Victoria Stafford -- Found Deceased 7/19/09 -- Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty Convicted of First-Degree Murder

Victoria (Tori) Stafford was a beautiful eight year old girl, who was kidnapped on here way home from school. She was caught on camera almost willingly walying away with her abductor, turns out that the abducter Terri-Lynn Mclintic would later confess, and even with ties to the the family Terri-Lynn claims to have not known that Tori was the child of her aquaintance. Terri-Lynn Confessed to the kidnapping but claimed that her boy friend Micheal Raffery had murdered Tori and Terri-Lynn, lead police around for days attempting to locate the remains of Tori. As of earlier this month both had pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and murder and the remains of Tori had not been located.
However reported early this morning the remains of a small child had been located and are believed to be the remains of Tori, the location fits that of the area that Terri-Lynn confessed to as well as the landmarks. A positive Idenetification is currently in the works but it is believed to be Tori. Her family has made a public statement and they to believe it is that of Tori.
Lets just pray that justice will be served against those responsible for this, which all things considered points to the guilty parties being Terri-Lynn and Micheal.
Please take a moment and send your prayers to this family.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Family+feels+relief+human+remains+Tori/1808459/story.html

This is has reaction from the family as well as the remains being removed, at the end if you look closly as the hearse is pulling away the officers solute the hearse as it drives away. So very sad and so unnessary.
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090720/remains_found_090720/20090720?hub=Toronto

This link has many good pictures, please be prepared to cry. I have cried so many times today...
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_36040.aspx

My mom wasn't doing so well today, but I did see the live shot of when the hearse drove past the officers who saluted the casket and I cried. Those officers tried so hard to find that little girl and they showed her so much respect when she was finally recovered.

I thought of you today Butterfly when I was watching the story unfold. I remember when I pm-ed you and wrote that a little girl in Woodstock, Ontario who has been abducted and could you possibly work on a forensic astrology chart for her? And I think that I may have helped to draw you in to the tragedy that unfolded.

I'm sorry to have brought to your attention more sadness, but I really appreciate that you've actively been here every step of the way throughout this story. If a child is missing anywhere in the world no matter where you are you will be concerned and even moreso if it is in your neighbourhood. I'm about 2 hours away from Woodstock, but it felt as if she was a child from my neighbourhood.

So it turns out that McClintic really was trying to help police locate Tori's remains. She gave LE all of the right landmarks but she was off by a few miles. That gave me some glimmer of hope that someone who took a child's life could at least find some common decency and try to put an end to the nightmare for the parents of the little girl.

I'm sorry to tell you this Butterfly, but the fact that McClintic's information proved to be usefull probably means that a deal will be struck and her 1st degree murder charged will be reduced. Canadian courts are infamous for the deals that the crown (prosecution) strikes with the defense. My guess is that she'll be convicted of manslaughter, abduction and possibly obstruction (remember the allegation that she helped Rafferty escape somehow? I still haven't heard how she did that or how he tried to do so).

God rest Tori's soul and bring peace to her loved ones and everyone who cares for her.

Lexi, I am so glad that you brought Tori's case to my attention, it breaks my heart that it has ended this way, but Lexi, we knew it would end this way. I am still 100 percent convinced and no one can convince me other wise that Her mother is not involved. I wish that the justice system would use logic every once in a while.
I know that probably now Terri-Lynn will be able to strick a dfeal, but it also depends on the evidence they find. If they can prove that Terri-Lynn commited the murder or was an active participant, I doubt they would let it slide with man slaughter, especially after that case in the 90's, up in Canada the husband and wife, who raped and killed little girls, he got life and she got a slap on the wrist then later they found video that proved she had a larger role in it, I doubt they will make that mistake again.
I hope poor Rodney and Daryne will be okay, we all need to keep them in our prayers.

Body found is Victoria Stafford

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/07/21/stafford-murder021.html?ref=rss

I really don't think that Terri-Lynn was trying to help the family by trying to locate Tori's body.Sadly,I only think that she is trying to help herself get a reduced sentence.

Michelle, very sadly, I have to agree with you. Such a sad case there.

Michelle wrote:I really don't think that Terri-Lynn was trying to help the family by trying to locate Tori's body.Sadly,I only think that she is trying to help herself get a reduced sentence.

