College Avenue in Woodstock to get food
vouchers, which she used in theFoodling grocery store. Later in the afternoon,
she was present at the Community EmploymentCenter and submitted her resume before returning
(09:48):
to her house at two thirty pm. She then went towards the school,
where she saw Tory Stafford walking.She approached her and introduced herself as Tea.
They walked together a long Fife Avenueas scene on c C t V,
before turning into the Carescent Care HomeRetirement home parking lot and disappearing from
view. Terry Lyn mc clintock saidshe had met a man named Michael Rafferty
(10:13):
in early spring of that year.They were both drug addicts, and at
some stage in their relationship, Raffertytold her that he wanted to kidnap a
child, a young female, who, according to him, are easier to
manipulate. She fed into Rapperty's sickfantasy and wanted to prove to him that
(10:33):
she wasn't all talk. So onApril eighth, two thousand and nine,
she approached Tory Stafford and led herto Rapperty's Honda Civic in the care home
parking lot down the street. Torybelieved that she was going to meet McClintic
Shitzu, but instead she was pushedinto the back of the car and forced
to lie down as the car droveout of Woodstock. As they drove,
(10:54):
mc clintic made conversation with the littlegirl about her favorite things, which included
Hannah Montana. She was even wearinga hannamont and a T shirt. Rafferty
listened to the radio intently for anamber alert or news bulletin about the little
girl's disappearance, but there was nothingreported. They drove to Quelph, Ontario,
where they made stops to buy coffeeout of Tim Horton's percoset from a
(11:18):
drug dealer, and a claw hammerand garbage bags from the home depot.
As seen in the c C tV. It was mc clintock who went
into home depot, and before shedid, Tory begged her not to leave
her alone in the car. Shehad earlier promised the little girl that she
could go home and that she wouldn'thave anything bad happened to her. They
(11:39):
then drove down a rural road andpulled onto a lame way about five hundred
meters from Concession six. When theyparked the car, mc clintock said she
got out and left Tory in thecar with Rafferty, who began to rate
the little girl in the back seat. Afterward, she went back and took
Tory out of the car to urinate. It had been snowing, and McClintic
(12:01):
said she could see blood in thesnow on the ground. Even after this,
she told tor that she was avery strong girl, and she brought
her back to the car and handedher over to the man who had just
brutally assaulted her. Tory begged mclinticnot to leave so she sat in the
front seat and tried to hold onto Tori's hand, but she said she
had to leave as she knew whatwas about to happen again. Afterwards,
(12:26):
According to McClintic's statement, Michael openedthe car and threw Tory to the ground
before placing a garbage bag over herhead and repeatedly kicking her and beating her
with the clawhammer until she was dead. They then bundled the little broken body
into garbage bags, placed it undernearby trees, and covered it with a
pile of rocks. It starts witha kicking. Were in the front right,
(13:01):
you're out of the car, Tories. They end up going into the
backseat. Tories calling for you sayshe has to go to the washroom.
So you take your hand and youwalk over here, and she goes to
the washroom right, and you saidat that point there was blood on her
crotch. You you bring her backto Mike and he's sitting um with his
(13:24):
feet outside the rear passenger door onthe seat, Tories on his lap,
facing away from him. You walkaway. You after how long do you
think that was? I think whatwas when that? When the time you
bring her back to Mike after usingthe washroom to the time you see her
(13:46):
on the ground fifteen minutes, tenor fifteen minutes? Okay, so or
what out? What are you doingduring those ten or fifteen minutes? Shouldn't
taken surroundings like I, like Isaid, I glanced back a couple of
times, like you're calling me,I want to. I try and after
(14:07):
after I gave her back to Mikewith after I took for the washroom and
I walked away the second time,I like, I hear calling out form
sing tea, Ma could stop ttea. My nephew calls me t tea,
like come back, tried to.I tried, but walk back towards
(14:28):
or just like I said, Itried. I wanted to just wanted to
grab herds make take her away frommy people. I wanted to take a
couple of steps, and I feltlike I wanted to do a brick wall.
I could see I could see himwith her on his lap. Her
struggling gave me just like turn awayagain. I walked towards this way.
Yelled out to me to look checkout the house. I checked out the
(14:52):
house. I turned away again.I looked looked there with the fields,
I walked a paste a lot likeit was piecing back and forth. I'm
like, here this area like apiecing. So when you look back to
see her on the ground, Okay, she's kind of lying on her that
but her legs are off to theside, right, her feet or towards
(15:16):
the back of the car, herheads towards the front, but it's behind
the open rear passenger door of thecar, right, is that with that
lions? Yeah, okay, she'sgot a garbage bag over her head.
Right. Did you say that yousaw the mine kicker? Yeah? Sorry,
yeah, Like I I turned andhe was like, I'm trying to
(15:41):
I'm trying to get into like asmuch details, like it's okay if you
don't remember, you don't remember.Where do you think my kicker part of
riding rips or her rip area?Okay, there's a kicker couple times and
is that before after he reached itthe card before? Okay, they like
(16:03):
a couple of like just puttle kicks. There was like a stop like and
then I'm not sure how many times, Like I looked back a couple of
times, and he was and thenhe answered in the head with the hammer,
and I see, I'm like Isaid, I'm going to And why
didn't watch the whole thing? Isee him swing initially the way they ever
(16:30):
was facing what I couldn't kid,I couldn't he started twenty four. I
couldn't. I'm not sure. Idon't know if I want to close my
eyes. When I turned, Ijust I couldn't kick. What do you
think he hit her with the hammerin the head because there was no There's
no when I went over it,when I helped him, when I pull
the bags for him, he wasbanging tory like there was. She was
(16:53):
in one p issues. There wasno marks on her body like it was.
So her body goes inside these bags, right, how many bags do
you think he used to put herinside through? Two? Three maybe?
And then you lift her up byher feet. He lifts her up by
her upper body. Yeah, hu, majority of the way on him.
(17:15):
Okay. You carry around the frontof the car and you guys toss her
and she lands between the front ofthe rock clop right yea and the street
okay, and then you put onerock on her. I might put some
other ones on this and you canstill see a little bit the garage bag.
(17:37):
Yeah okay. McClinton claimed the backof the car, rapper to use
some water bottles in his jacket towash the blood off his lower half before
they got back into the car.He said that he didn't want to ruin
his shirt by cleaning himself with it. They placed the now ruined white jacket,
Tori's clothes, her brat school bag, and the clawhammer into bags which
(18:00):
they placed in the boot of thecar. Rafferty allegedly said that they needed
to get rid of their shoes,so they threw them out the window as
they drove, and each put ona pair that Rafferty had brought with him
in a gym bag. In Cambridge, they went to a car wash,
and while Rafferty was washing the insideand the outside of the car, even
shampooing the carpets, mcclintick placed thegarbage bags full of evidence into a nearby
(18:22):
trash can. They used the bathroomin a nearby store to change clothes into
spares they had brought with them,and through the clothes they had been wearing
out of the window of the car. Along the way back to Woodstock,
Rafferty dropped McClintic a few blocks awayfrom home, and they spoke about what
to say if they were questioned.They agreed to say that they went to
(18:45):
Oakville for window shopping. When mcclintock got home, she took some oxycontent
and wrote what she was told tosay in her journal so she wouldn't forget
or mess it up. McLintock wasarrested for the abduction of a child under
fourteen and for the offense of accessoryto murder. Police then arrested the man
she said was with her, twentyeight year old Michael Thomas Ropperty. Police
(19:07):
interviewed Ropperty for four hours before arrestinghim on suspicion of murder. At first,
he said he just knew mcclintick asa friend and that he had only
heard of Victoria Stafford from the news. He'd even consoled a friend of Victoria's
family at one point, saying hebelieved she would be okay. He might.
