True Crime Collection

Tori Stafford

Victoria Elizabeth Marie "Tori" Stafford was born 15th July, 2000.

At around 3:30pm on 8th April, 2009, Tori left Oliver Stephens Public School to go home, and was captured on security camera at 3:32pm being led down Fyfe Avenue, Woodstock, by a woman. When she failed to return home, she was reported missing by her grandmother, Linda Winters, at 6:04pm.

Suspicion initially rested on Tori's mother, Tara McDonald, as she had waited 2 hours to report her daughter missing even though her walk home from school was only a few blocks. Additionally, Tara was unemployed, addicted to drugs, and hadn't gone out to search for her daughter, leaving it to the girl's grandmother to search for her, and later file a missing persons report. Tara was suspected of being the woman in the security footage.

5 days after Tori's disappearance police called off the ground search and her classmates returned to school the next day. The case was featured in the 25th April, 2009, episode of America's Most Wanted. The initial investigation was led by the local police and was later turned into a joint investigation with  the Ontario Provincial Police, switching from a missing person investigation to an abduction case.

On 20th May, 2009, police charged Michael Thomas Christopher Stephen Rafferty, 28, with first degree murder and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, with being an accessory to murder in the abduction and suspected murder of Tori. Ontario Provincial Police indicated that Tori's mother, Tara McDonald, was familiar with Terri-Lynne. Terri-Lynne assisted the police search for the remains of Tori after her arrest, and her lawyer stated that her client "wants Tori's family to know she is trying hard to find her body".

On 28th May, 2009, Terri-Lynne's charges were altered to a first degree murder charge and an unlawful confinement charge, and it was announced that the accused would be tried separately.

On 21st July, 2009, police confirmed that remains found near Mount Forest 2 days earlier were those of Tori. Tori's body was naked from the waist down, wearing only a Hannah Montana t-shirt and a pair of butterfly earrings that she had borrowed from her mother. Her lower half was significantly decomposed. During an autopsy, it was determined that she had suffered a beating which caused lacerations to her liver and broken ribs and her eventual death was the result of repeated blows to the head with a claw hammer.

Terri-Lynne was scheduled to make an appearance in court on 30th April, 2010, but a publication ban was imposed by the judge on the events of the day. The publication ban was lifted on 9th December, 2010, revealing that Terri-Lynne had pleaded guilty to first degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison. Terri-Lynne was held at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario.

On 5th March, 2012, Michael's trial for the kidnapping, sexual assault, and first degree murder of Tori commenced. On 11th May, 2012, at 9:18pm, the jury found Michael guilty on all charges. 4 days later, he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Claiming that the "judge's instructions to the jury were flawed", Michael appealed his conviction to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on 26th July, 2012. The 30 day deadline to appeal had passed by the time the papers were received, but this was attributed to his "inability to use the telephone to contact legal counsel", and an extension was requested. Michael's appeal papers appear to be filed from Kingston Penitentiary. An extension to his appeal was granted.

On 10th June, 2013, Michael appeared by video in a bid for his appeal. He was turned down for Legal Aid for his appeal process. On 12th August, Michael had his court date postponed until 10th September, 2013. The appeal was set in motion in December 2013, but as of 20th January, 2016, no materials had been filed. On 24th October, 2016, Michael appeared at his appeal hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto. The appeal was quickly dismissed the same day.

In October 2018, Terri-Lynne was controversially moved to the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge in Saskatchewan, run by the Correctional Service of Canada. She was granted the move as an Aboriginal, but whether she is actually Aboriginal has not been confirmed and has been disputed by a family member. The lodge, a minimum/medium security prison is unfenced, but monitored 24 hours a day with video cameras. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced increased scrutiny for acknowledging he did not have the right to return Terri-Lynne to a maximum security prison, since that falls under the purview of the commissioner of Correctional Services.

The Conservative MP Candice Bergen introduced a motion in Parliament to condemn and overturn the decision. The motion generated a day's acrimonious debate and was defeated 200-82, with all Liberal MPs voting against it. Under increasing public pressure, Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale issued an order for Correctional Service Canada to review the decision and the general policy. On 7th November, Ralph announced that Terri-Lynne would be returned to a federal prison, and regulations for transferring long-term prisoners to healing lodges would be made stricter. She was transferred to the multi-level Edmonton Institution for Women.