I think you're probably right, I was giving her too much credit. Someone who lures a young child to her rape and death couldn't possibly have any common decency.

*If* she does get a deal that is any way similar to the deal with the devil that Karla Homolka received there will be an uprising. Homolka said that the reason she left the country was that she was always looking over her shoulder waiting for retribution for what she did. And with good reason- there was even a website where you could guess the date that someone would kill her, and tens of thousands of people visited the site and put in their bet. (You could guess the date, but you were disqualified if you yourself killed her on that date.) I'm sure at some point someone would have tried to kill her, and if she returns here I doubt she'd be safe.

Does McClintic regret what she did? I doubt she is capable of feeling remorse. She probably wants to get out of jail before she's too old.

I hope finding Tori's body helps bring closure to her family. Hopefully, they will prosecute Rafferty and McClintic to the fullest extent of the law without any reduced charges.

I hope they have found her, but it's just so very difficult to comprehend...WHY, oh why.........oh why........

Suspect in Tori Stafford case makes court appearance
Canwest News Service June 12, 2009
http://www.canada.com/news/Suspect+Tori+Stafford+case+makes+court+appearance/1689194/story.html

Remains identified as missing girl Tori Stafford
http://www.canada.com/news/Remains+identified+missing+girl+Tori+Stafford/1811968/story.html
It was the conclusion everyone had dreaded, the sad end to the life of a happy, blond-haired, eight-year-old girl snatched after school in Woodstock, Ont., more than three months ago.

Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Tuesday that human remains found in a secluded country field over the weekend have been "positively identified" as those of third-grader Victoria (Tori) Stafford.

"Our community has gone through a terrible, terrible experience in these last three and a half months," Oxford community police Chief Rod Freeman said at a news conference.

"The discovery of Victoria's remains on Sunday will help us, bring us just a little bit of closure. Certainly, we hope that bringing Victoria to our community and her family will bring some sense of relief to . . . all the family."

The Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto used dental records to make the identification late Monday. Police say the forensic examination of the findings, described as "consistent" with how remains would appear if they were left out in the elements for a number of weeks, was ongoing.

Stafford's father, Rodney, briefly emerged from his home Tuesday to thank the police for their commitment to the case, and to plead with the public for any information that will bring justice in his daughter's death.

He described the news as "a living hell," and said very little else.

"We just lost our child . . . now it's been confirmed that we lost our child," he said.

The family intends to hold a private funeral for the little girl, but no date will be set until the forensic examination is complete and her body is returned to Woodstock, which could take weeks.

The girl's mother, Tara McDonald, was too distraught to speak to reporters Tuesday. A note left outside her home said she needed more time before she could address the public.

Tori's grandmother, Linda Winters, said she will never get to see her only granddaughter grow up or get her driver's licence.

"There is a part in my heart that aches for her smoochy kisses, her memories," she said, and then recalled a memory of Tori telling her how she swam with her eyes open under water.

Police said Tuesday they will not reveal how the girl died, citing it as evidence that will be presented in court.

Freeman said police will now be able to concentrate on preparing the court cases of the two people charged in her slaying.

"This discovery also helps us, in a big way, to bring this case to court. That will be the next step," he said.

Stafford's remains were found Sunday by a veteran police investigator searching on his own in a rural field about 500 metres off Concession No. 6, just east of Mount Forest, Ont., about 130 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

The detective, acting on a hunch, found the bones down a lonely dirt track in a secluded, heavily bushed area across the road from a grey, brick house surrounded by rolling, green farmland.

Stafford was last seen April 8 when video surveillance footage caught her willingly walking away from her school with a woman.

Investigators believe Stafford was kidnapped at random.

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino on Tuesday credited dedicated police work for the discovery.

"As much as this is a very tragic event, no doubt, but the end result is a gratifying result that we can put before the court to see that justice is done," Fantino said.

The commissioner said "every resource imaginable" was used in this case, and it was only solved through the "commitment and absolute hard work" of the joint police forces.

About 80 police officers from several detachments and 25 Oxford community police officers had been working on the case every day since the young girl's disappearance.

"We are all grieving . . . about the tragic loss of an innocent child and the realization, once again, that evil does lurk, and that we need to be very mindful and very caring and very conscientious of the well-being of our children," Fantino said.