(19:27):
I'm a pretty get down to thefacts kind of guy. I'm sure
you realized that from her brief encounterearlier. All Right, this is not
rocket science. I got what TerryLynn has told me this afternoon, and
how about you. That's a shortopportunity. Terry Lynn sitting right here.
(19:48):
Tell if she's a liar, you'vehad no problem at saying with her out
her in the room. Terry's aliar? Yeah, that's what you're hoping.
I think you saw for a secondto think about all of the forensic
evidence that is yet become in thisinvestigation. Lawyer will have to deal with
that. How does your lawyer dealwith your seamen on an eight year old
(20:11):
body? I guess a lawyer wouldhave to deal with such things if such
things came up. Do you knowhow the legal system works? Like who
gives instructions to? Who? Doyou instruct your lawyers? Your lawyer instruct
you? You instruct your lawyer.So when that happens, your lawyer's going
to say, you, like,what do you want me to do with
(20:32):
this evidence? You know why Iwas gonna walk in here. Okay,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna pullany punchius here. Okay, I'm not
going to try and kiss your ass, all right. I mean, let's
face it, I'm a cop,all right, And the last five weeks
I've been trying to find out whokilled an eight year old girl? All
Right, I'd like to think thatwe don't have people walking around our communities
(20:55):
who, just because the reward onan afternoon, say hey, why don't
we grab that a girl and rapeand murderer. Okay, I'd like to
think that we live in a communitywhere people think a little bit more about
what they're going to do than that. Do you think you're coming off as
an innocent guy? Do you thinkyou're looking like somebody who's been wrongfully accused?
Here, You're gonna see it howeveryou want to see you. Well,
(21:18):
you're right there, like nothing youdo is going to get you walking
out of this pleustation tonight with Opieand charged with murdering Tory Stafford. You're
right, okay, because everything,every single thing Terry Lynn has told us
as we go through checking her story, and we've just started checking your story
has checked out everything, okay,and things are starting to fall apart for
(21:44):
you. Okay. I just heardyour name for the first time a couple
of days ago. That's one ofhundreds of names that I can have my
investigators look at. Okay. Thingschanged this afternoon very quickly when we had
Terry Lynn in here for a chat. Okay, and I'm not saying.
Tarily walked in here and said,hey, guys, guess what I'm involved?
(22:07):
All right? She resisted, Shetook time trying to convince us that
she wasn't, and then, forwhatever reason, whatever twigged with her,
the light started to come on andshe decided, you know what, I
got to get ahead of this thing. You know how much media coverage this
(22:29):
has. You know what the newspapersare going to do with this and to
your family tomorrow. Okay, youthink the cops are going to be talking
to everybody you ever spoke to inyour life, that's nothing compared to what
the media is going to be doing. This is a huge story for them.
This is the next Paul Bernardo,whether you like it or not.
(22:49):
A girl and a guy kidnapping aneight year old girl and murdering her.
That's one of the most sensational thingsthat have happened in this province since Hurdo
and Carla. It's going to bea frenzy and you and I both know
that. And really, when youlook at it, there's only two ways
(23:15):
to approach the story from a mediaperspective, and I think the guy from
behavioral Science has already kind of talkedto you about that a little bit.
This is either two people whose liveswere overtaken by drugs and all the stress
and everything that goes on and theymade a bad decision, they made a
(23:38):
bad, bad mistake, or thisis two cold blooded psychopaths who were planning
and plotting to snatch an innocent littlegirl off the street. And those aren't
my words. Those are the wordsthat the media is going to use.
And you know that. Over thenext four days, mclintic agree to assist
(24:00):
the investigators in the recovery of ToryStafford's remains and began to disclose details about
the little girl's final hours. Sheadmitted to going to a home depot store
on Woodland Road, Guelph on Aprileighth, at five to twelve pm and
purchasing garbage bags and a hammer.She did not know the exact location of
Tory's body, but gave investigators adescription of a house that had been close
(24:22):
by that was at an angle andsat directly across from a dirt road.
She believed it was an area ofHighway six in Wellington County. She further
described the scene as having a brokendown fence silos, a laneway that sloped
by a creek, and a largepile of rocks in amongst some evergreen trees.
When it was publicized that arrests hadbeen made for Tory's murder, her
(24:45):
family were beyond devastated. While theyinitially planned not to have a memorial service
until her remains were recovered, theyhad been told by police that there was
a chance they would never find herbody. On Saturday, June sixth,
a memorial service was held at theCalvary Pentecostal Church to remember Tory and to
thank the community for their help intheir search for her. Tar McDonald made
(25:10):
a statement to the congregation as aslide show showing snapshots of an eight year
old's short life played behind her.She said, I would give my own
life to hear your voice one moretime. My daughter will never be forgotten.
Rodney Stafford, Tory's father, said, I believe my heart will never
fully mend. Still believe I brokemy promise. I'm so sorry. I
(25:33):
never thought I would see an angeluntil I saw you. Darren, Tory's
older brother and best friend, struggledto contain his emotions as he told Tory
he loved her and miss seeing herevery night. This episode is sponsored by
(25:53):
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It's elf st e or Elster.In ali Une, McClintic provided investigators
(27:02):
with a hand drawn map of thearea. Despite hundreds of officers searching the
area, they had not managed tofind Tory Stafford until July nineteenth, two
thousand and nine, investigators obtained awarrant for raft his cell phone records,
which showed he'd made a call onApril eighth while in the mountin Forest area,
(27:22):
more north than they had been searchingbefore. While searching the mountin Forest
area on Concession six, an investigator, detective staff Sergeant Jim Smith, noticed
a house looked like the sketch themclintic described to a sketch artist. It
was opposite a laneway too. FollowingMcClintic's description of where the body was hidden,
(27:44):
he drove the car down the lanewayacross the culvert McClintic had mentioned,
up the sloping laneway until he sawa large pile of rocks on the left
side near the trees. When heleft his vehicle, he was immediately met
with a smell of decomposition. Beneaththe rock piles, he saw some of
the green garbage bag McClintic had broughtin the home depot, and he knew
(28:07):
that Tory Stafford was beneath them.The remains were removed and an autopsy was
performed under the supervision of the ChiefForensic Pathologist of Ontario, doctor Michael Pollinan.
Due to the amount of time thebody had been in the location and
external factors such as the changes inweather from snowfall in April to milder weather
(28:30):
in July, and the fact thatthe area had foliage, the remains were
severely decomposed. On July twenty first, the remains were positively identified as being
those of eight year old Victoria Staffordusing dental records and the items found with
her body a portion of her mother'sheadband, a Hannah Montana t shirt,
and her butterfly earrings. Tory hadfinally been found two hours from home,
(28:59):
one hundred and three days after shehad vanished. A forensic examination of the
area revealed a number of evidentiary items, such as bottle caps strewn around the
ground. A search of Rafferty's homeand vehicle turned up empty water bottles with
caps identical to those found by Torisremains. They also found a jacket like
(29:19):
the one he'd placed over Tory asshe hid in the backseat. A jim
bag was found in his car.It had his seamen and Victoria's blood on
it. The backseat of the carhad been removed and it was not recovered,
so any evidence that had been onit was lost, but they did
find a mixture of rafferty seamen andTori's blood on the back of the front
(29:40):
passenger seat. Most disturbingly, theyfound Tori's missing person poster in a drawer
in McClintic's home, along with apiece of paper with Tara McDonald's number on
it, with Tori's mother written besideit. A private funeral was held on
July thirty first, when Tori's remainswere fine sent home. Over a year
(30:03):
and a half later, in Decembertwo and ten, it was publicized that
Terry Lynn mclintic had pleaded guilty tomurder in April of that year and sentenced
to life in prison, with aminimum of twenty five years to be served.
There had been a publication ban onthis after concerns that it would jeopardize
Michael Rafferty's trial. McClintic had pleadedguilty to murder, which had a mandatory
(30:26):
sentence. The kidnapping charge was notpursued. She did not receive a plea
deal or a lesser sentence. Shewrote a sentence at the April thirtieth,
two and ten hearing, which readin part this is about justice for Tory
on April eighth. I don't knowwhat I thought was going to happen.
(30:48):
I am honored to have been ableto spend even a brief amount of time
with such an amazing person, andit pains me to think about how many
people won't get to see what abeautiful and brilliant woman I just know she
would have grown up to be.Every night, before I go to sleep,
I tell myself that when I wakeup in the morning, this will
all have just been a very,very bad dream. But when I opened
(31:10):
my eyes, I look around meand see that this is reality. I
didn't wake up on that morning thinkingI was going to take a child.
Not in a million years would Ihave pictured myself standing there. But here
I am, and I know thatI need to stand up and take responsibility
for my actions. Every day,I think that maybe if I hadn't walked
(31:30):
down their street that day, thatprecious little angel would still be here.
Every day I asked myself, why, Why did I tell myself that everything
would be okay? Just why?I can't explain my thought process on that
day. I can't do anything exceptbe honest I will never try to make
(31:51):
excuses for my judgment, calls,or my actions. Yes, I was
under the influence of drugs, andyes, there are things that I've experienced
in the past that may have affectedmy reactions to the situation I was in.
But regardless of those reasons, itdoesn't make what happened acceptable. Every
time I close my eyes unflooded withthe memories of that day, I will
never forget what happened, the mistakesI made, the failure I was.
(32:15):
A million tears will never be enough, and a million words would never be
able to express how truly sorry Iam. I allowed my own issues,
my own past, to affect thefuture of an innocent girl. I'll never
be able to take back what's happened, but I've been trying to do everything
I can to make things as rightas they can be, which is why
I stand here today. I wouldgive anything to be able to trade that
(32:37):
amazing little girl places, but Ican't, and man that hurts. Tory
will never leave my heart. She'llhold my heart in her hands until the
day I die. She's made merealize that I need to deal with my
issues, but I can't continue onthe road I've been walking. I owe
(32:57):
my life to that precious little angeland all the people who have been hurt
because of this. I have onegoal out of all of this, and
that is to help other women likemyself avoid winding up in positions such as
this. I will do everything Ican to keep other children safe, and
these are things I can do regardlessof where I am. I also would
like to help others avoid making thesame mistakes. I have to learn what
(33:21):
is meant to be learned from ourmistakes, teach others what I was failed
to be taught, And most importantly, I want to help others in a
way people fail to help me,and be supportive to others in need,
as only a few people have beensupportive of me. Those are the people
I hold dear to my heart,and I want to be one of those
people. Enough people have been hurtas a result of this, and I
(33:45):
refuse to drag anyone through the proceedingsof a trial. Spending the next few
decades of life in prison is nothingcompared to what Toria was robbed of.
I know that my apology doesn't meanmuch compared to what was lost, and
I'm not asking for forgiveness as Iand here, but I'm trying to make
amends the best way I can bygiving you my life today. Rodney Stafford,
(34:07):
Tory's father, had also delivered astatement. He said, I am
Rodney Stafford, a father to twobeautiful children, one who is no longer
here with us. On April eighth, two thou nine, I, myself,
my son Darren, my ex wifeTara, our family and friends,
and much to our surprise and nationall became victims to a haina's crime when
(34:30):
one of our children was stolen inbroad daylight. I would like to thank
you your honor for allowing me theopportunity to speak freely, and I apologize
for any inappropriate language that may arise. I was asked if I'd like to
write an impact statement detailing how thelast year has affected my life, and
(34:50):
yes, I have to, notjust for me, but for every person
out there that would have liked tohave had this opportunity. So please take
into consideration what this victim is saying. I never chose to become a victim.
It was forced into my life,all of our lives, with a
loss of victoria thousands, if nothundreds of thousands, of people felt tremendous
(35:12):
loss worldwide. Victoria was a verybeautiful eight year old child and an innocent
little girl who put a smile onevery face she met. It plays in
my mind over and over again.The loss of Victoria has left an emptiness
inside everyone that no parents should everhave to feel. And because of this,
(35:32):
I've dedicated the last year of mylife to bettering myself and helping stand
out for the truly innocent, theones whose voices do not get heard.
Not just for Victoria, but forall the children that have lost their innocence.