Police said the investigation into Stafford's death will continue, as a team of officers remained in the rural area in Mount Forest on Tuesday, searching for more clues near where the remains were found.

A car seat that investigators believed to be a major clue to the last hours she was alive has not been recovered.

During the search for Stafford, police enlisted the help of TV show America's Most Wanted, set up a tip line for information, and offered up a $10,000 reward.

It was only on May 20, more than a month after the girl disappeared that a couple — Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28 — were charged in her death, even before her body was found.

Both lived just blocks away from the girl's family in Woodstock. McClintic is expected to appear in court via video on Aug. 12, according to her lawyer. Each is being tried separately.

Woodstock Mayor Michael Harding said Tuesday he was relieved that Stafford's body has been found.

"It has been many, many weeks of speculation," he said. "There was always the faint hope that she was going to be found alive in some circumstances. Today, it was not the case.

"It would've been a horrible circumstance if they were never able to find her remains; we'd always be looking, and hoping and waiting."

Harding said he saw Stafford's older brother, 11-year-old Daryn, last week. The boy has been forever changed by the realization he will never get to see his baby sister again, he said.

"Every community in every place has the possibility of evil," Harding said. "This community is not putting its head in the sand . . . but we should never ever turn our lives over to fear. The good things in Woodstock are still here. Our community is still a safe place to live, even though we are forced to live with this random act.

"How that will change us in large ways or small ways, only time will tell. We are not going to forget Tori."

Stafford remains determined
http://www.oxfordreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1694672
Rodney Stafford left Huntsville, Ont., Monday morning as he continued his incredible "Kilometres for Kids" journey from Woodstock to Edmonton, Alta., to raise money for Child Find Ontario.

At 2:25 p.m., Stafford was travelling at 30.3 kilometres per hour along Highway 3, nearing the northern region of the province. While the recent weather had slowed his progress -- the thunderstorms and humidity weren't exactly conducive to long-distance cycling -- Stafford's determination had not wavered.

"I believe 120 kilometres per day is rushing what I am trying to accomplish," Stafford wrote in his Sunday blog entry. "Thank you to everyone for your support up to this point, and I hope you will continue to help me spread the word."

Conceived as a tribute to his late daughter Victoria, Stafford's lengthy journey began Wednesday, Aug. 6, from the parking lot of Woodstock's Calvary Church. After an emotional goodbye to family and friends, Stafford mounted his donated 27-speed Kona Sutra "asphalt" bike and began the first leg of his journey, travelling 128 kilometres by the end of the day.

"Got the (GPS) tracker working well, so everybody can see me moving along my route, which is pretty cool," Stafford wrote in his Thursday blog entry.

On Thursday, Stafford arrived in Barrie after another long day on his bike. On Friday and Saturday, the Woodstock man cycled through the Muskoka region, pedalling through cottage country as he continued his cross-country journey.

Stafford thanked his supporters for the more than 400 goodwill messages posted to the Kilometres for Kids website, saying the kind wishes helped when his "legs get tired."

Posted late Monday afternoon, "Ride on Rodney" was the most recent encouragement.

In the next few days, Stafford plans on making stops in Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and Kenora before crossing into Manitoba. He also intends to make stops in Winnipeg, Brandon, Regina and Saskatoon before arriving in Edmonton.

"I hope people can come out and show their support," he wrote.

When he finally does pull into Edmonton, Stafford has one final fundraiser planned with his sister Rebecca -- the auction of the Hear-Med Inc.-donated bike that carried him across Canada. After the formal end to his fundraising journey, Stafford is going to say a "final goodbye" to his daughter by releasing a single purple balloon from a Jasper-area mountain peak.

People who want to donate can visit a TD Canada Trust location and contribute directly to Kilometres for Kids (branch number: 0227 and account number: 5210920). All proceeds from Stafford's journey are being donated to Child Find Ontario.

burquhart@bowesnet.com

Biking across Canada for Victoria Stafford

Rodney Stafford (right) chats with Huntsville town councillor Fran Coleman (left) and resident Karen Schamehorn during a stop in Huntsville on Monday.


It was a national news story that gripped the nation earlier this spring when eight-year-old Victoria Stafford of Woodstock, Ontario went missing in early April and was later found murdered.

Now, Victoria’s father Rodney is making his way across most of Canada to raise funds and awareness for Child Find Canada, a national non-profit organization that is dedicated to searching for missing children.

After starting in Woodstock on Aug. 5, Stafford was in Huntsville at the Civic Square outside the Algonquin Theatre on Monday, meeting residents and collecting donations.

Called Kilometres for Kids, he said the trip initially began as something for himself, his son and his girlfriend to do together as a way to say goodbye to his daughter.

“It was just a way to go out there and release balloons, say goodbye to Victoria. It wasn’t supposed to be anything big,” Stafford said.

“But then my son couldn’t get permission to come and my girlfriend felt she couldn’t make it so it ended up becoming myself so I figured, what the heck, I’m doing it anyways, I might as well do it for a purpose.”

Stafford then connected with Child Find and Eye-zOn, a GPS tracking company that allows anyone to follow his progress online, which will follow him as he makes his way from Woodstock to Edmonton, Alberta.

Never an avid cyclist, Stafford said the trip has been “a little rough here and there,” but the support he’s received in the communities along the way has gone a long way to encourage him.

“Every fifth car honks or waves and you have vehicles pulling over and taking pictures and clapping and cheering me on. It makes you feel really good,” he said.

Victoria Stafford went missing from her school in Woodstock on April 8 after a security camera captured her walking away with a woman.

After months of searching, police located her remains on July 19 in a wooded area in southwestern Ontario.

Michael Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, are charged with the kidnapping and murder of the little girl, and are expected to go to trial next year.

To date Stafford said he’s been cycling alone, with different people following him in a vehicle.

Although he had initially planned on cycling about 120 km per day and stopping in only a few communities along the way, Stafford said he now plans to increase the number of stops.

“The longer I’ve been on the road I’ve realized I’ve got to be hitting the little towns, I’ve got to be spending some time there,” he said.

Stafford made stops in Gravenhurst and Bracebridge before coming to Huntsville and said he hopes to stop in some communities along the way to North Bay before heading on to Sudbury.

He said he has no set plans or schedules, but hopes to make it to Edmonton by September — before the snow.

Armed with an empty water jug to collect donations, Stafford said he’s not keeping track of what’s donated, “just fill the bucket and make a big deposit at the end.”

Stafford is also keeping a blog of his progress, which can be viewed, along with his satellite location, at www.eye-zon.com.

In Huntsville on Monday, many residents and town staff came up to drop a donation in the bucket, shaking Stafford’s hand and passing on their condolences.

One woman told Stafford she had two daughters herself, and couldn’t imagine what he had gone through losing his little girl. As Stafford wrote in his blog entry on Sunday, “Tori, if (you’re) listening, I’ll continue to ride (on) the front of the seat so you can sit with me.”
http://www.parrysound.com/press/1250090461/

McClintic appears in court
The lawyer for the 19-year-old woman accused of kidnapping and murdering Victoria "Tori" Stafford declined to comment Wednesday on the possibility of a plea deal for her client.

While lawyer Jeanine LeRoy has raised the prospect of a plea bargain in the past -- pointing to her client's co-operation with investigators during the initial police search for Tori's remains -- she was much more circumspect after Terri-Lynne McClintic's morning court appearance.

"I expect I will be speaking to the Crown after I review the disclosure and discuss it with my client, but that's a long way away" LeRoy said outside the Oxford County Court House. "I have no comment anymore about any speculation that there is or will be a resolution to this matter."

During McClintic's brief video appearance from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, the court heard that LeRoy had just received a "significant amount of disclosure" from the Crown Attorney's office. As a pale McClintic stood silently, her dark hair pulled back from her face, LeRoy asked the court for an adjournment "to allow my client and myself an opportunity to review that disclosure."

When asked later about the quantity of the disclosed evidence, LeRoy said the Crown had provided her with the equivalent of a computer hard drive.

"It's going to take a substantial amount of time to review," she said. "Much of (the disclosure), as you know, comes from my client.

"We will wade through all of it and make a determination which way we will go."

Before the morning court appearance, LeRoy actually had a 15-minute meeting with London-based Crown Attorney Geoff Beasley, who is handling McClintic's prosecution.