This has got to stop. Iam aware that April eighth will always
exist on my mind, but there'snothing I can do, or anything anyone
(35:55):
can do, for that matter,to bring Victoria's smiling face home. There's
nothing I can do to bring Victoriahome, nothing, nothing but visualize little
memory flashes of her face every nowand then. If I could rewrite the
past, I would love to bringVictoria home. And this never happened,
period, But it did, andour chubs is gone. I have to
(36:23):
thank everyone for their support in tryingto find Victoria. Fifteen and a one
and a half week of searching forany clues of where Victoria could be,
the vigils, balloons, launches,memorials, Victoria's funeral. They're all heartfelt
and made possible by total strangers,all searching for the same thing, answers
(36:45):
justice, but most of all,my little girl. How was Christmas,
Easter, Halloween, Victoria's birthday,Darren's birthday? Not the same? None
of them were, nor will everbe again. No holiday days were even
close to the way they used tobe. One of our pride was gone,
our family destroyed because one of ourown was stolen from us, not
(37:10):
to mention stolen from us in broaddaylight. Now, in order to spend
these holidays or events with the Victoria, we get to go and stare at
a burial spot for Victoria's remains,her little body buried beneath the ground,
never to be seen again. Buton the bright side, she was able
to come home. No matter thesentence set down for this heinous crime,
nothing will ever be close to satisfyingthe feeling of the loss of your child
(37:35):
forced into my life. You cannotprepare for it. You can only do
your part to seek justice for what'shappened and make others aware. The predators
are in fact out there, notjust here, but everywhere. The hardest
part of my last year has beenwatching my twelve year old son try to
continue through life, trying to figureout why the pod now only has one
(38:00):
who split the pod, and whybest friends torn apart a brother and sister
relationship that you only see in themovies. Darren has suffered daily for the
last year. You can see it. He tries well to hide it,
but you can see the emptiness.He misses his sister and feels guilt every
(38:22):
day because he never walked her home. It kills me inside to see him
cry, and for me to knowthat the one thing he wants now in
life that can make him happy andput that smile back on his face,
I can never give him. Ican never bring Victoria home to see Darren,
or to see anyone for that matter, Terry Lynn. Over the course
(38:46):
of the last year, I've beenforced to have feelings of hurt, anger,
and worst of all, hate towardsyou, all feelings I've never felt
towards someone before, and they areall a direct result of what happened to
Victoria. As hard as this isfor me, I do have to say
thank you to you. Thank youfor stepping up and accepting responsibility for your
(39:07):
actions resulting in Victoria's eventual death.I thank you for aiding in the search
of Victoria's remains and for all theinformation provided to help lead up to finding
Victoria. It has been said thatwithout you we may never have found Victoria.
With your aid, we were ableto properly lay Victoria to rest.
(39:28):
I now believe in my heart thatyou were just a woman under the influence
of a controlled substance who took thingstoo far. Still doesn't make it right,
but it happened, and we can'tchange the past. Victoria is and
has always been a very huge partof my life, but now she's gone,
(39:49):
with only an empty void filled withjoyous memories of a precious little girl,
a totally innocent child with the heartof gold, taken far too soon.
I hope that during your center soyou find peace with yourself and with
God, and just maybe one dayI could learn to forgive you. But
for now, excuse me if Idon't, my little girl is gone.
(40:17):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Crime Laps. Crime Laps is an
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(40:43):
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Twitter. Stay safe. Crime Conis coming back to London in twenty twenty
two. Following the incredible reception tothe first Crime Con UK in September twenty
(41:07):
twenty one. The event is backin the Leonardo Royal, Saint Paul's Hotel
on June eleventh and twelfth, twentytwenty two. We'll be back on Podcasts
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(41:30):
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(41:50):
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crime Con u K twenty twenty two.
Welcome to Crime Laps. I amAileen and I am Charlie. First of
all, we might apologize for oursilence over the past few months. There's
been a lot going on that wasbeyond our control. If you follow us
on social media, you'll know thatCharlie has had chronic health problems and as
kick cancers asked four times already,but our health takes precedent over everything else,
so we needed to take a break. But we're back. Why was
(00:28):
our crime con UK in September andit gave us the push we needed to
get back at it. So withoutany further delay, this is Complicity.
On April eighth, two thousand andnine, the Oxford Community Police received a
report of a missing eight year oldgirl. Victoria Stafford, was last seen
(00:50):
leaving Oliver Stevens Public School in Woodstock, Canada. Victoria, known as Tory
to friends and family, had beenin great spirits that morning. The little
girl had happily raided her mother's bedroomto borrow a headband and some butterfly earrings
to where to school, and shewas looking forward some exciting changes in her
life. Tory, her brother Darren, and a mother Tara, had just
(01:12):
moved to a new home, andthat day would be the first time that
she walked back to their new homefrom school. Victoria was supposed to go
see her father that week. Shehadn't seen him in a few months and
was looking forward to it. Shealso wanted to watch high school musical with
her friends. Darren took his bigbrother duties seriously, and he usually walked
(01:34):
Tori and a few other younger childrenfrom their neighborhood to and from school.
On April eighth, Tori was supposedto walk the few blocks back to the
new house with Darren. She wasexpected back by three forty five pm,
twenty minutes after she was dismissed fromclasses at school. Darren walked another child
(01:55):
home and went to their cousin's houseand buried a bicycle to make his way
home, and when he couldn't findTory at the house, he cycled around
the neighborhood looking for her. Torywasn't a shy kid. She would happily
engage in conversation or get distracted alongthe route home, so her mother presumed
she was just dawdling somewhere. Shewas supposed to be watching High School Musical
(02:15):
three with her friends that evening,and one called and left a voicemail about
it. Darren rode around until fivepm. Then he went back to his
cousin's house and his mother called tosay Tory had still not come home.
Shortly after five pm, Tara McDonald, Tory's mother, phoned her own mother,
Linda Winters, to tell her thatTory hadn't come here from school.
(02:38):
Linda was close to the family Tara, Darren and Tory had been living with
her in the months before they moved. The mother and daughter drove around the
neighborhood and when the little girl hadn'tturned up by six pm, they phoned
the police. The Oxford Community Policebegan at ground search almost immediately. They
searched the school, the neighborhoods wherenow lived and where they had lived before,
(03:01):
and by the next morning they hadalerted the media about Tory's disappearance.
The search for the little girl thenintensified, with more officers and the fire
departments searching the Woodstock area. Whenpolice spoke to Tory's teacher about seeing her
leave school the previous day, theywere told that students who walk home from
school usually line up at the southeastentrance before they had dismissed, but tor
(03:24):
had forgotten her bus flight earrings inclass and went back to get them.
She left just as the bell rang. Police obtained CCTV footage from College Avenue
Secondary School, which was just fivehundred meters from the public school Tory attended.
The footage showed a little girl identifiedas Victoria Stafford being led away by
(03:45):
an adult woman with a dark ponytailwho was wearing a white jacket. This
development raised the case from a missingchild to a possible abduction case. Children
were kept home from school as newsspread and the footage released to the media.