During this brief encounter, Beasley said he and LeRoy had been "discussing some disclosure." LeRoy also had a short telephone conversation with her client before requesting the six-week adjournment.

McClintic is alleged to be the young woman shown walking with Tori in the grainy video footage that became a critical piece of evidence in the OPP-Oxford Community Police Service investigation. McClintic and 28-year-old Michael Rafferty, the man also accused of kidnapping and murdering the eight-year-old Woodstock girl, were arrested on May 19, almost six weeks after Tori disappeared. An OPP officer eventually discovered the little girl's remains in a field in the Mount Forest area during a late July search.

McClintic is next scheduled to appear on Thursday, Oct. 1, while Rafferty is slated to return to court on Friday, Aug. 21.
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1698406

I finally took down the missing child posters from my myspace account, facebook and CSO, It was probably the hardest thing I have done in a long time.
Its amazing how children you never know such as Tori, Caylee, Haleigh, Sandra, can somehow make thier way into your heart and how heart breaking things like this are.

butterfly wrote:I finally took down the missing child posters from my myspace account, facebook and CSO, It was probably the hardest thing I have done in a long time.
Its amazing how children you never know such as Tori, Caylee, Haleigh, Sandra, can somehow make thier way into your heart and how heart breaking things like this are.

It is very heartbreaking Butterfly. There is always hope that a missing child will be found safe, but much too often the search ends tragically.

Michael Rafferty is pleading not guilty to the murder of Tori. There is an enormous amount of evidence to go though before the case proceeds and the trial might not start until 2011. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/08/21/ont-stafford-rafferty.html#socialcomments-submit

Does anybody think it is possible that Terri-Lynne McClintic acted alone in killing Tori?

Justice4all wrote:Michael Rafferty is pleading not guilty to the murder of Tori. There is an enormous amount of evidence to go though before the case proceeds and the trial might not start until 2011. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/08/21/ont-stafford-rafferty.html#socialcomments-submit

Does anybody think it is possible that Terri-Lynne McClintic acted alone in killing Tori?

Honestly I do, believe she did. Of course I do not know much about Rafferty because you can not find out anything and not much has been said. All we have really heard is Terri-lynns side of the story, however on the other hand supposedly there is a survallence video from the home depot that shows them together so maybe they do have evidence maybe he is involved.
The part I will never get over is that I am 110 percent sure that Tara is involved and I think she is getting away with it. You can not tell me she is not involvedThe statement that Tara said about just drop her off in a field some where, and then guess what she is found in a field, there are just so many things that in my opinion says she was involved or at least knew and allowed it, maybe to pay off a debt. I dont know, but if she does get away with it here God knows the truth and in my opinion thats all that matters.

I hope Tara had nothing to do with this but you never know with people. I think I remember reading that Rafferty was in tears at once of his court appearances awhile back claiming he didn't do it, but that doesn't mean much. He might have been in tears thinking about what would happen to a child killer in prison. If the surveillance video from the Home Depot shows McClintic and Rafferty together on the day Tori disappeared, it will be very hard to believe his claim that he's innocent.

Father of slain Ontario girl Victoria Stafford cycles into Edmonton

EDMONTON — Tired, relieved and a little elated, Rodney Stafford peddled into Edmonton Saturday, completing his 3,400 kilometre cycling journey in memory of his slain daughter Victoria.
Stafford's life was turned upside down in April when little 'Tori', 8, was abducted and killed after leaving school in Woodstock, Ont.
His gruelling 45-day bicycle trip, where he averaged about 70 kilometres per day, has raised awareness about child abduction and helped him deal with some of the pain of his loss.
"It has put a lot of relief into me," said Stafford, his face burned from the prairie wind and sun, his eyes glassy with fatigue.
"I keep remembering all the good times with Victoria. It is like I am filling a void."

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jvZPgq5HOsVLpNafqlB1_4vqgfUA

I feel bad for Rodney, but I'm glad he's doing something positive to raise awareness about child abduction. It sounds like that cycling journey was a good way for him to keep busy while dealing with his grief.

Victoria "Tori" Stafford
Photograph by: Courtesy of Facebook, Courtesy of Facebook

Accused woman faces murder charge in Tori case

WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Eighteen-year-old Terri-Lynne McClintic, one of the accused in the disappearance of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford, had her charge upgraded Thursday to first-degree murder.