The Oxford community Police were flooded withtips on the unknown woman's identity,
(04:06):
with a number of people, includingTara McDonald, claiming it was a young
woman named Terry Lynn McClintic in thevideo. McClintic was known to Tory's mother,
who was a recovering addict. Tarahad purchased pills from McClintic's mother's house,
and they'd briefly met and discussed theirdogs and the possibility of breeding them
(04:28):
as they were both shitsues. Mcclintickwas also known to the police she had
an outstanding warrant for another offense,so on April twelfth, four days after
Tory went missing, they arrested TerryLynn mclintic and questioned her about the CCTV
footage. McClintic laughed when it wassuggested that she was a woman in the
video, and she denied any involvementin Tory Stafford's abduction. She did admit
(04:53):
to having a white jacket and beingin the area that day, but said
that she was there to buy drugs, not abduct a child. Mcclintick was
reminded an intercustody at Juvenile's Attention Centerin London, Ontario. The police continued
to investigate her further. The searchVictoria began to slow down. Children returned
to school as normal, with victoriousseat remaining empty. The Oxford Community Police
(05:18):
came under public criticism after it wasrevealed that they had not issued an umbrella
once Victoria was reported missing, andthey responded by saying that the case did
not meet the requirements needed to issueone at the time. These conditions without
a child under the age of eighteenhad been abducted, that the child was
in danger of serious harm, andthat there was enough information about the description
(05:41):
of the child and abductor to createa media alert. That has since changed,
and the police only need to havea suspicion that the child is in
danger to issue an alert. OnApril fifteenth, the Ontario Provincial Police were
called into the Oxford Community Police toaid the investigation as they struggled to keep
up with the near one thousand tipsthey had received. Many of these implicated
(06:04):
Tory's parents, insinuating they were involvedin her disappearance. Tara McDonald was publicly
demonized, with members of the communityaccusing her of being high on OxyContin on
the day of Tori's disappearance. Tarahad been attending a methodone clinic for two
years prior to her daughter's abduction andadamantly denied any wrongdoing. Tori's father,
(06:29):
Rodney Stafford, pleaded for his daughter'sreturn in an emotional Facebook post, asking
whoever had his daughter to just dropher off somewhere and promising that Daddy and
the world are coming for Victoria.There was speculation that Tori had been kidnapped
in a revenge plot for a twentythousand dollars drugged at her mother owed,
but no ransom call was ever received, and Tara insisted she did not owe
(06:51):
anyone any money. Tory's parents underwentpolygraph examinations to try and prove their innocence,
but the mounting pressure from the intensemedia coverage of Tory's disappearance caused him
to argue during a press conference whereRodney accused Tara of appearing emotionless and Tara
accused him of crying for the camera. The pair had married when Tara was
(07:15):
just seventeen years old, and theireldest child, Daram, was born A
few years later. Tori was bornin July two thousand and the couple split
up two years later. Tara hadcustody of the children, but was aided
by her mother, Linda. Acouple of years after the marriage broke down,
Tara began to abuse OxyContin, butbegan attending a methodone clinic. In
(07:35):
two thousand and seven, Tara beggedthe public to focus on her daughter and
said that it had nothing to dowith a rumor drug debt. The investigation
reached a large scale, with overnine hundred officers involved, carrying out canvassing
of the Woodstock area, extensive groundsearches, air searches, canine units and
(07:56):
combing through hours of CCTV footage.In early May, investigator's release footage of
a dark colored station Margain they hadbeen seen on the same street that Tory
was seen walking with the unknown woman. Anyone with information leading to an arrest
and conviction for those responsible for Tory'sabduction were offered a fifty thousand dollars reward.
(08:20):
A composite sketch of the woman seenwalking with Tory was released by the
police. She was described as beinga white female aged between nineteen and twenty
five, with a black pony taillter mc donald had been told by some
one that the woman looked just likeTerry Lynn mc clintock, and she told
the police about her suspicions. McClintockwas still in the detention center and investigators
(08:43):
went to meet her on May twelfthfor a second interview. In the interview,
she told detectives as she had goneto the employment center on April eighth
and then went to pick up oxycontontablets. She said that she had been
walking on Fifth Avenue, which wasacross from the school that caught Tory on
CC but she denied going near eitherschool and said that she had taken oxy
(09:03):
that day. On May nineteenth,an order from the Superior Court of Justice
allowed investigators to bring mclintic to OxfordCommunity Police headquarters to provide a statement.
She was read her rights and declinedto have a lawyer present. She agreed
to give a statement while undergoing apolygraph exam and was further questioned afterwards.
(09:26):
Finally, the eighteen year old admittedto investigators that she was the woman seen
walking with Tory Stafford. She saidthat on April eighth, she had begun
her day by going to a churchon College Avenue in Woodstock to get food
vouchers, which she used in theFoodling grocery store. Later in the afternoon,
she was present at the Community EmploymentCenter and submitted her resume before returning
(09:48):
to her house at two thirty pm. She then went towards the school,
where she saw Tory Stafford walking.She approached her and introduced herself as Tea.
They walked together a long Fife Avenueas scene on c C t V,
before turning into the Carescent Care HomeRetirement home parking lot and disappearing from
view. Terry Lyn mc clintock saidshe had met a man named Michael Rafferty
(10:13):
in early spring of that year.They were both drug addicts, and at
some stage in their relationship, Raffertytold her that he wanted to kidnap a
child, a young female, who, according to him, are easier to
manipulate. She fed into Rapperty's sickfantasy and wanted to prove to him that
(10:33):
she wasn't all talk. So onApril eighth, two thousand and nine,
she approached Tory Stafford and led herto Rapperty's Honda Civic in the care home
parking lot down the street. Torybelieved that she was going to meet McClintic
Shitzu, but instead she was pushedinto the back of the car and forced
to lie down as the car droveout of Woodstock. As they drove,
(10:54):
mc clintic made conversation with the littlegirl about her favorite things, which included
Hannah Montana. She was even wearinga hannamont and a T shirt. Rafferty
listened to the radio intently for anamber alert or news bulletin about the little
girl's disappearance, but there was nothingreported. They drove to Quelph, Ontario,
where they made stops to buy coffeeout of Tim Horton's percoset from a
(11:18):
drug dealer, and a claw hammerand garbage bags from the home depot.
As seen in the c C tV. It was mc clintock who went
into home depot, and before shedid, Tory begged her not to leave
her alone in the car. Shehad earlier promised the little girl that she
could go home and that she wouldn'thave anything bad happened to her. They
(11:39):
then drove down a rural road andpulled onto a lame way about five hundred
meters from Concession six. When theyparked the car, mc clintock said she
got out and left Tory in thecar with Rafferty, who began to rate
the little girl in the back seat. Afterward, she went back and took
Tory out of the car to urinate. It had been snowing, and McClintic
(12:01):
said she could see blood in thesnow on the ground. Even after this,
she told tor that she was avery strong girl, and she brought
her back to the car and handedher over to the man who had just
brutally assaulted her. Tory begged mclinticnot to leave so she sat in the
front seat and tried to hold onto Tori's hand, but she said she
had to leave as she knew whatwas about to happen again. Afterwards,
(12:26):
According to McClintic's statement, Michael openedthe car and threw Tory to the ground
before placing a garbage bag over herhead and repeatedly kicking her and beating her
with the clawhammer until she was dead. They then bundled the little broken body
into garbage bags, placed it undernearby trees, and covered it with a
pile of rocks. It starts witha kicking. Were in the front right,
(13:01):
you're out of the car, Tories. They end up going into the
backseat. Tories calling for you sayshe has to go to the washroom.
So you take your hand and youwalk over here, and she goes to
the washroom right, and you saidat that point there was blood on her
crotch. You you bring her backto Mike and he's sitting um with his
(13:24):
feet outside the rear passenger door onthe seat, Tories on his lap,
facing away from him. You walkaway. You after how long do you
think that was? I think whatwas when that? When the time you
bring her back to Mike after usingthe washroom to the time you see her
(13:46):
on the ground fifteen minutes, tenor fifteen minutes? Okay, so or
what out? What are you doingduring those ten or fifteen minutes? Shouldn't
taken surroundings like I, like Isaid, I glanced back a couple of
times, like you're calling me,I want to. I try and after
(14:07):
after I gave her back to Mikewith after I took for the washroom and
I walked away the second time,I like, I hear calling out form
sing tea, Ma could stop ttea. My nephew calls me t tea,
like come back, tried to.I tried, but walk back towards
(14:28):
or just like I said, Itried. I wanted to just wanted to
grab herds make take her away frommy people. I wanted to take a
couple of steps, and I feltlike I wanted to do a brick wall.
I could see I could see himwith her on his lap. Her
struggling gave me just like turn awayagain. I walked towards this way.
Yelled out to me to look checkout the house. I checked out the
(14:52):
house. I turned away again.I looked looked there with the fields,
I walked a paste a lot likeit was piecing back and forth. I'm
like, here this area like apiecing. So when you look back to
see her on the ground, Okay, she's kind of lying on her that
but her legs are off to theside, right, her feet or towards
(15:16):
the back of the car, herheads towards the front, but it's behind
the open rear passenger door of thecar, right, is that with that
lions? Yeah, okay, she'sgot a garbage bag over her head.
Right. Did you say that yousaw the mine kicker? Yeah? Sorry,
yeah, Like I I turned andhe was like, I'm trying to
(15:41):
I'm trying to get into like asmuch details, like it's okay if you
don't remember, you don't remember.Where do you think my kicker part of
riding rips or her rip area?Okay, there's a kicker couple times and
is that before after he reached itthe card before? Okay, they like
(16:03):
a couple of like just puttle kicks. There was like a stop like and
then I'm not sure how many times, Like I looked back a couple of
times, and he was and thenhe answered in the head with the hammer,
and I see, I'm like Isaid, I'm going to And why
didn't watch the whole thing? Isee him swing initially the way they ever
(16:30):
was facing what I couldn't kid,I couldn't he started twenty four. I
couldn't. I'm not sure. Idon't know if I want to close my
eyes. When I turned, Ijust I couldn't kick. What do you
think he hit her with the hammerin the head because there was no There's
no when I went over it,when I helped him, when I pull
the bags for him, he wasbanging tory like there was. She was
(16:53):
in one p issues. There wasno marks on her body like it was.
So her body goes inside these bags, right, how many bags do
you think he used to put herinside through? Two? Three maybe?
And then you lift her up byher feet. He lifts her up by
her upper body. Yeah, hu, majority of the way on him.
(17:15):
Okay. You carry around the frontof the car and you guys toss her
and she lands between the front ofthe rock clop right yea and the street
okay, and then you put onerock on her. I might put some
other ones on this and you canstill see a little bit the garage bag.
(17:37):
Yeah okay. McClinton claimed the backof the car, rapper to use
some water bottles in his jacket towash the blood off his lower half before
they got back into the car.He said that he didn't want to ruin
his shirt by cleaning himself with it. They placed the now ruined white jacket,
Tori's clothes, her brat school bag, and the clawhammer into bags which
(18:00):
they placed in the boot of thecar. Rafferty allegedly said that they needed
to get rid of their shoes,so they threw them out the window as
they drove, and each put ona pair that Rafferty had brought with him
in a gym bag. In Cambridge, they went to a car wash,
and while Rafferty was washing the insideand the outside of the car, even
shampooing the carpets, mcclintick placed thegarbage bags full of evidence into a nearby
(18:22):
trash can. They used the bathroomin a nearby store to change clothes into
spares they had brought with them,and through the clothes they had been wearing
out of the window of the car. Along the way back to Woodstock,
Rafferty dropped McClintic a few blocks awayfrom home, and they spoke about what
to say if they were questioned.They agreed to say that they went to
(18:45):
Oakville for window shopping. When mcclintock got home, she took some oxycontent
and wrote what she was told tosay in her journal so she wouldn't forget
or mess it up. McLintock wasarrested for the abduction of a child under
fourteen and for the offense of accessoryto murder. Police then arrested the man
she said was with her, twentyeight year old Michael Thomas Ropperty. Police
(19:07):
interviewed Ropperty for four hours before arrestinghim on suspicion of murder. At first,
he said he just knew mcclintick asa friend and that he had only
heard of Victoria Stafford from the news. He'd even consoled a friend of Victoria's
family at one point, saying hebelieved she would be okay. He might.
(19:27):
I'm a pretty get down to thefacts kind of guy. I'm sure
you realized that from her brief encounterearlier. All Right, this is not
rocket science. I got what TerryLynn has told me this afternoon, and
how about you. That's a shortopportunity. Terry Lynn sitting right here.
(19:48):
Tell if she's a liar, you'vehad no problem at saying with her out
her in the room. Terry's aliar? Yeah, that's what you're hoping.
I think you saw for a secondto think about all of the forensic
evidence that is yet become in thisinvestigation. Lawyer will have to deal with
that. How does your lawyer dealwith your seamen on an eight year old
(20:11):
body? I guess a lawyer wouldhave to deal with such things if such
things came up. Do you knowhow the legal system works? Like who
gives instructions to? Who? Doyou instruct your lawyers? Your lawyer instruct
you? You instruct your lawyer.So when that happens, your lawyer's going
to say, you, like,what do you want me to do with
(20:32):
this evidence? You know why Iwas gonna walk in here. Okay,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna pullany punchius here. Okay, I'm not
going to try and kiss your ass, all right. I mean, let's
face it, I'm a cop,all right, And the last five weeks
I've been trying to find out whokilled an eight year old girl? All
Right, I'd like to think thatwe don't have people walking around our communities
(20:55):
who, just because the reward onan afternoon, say hey, why don't
we grab that a girl and rapeand murderer. Okay, I'd like to
think that we live in a communitywhere people think a little bit more about
what they're going to do than that. Do you think you're coming off as
an innocent guy? Do you thinkyou're looking like somebody who's been wrongfully accused?
Here, You're gonna see it howeveryou want to see you. Well,
(21:18):
you're right there, like nothing youdo is going to get you walking
out of this pleustation tonight with Opieand charged with murdering Tory Stafford. You're
right, okay, because everything,every single thing Terry Lynn has told us
as we go through checking her story, and we've just started checking your story
has checked out everything, okay,and things are starting to fall apart for
(21:44):
you. Okay. I just heardyour name for the first time a couple
of days ago. That's one ofhundreds of names that I can have my
investigators look at. Okay. Thingschanged this afternoon very quickly when we had
Terry Lynn in here for a chat. Okay, and I'm not saying.
Tarily walked in here and said,hey, guys, guess what I'm involved?