McClintic had previously been charged with abduction and accessory after the fact to murder. Her co-accused, 28-year-old Michael Rafferty, also faces one count of first-degree murder.

The two were arrested May 20 and appeared in a Woodstock courtroom via videolink Thursday. No details were provided in court as to why the charges against McClintic were upgraded to murder.

Outside court, McClintic's lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy, said her client will be tried separately from Rafferty, but could not give a reason for the decision. She said McClintic continues to be willing to help police in the search for Tori's body.

"She has not been asked of late to be physically present to help in the search — but her attitude hasn't changed in that regard," she said. "The judge's order allowing (her to search) ended, and she was no longer able to assist. Her attitude remains the same . . . to co-operate fully. That was her goal. It remains her goal in order to help police find Tori and bring Tori home."

Rafferty's defence lawyer, also speaking outside court, said he was surprised there would now be two trials. Rafferty continues to face one count of first-degree murder and one count of unlawful confinement, changed from the previous charge of abduction.

"It is unusual to try them separately," said Hal Mattson. "You would think they would have (McClintic) testify against (Rafferty), obviously, and so we'll have to see what she says and what information comes forward."

The Crown was silent about a possible deal pitting one against the other, which could create a huge backlash.

Over a decade ago, the Crown made a deal with Karla Homolka to testify against her husband Paul Bernardo. It resulted in her serving only 12 years in jail in what became known as the "deal with the devil."

Before the proceedings, the judge told people in the packed courtroom he understood it was an emotional time and expressed condolences to Tori's family, but he cautioned them not to get emotional in the court once the suspects appeared on screen.

While the courtroom was packed with friends and family, Sara Leeper, who is best friends with Tori's mother, Tara MacDonald, said she was still too devastated to attend. Leeper said she was pleased to hear of McClintic's upgraded murder charge.

"It's not enough, though," she said. "(Whoever took Tori's life) should spend the rest of their life in jail. No parole."

Mattson said his client "was very in control of himself (Thursday)," adding that Rafferty was trying to adjust to being in a jail cell and remained on suicide watch.

"We all forget that being in a jail cell is a foreign environment — and now that he has been in jail for a little while, I think, just like when you put a dog in a kennel, unfortunately, when you put someone in a cell, they get used it."

When asked by a reporter if his client had shown remorse, Mattson replied: "I haven't asked him that question, so he hasn't replied to it."

Mattson said he had no idea what the evidence was against his client.

Meanwhile, police investigators continued to search for the eight-year-old girl's remains.

"They had anticipated continuing their search on the (Highway) 401 corridor between Woodstock and Guelph, (Ont.,) which is basically a large area," Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland said Thursday. "That's going to take a substantial amount of time."

Maitland said investigators also returned to a landfill site in Wellington County after asking for the public's assistance in their search for the grey, cloth-covered back seat of a car believed to have been used in the abduction of the Woodstock child.

"The investigation has led them to go back there," Maitland said. "So certainly, one of the pieces of evidence, namely the car seat, is certainly one thing they're looking for."

Police investigators are also urging property owners within a 50-minute drive of the City of Guelph to check their fields and report any suspicious or significant changes they notice to landscape or familiar landmarks.

With files from Global News
http://www.canada.com/news/Accused+woman+faces+murder+charge+Tori+case/1638898/story.html


Terri-Lynne McClintic as seen in an undated file picture. Michael Thomas Rafferty, 28, has been arraigned on a first-degree murder charge and abducting a child under 16. Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, is charged with abduction, being an accessory and helping Rafferty elude authorities. Both are accused for the
Photograph by: Handout, Facebook


Facebook profile photo of Michael Rafferty, a Woodstock, Ont. resident charged in the abduction and murder of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford who went missing since April 8, 2009. Rafferty was charged Wednesday.
Photograph by: Screen grab, Facebook

Tori's death gives dad purpose

Tori would have been proud of the man her father has become.

"It's the thing that keeps me going ... that what I am doing would have made her happy," says Rodney Stafford. "Yes, I think she would have been proud."