(22:07):
All right? She resisted, Shetook time trying to convince us that
she wasn't, and then, forwhatever reason, whatever twigged with her,
the light started to come on andshe decided, you know what, I
got to get ahead of this thing. You know how much media coverage this
(22:29):
has. You know what the newspapersare going to do with this and to
your family tomorrow. Okay, youthink the cops are going to be talking
to everybody you ever spoke to inyour life, that's nothing compared to what
the media is going to be doing. This is a huge story for them.
This is the next Paul Bernardo,whether you like it or not.
(22:49):
A girl and a guy kidnapping aneight year old girl and murdering her.
That's one of the most sensational thingsthat have happened in this province since Hurdo
and Carla. It's going to bea frenzy and you and I both know
that. And really, when youlook at it, there's only two ways
(23:15):
to approach the story from a mediaperspective, and I think the guy from
behavioral Science has already kind of talkedto you about that a little bit.
This is either two people whose liveswere overtaken by drugs and all the stress
and everything that goes on and theymade a bad decision, they made a
(23:38):
bad, bad mistake, or thisis two cold blooded psychopaths who were planning
and plotting to snatch an innocent littlegirl off the street. And those aren't
my words. Those are the wordsthat the media is going to use.
And you know that. Over thenext four days, mclintic agree to assist
(24:00):
the investigators in the recovery of ToryStafford's remains and began to disclose details about
the little girl's final hours. Sheadmitted to going to a home depot store
on Woodland Road, Guelph on Aprileighth, at five to twelve pm and
purchasing garbage bags and a hammer.She did not know the exact location of
Tory's body, but gave investigators adescription of a house that had been close
(24:22):
by that was at an angle andsat directly across from a dirt road.
She believed it was an area ofHighway six in Wellington County. She further
described the scene as having a brokendown fence silos, a laneway that sloped
by a creek, and a largepile of rocks in amongst some evergreen trees.
When it was publicized that arrests hadbeen made for Tory's murder, her
(24:45):
family were beyond devastated. While theyinitially planned not to have a memorial service
until her remains were recovered, theyhad been told by police that there was
a chance they would never find herbody. On Saturday, June sixth,
a memorial service was held at theCalvary Pentecostal Church to remember Tory and to
thank the community for their help intheir search for her. Tar McDonald made
(25:10):
a statement to the congregation as aslide show showing snapshots of an eight year
old's short life played behind her.She said, I would give my own
life to hear your voice one moretime. My daughter will never be forgotten.
Rodney Stafford, Tory's father, said, I believe my heart will never
fully mend. Still believe I brokemy promise. I'm so sorry. I
(25:33):
never thought I would see an angeluntil I saw you. Darren, Tory's
older brother and best friend, struggledto contain his emotions as he told Tory
he loved her and miss seeing herevery night. This episode is sponsored by
(25:53):
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It's elf st e or Elster.In ali Une, McClintic provided investigators
(27:02):
with a hand drawn map of thearea. Despite hundreds of officers searching the
area, they had not managed tofind Tory Stafford until July nineteenth, two
thousand and nine, investigators obtained awarrant for raft his cell phone records,
which showed he'd made a call onApril eighth while in the mountin Forest area,
(27:22):
more north than they had been searchingbefore. While searching the mountin Forest
area on Concession six, an investigator, detective staff Sergeant Jim Smith, noticed
a house looked like the sketch themclintic described to a sketch artist. It
was opposite a laneway too. FollowingMcClintic's description of where the body was hidden,
(27:44):
he drove the car down the lanewayacross the culvert McClintic had mentioned,
up the sloping laneway until he sawa large pile of rocks on the left
side near the trees. When heleft his vehicle, he was immediately met
with a smell of decomposition. Beneaththe rock piles, he saw some of
the green garbage bag McClintic had broughtin the home depot, and he knew
(28:07):
that Tory Stafford was beneath them.The remains were removed and an autopsy was
performed under the supervision of the ChiefForensic Pathologist of Ontario, doctor Michael Pollinan.
Due to the amount of time thebody had been in the location and
external factors such as the changes inweather from snowfall in April to milder weather
(28:30):
in July, and the fact thatthe area had foliage, the remains were
severely decomposed. On July twenty first, the remains were positively identified as being
those of eight year old Victoria Staffordusing dental records and the items found with
her body a portion of her mother'sheadband, a Hannah Montana t shirt,
and her butterfly earrings. Tory hadfinally been found two hours from home,
(28:59):
one hundred and three days after shehad vanished. A forensic examination of the
area revealed a number of evidentiary items, such as bottle caps strewn around the
ground. A search of Rafferty's homeand vehicle turned up empty water bottles with
caps identical to those found by Torisremains. They also found a jacket like
(29:19):
the one he'd placed over Tory asshe hid in the backseat. A jim
bag was found in his car.It had his seamen and Victoria's blood on
it. The backseat of the carhad been removed and it was not recovered,
so any evidence that had been onit was lost, but they did
find a mixture of rafferty seamen andTori's blood on the back of the front
(29:40):
passenger seat. Most disturbingly, theyfound Tori's missing person poster in a drawer
in McClintic's home, along with apiece of paper with Tara McDonald's number on
it, with Tori's mother written besideit. A private funeral was held on
July thirty first, when Tori's remainswere fine sent home. Over a year
(30:03):
and a half later, in Decembertwo and ten, it was publicized that
Terry Lynn mclintic had pleaded guilty tomurder in April of that year and sentenced
to life in prison, with aminimum of twenty five years to be served.
There had been a publication ban onthis after concerns that it would jeopardize
Michael Rafferty's trial. McClintic had pleadedguilty to murder, which had a mandatory
(30:26):
sentence. The kidnapping charge was notpursued. She did not receive a plea
deal or a lesser sentence. Shewrote a sentence at the April thirtieth,
two and ten hearing, which readin part this is about justice for Tory
on April eighth. I don't knowwhat I thought was going to happen.
(30:48):
I am honored to have been ableto spend even a brief amount of time
with such an amazing person, andit pains me to think about how many
people won't get to see what abeautiful and brilliant woman I just know she
would have grown up to be.Every night, before I go to sleep,
I tell myself that when I wakeup in the morning, this will
all have just been a very,very bad dream. But when I opened
(31:10):
my eyes, I look around meand see that this is reality. I
didn't wake up on that morning thinkingI was going to take a child.
Not in a million years would Ihave pictured myself standing there. But here
I am, and I know thatI need to stand up and take responsibility
for my actions. Every day,I think that maybe if I hadn't walked
(31:30):
down their street that day, thatprecious little angel would still be here.
Every day I asked myself, why, Why did I tell myself that everything
would be okay? Just why?I can't explain my thought process on that
day. I can't do anything exceptbe honest I will never try to make
(31:51):
excuses for my judgment, calls,or my actions. Yes, I was
under the influence of drugs, andyes, there are things that I've experienced
in the past that may have affectedmy reactions to the situation I was in.
But regardless of those reasons, itdoesn't make what happened acceptable. Every
time I close my eyes unflooded withthe memories of that day, I will
never forget what happened, the mistakesI made, the failure I was.
(32:15):
A million tears will never be enough, and a million words would never be
able to express how truly sorry Iam. I allowed my own issues,
my own past, to affect thefuture of an innocent girl. I'll never
be able to take back what's happened, but I've been trying to do everything
I can to make things as rightas they can be, which is why
I stand here today. I wouldgive anything to be able to trade that
(32:37):
amazing little girl places, but Ican't, and man that hurts. Tory
will never leave my heart. She'llhold my heart in her hands until the
day I die. She's made merealize that I need to deal with my
issues, but I can't continue onthe road I've been walking. I owe
(32:57):
my life to that precious little angeland all the people who have been hurt
because of this. I have onegoal out of all of this, and
that is to help other women likemyself avoid winding up in positions such as
this. I will do everything Ican to keep other children safe, and
these are things I can do regardlessof where I am. I also would
like to help others avoid making thesame mistakes. I have to learn what
(33:21):
is meant to be learned from ourmistakes, teach others what I was failed
to be taught, And most importantly, I want to help others in a
way people fail to help me,and be supportive to others in need,
as only a few people have beensupportive of me. Those are the people
I hold dear to my heart,and I want to be one of those
people. Enough people have been hurtas a result of this, and I
(33:45):
refuse to drag anyone through the proceedingsof a trial. Spending the next few
decades of life in prison is nothingcompared to what Toria was robbed of.
I know that my apology doesn't meanmuch compared to what was lost, and
I'm not asking for forgiveness as Iand here, but I'm trying to make
amends the best way I can bygiving you my life today. Rodney Stafford,
(34:07):
Tory's father, had also delivered astatement. He said, I am
Rodney Stafford, a father to twobeautiful children, one who is no longer
here with us. On April eighth, two thou nine, I, myself,
my son Darren, my ex wifeTara, our family and friends,
and much to our surprise and nationall became victims to a haina's crime when
(34:30):
one of our children was stolen inbroad daylight. I would like to thank
you your honor for allowing me theopportunity to speak freely, and I apologize
for any inappropriate language that may arise. I was asked if I'd like to
write an impact statement detailing how thelast year has affected my life, and
(34:50):
yes, I have to, notjust for me, but for every person
out there that would have liked tohave had this opportunity. So please take
into consideration what this victim is saying. I never chose to become a victim.
It was forced into my life,all of our lives, with a
loss of victoria thousands, if nothundreds of thousands, of people felt tremendous
(35:12):
loss worldwide. Victoria was a verybeautiful eight year old child and an innocent
little girl who put a smile onevery face she met. It plays in
my mind over and over again.The loss of Victoria has left an emptiness
inside everyone that no parents should everhave to feel. And because of this,
(35:32):
I've dedicated the last year of mylife to bettering myself and helping stand
out for the truly innocent, theones whose voices do not get heard.
Not just for Victoria, but forall the children that have lost their innocence.
This has got to stop. Iam aware that April eighth will always
exist on my mind, but there'snothing I can do, or anything anyone
(35:55):
can do, for that matter,to bring Victoria's smiling face home. There's
nothing I can do to bring Victoriahome, nothing, nothing but visualize little
memory flashes of her face every nowand then. If I could rewrite the
past, I would love to bringVictoria home. And this never happened,
period, But it did, andour chubs is gone. I have to
(36:23):
thank everyone for their support in tryingto find Victoria. Fifteen and a one
and a half week of searching forany clues of where Victoria could be,
the vigils, balloons, launches,memorials, Victoria's funeral. They're all heartfelt
and made possible by total strangers,all searching for the same thing, answers
(36:45):
justice, but most of all,my little girl. How was Christmas,
Easter, Halloween, Victoria's birthday,Darren's birthday? Not the same? None
of them were, nor will everbe again. No holiday days were even
close to the way they used tobe. One of our pride was gone,
our family destroyed because one of ourown was stolen from us, not
(37:10):
to mention stolen from us in broaddaylight. Now, in order to spend
these holidays or events with the Victoria, we get to go and stare at
a burial spot for Victoria's remains,her little body buried beneath the ground,
never to be seen again. Buton the bright side, she was able
to come home. No matter thesentence set down for this heinous crime,
nothing will ever be close to satisfyingthe feeling of the loss of your child
(37:35):
forced into my life. You cannotprepare for it. You can only do
your part to seek justice for what'shappened and make others aware. The predators
are in fact out there, notjust here, but everywhere. The hardest
part of my last year has beenwatching my twelve year old son try to
continue through life, trying to figureout why the pod now only has one
(38:00):
who split the pod, and whybest friends torn apart a brother and sister
relationship that you only see in themovies. Darren has suffered daily for the
last year. You can see it. He tries well to hide it,
but you can see the emptiness.He misses his sister and feels guilt every
(38:22):
day because he never walked her home. It kills me inside to see him
cry, and for me to knowthat the one thing he wants now in
life that can make him happy andput that smile back on his face,
I can never give him. Ican never bring Victoria home to see Darren,
or to see anyone for that matter, Terry Lynn. Over the course
(38:46):
of the last year, I've beenforced to have feelings of hurt, anger,
and worst of all, hate towardsyou, all feelings I've never felt
towards someone before, and they areall a direct result of what happened to
Victoria. As hard as this isfor me, I do have to say
thank you to you. Thank youfor stepping up and accepting responsibility for your
(39:07):
actions resulting in Victoria's eventual death.I thank you for aiding in the search
of Victoria's remains and for all theinformation provided to help lead up to finding
Victoria. It has been said thatwithout you we may never have found Victoria.
With your aid, we were ableto properly lay Victoria to rest.
(39:28):
I now believe in my heart thatyou were just a woman under the influence
of a controlled substance who took thingstoo far. Still doesn't make it right,
but it happened, and we can'tchange the past. Victoria is and
has always been a very huge partof my life, but now she's gone,
(39:49):
with only an empty void filled withjoyous memories of a precious little girl,
a totally innocent child with the heartof gold, taken far too soon.
I hope that during your center soyou find peace with yourself and with
God, and just maybe one dayI could learn to forgive you. But
for now, excuse me if Idon't, my little girl is gone.
(40:17):
Thank you for listening to this episodeof Crime Laps. Crime Laps is an
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(40:43):
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Twitter. Stay safe. Crime Conis coming back to London in twenty twenty
two. Following the incredible reception tothe first Crime Con UK in September twenty
(41:07):
twenty one. The event is backin the Leonardo Royal, Saint Paul's Hotel
on June eleventh and twelfth, twentytwenty two. We'll be back on Podcasts
Row along with some incredible podcasts likeThey Walk among Us, Men's Raeya,
Morbidology and more. There'll be somefantastic speakers and interactive exhibits across the week
end too. The feedback from thepeople who were there in September has been
(41:30):
great, so you do not wantto miss the weekend. Most of those
in attendance went on their own,but it didn't take long to make friends
with like minded people with an interestin true crime. Tickets are unsealed now
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(41:50):
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