Stafford is the father of 8-year-old Victoria, who went missing from Woodstock, Ont., on April 8. Her remains were discovered in Mount Forest in July. Two Woodstock residents, Michael Rafferty, 29, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, face first-degree murder.

Despite Tori's death, her father has turned his life around.

Stafford, who admitted to doing drugs, was a drifter and often wasn't around for his children. Victoria, known as Tori, changed that. In February, he cleaned up, moved back home to Ingersoll, Ont., and returned to school.

Read more: http://www.thespec.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/652375

I really admire the way Rodney has handled Tori's death. He turned his grief into a positive and helped raise awareness about missing children. His bike ride from Woodstock to Edmonton raised $25,000 for Child Find Ontario.

Tori absolutely would have been proud of her dad. It's nice to see him doing the right thing. Lots of people turn the complete opposite and either hit the bottle or drugs.

Tori Stafford's mother outraged man accused of her murder was moved

WOODSTOCK, Ont. - The mother of 8-year-old Victoria Stafford is outraged the man accused in her death has been moved to another jail.

Sources say Michael Rafferty,28, complained about the mail delivery, phone access and taunting by jail guards and inmates at the Middlesex London Detention Centre.

The source also says Rafferty was receiving threats by members of the Banditos Motorcycle Gang.

Rafferty, who faces first-degree murder and kidnapping charges in the Victoria Stafford case, has been relocated from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre to the Chatham Jail.

The change was noticed in court yesterday morning, when Rafferty made a video appearance from Chatham.

The move has Tori's mother, Tara McDonald, outraged.

She says "there is no way he should be receiving any sort of special treatment."

Associate from DerstinePenman Criminal Lawyers in Toronto, Laura Giordano wouldn't comment on why Rafferty was moved.

She also would not say when the move happened.

Another video appearance is set for November 12th.

http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/827536

I would be upset too if I was Tara. Rafferty doesn't deserve any sort of special treatment.

Donations in Tori's memory reach $42,000

Updated: Thu Oct. 29 2009 9:41:37 PM

The Canadian Press

WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Child Find Ontario says money raised in memory of Victoria Stafford, including from her father Rodney Stafford's bike ride, reached more than $40,000.

The group's executive director, John Durant, says the total was $42,687.78, adding the money raised by the "Kilometres for Kids" ride and donations made in Tori's name will be put to good use.

Rodney Stafford spent six weeks riding his bike from Woodstock, Ont., to Edmonton, a distance of 4,300 kilometres.

He was caught off guard by the amount of donations, saying his intention at first was not so much to raise money as to raise awareness.

Eight-year-old Victoria was abducted and killed after leaving her elementary school in Woodstock.

Woodstock residents Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty have been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091029/tori_donations_091029/20091029/

Rafferty back in Court

Thu, 2009-11-12 16:59.
Miranda Chant

The lawyer for the man accused of kidnapping and murdering eight-year-old Victoria Stafford is asking for the public's "patience'' .

Following a brief video court appearance today by Michael Rafferty, lawyer Laura Giordano said the public needs "to keep an open mind'' about her client.

She said that so far, "only one side of the story has been told.''

The Assistant Crown attorney told the court arrangements for preliminary hearing dates would be made in the near future.

The case was adjourned until Dec. 18 to allow for continued disclosure of evidence.

Co-accused, Terri-Lynn McClintic, makes her next court appearence on Nov. 27.

http://www.cjbk.com/news/565/1021458

I wonder what his side of the story is. He will probably say that McClintic acted alone and he had nothing to do with it. Whatever his side of the story is, I'm sure that authorities aren't buying it since he is still sitting in jail.

The woman charged in the abduction and murder of 8 year old Victoria Stafford will move directly to trial.

Terry-lynn McClintic made a brief court appearence in Woodstock today, where she quietly agreed to wave her right to a preliminary hearing.

Her lawyer, Jeanine Leroy, says her client waived a preliminary hearing because she's ``mentally ready to deal with the matter.''

McClintic will make her next court appearence on March 12th, to set dates for trail.

Meanwhile, co-accused Michael Rafferty will be back in court on Friday.

Both are charged with first degree murder.

http://www.cjbk.com/news/565/1039359

WOODSTOCK -- The twisting case of Victoria Stafford's killing took new turns yesterday, with one of the accused deciding to head straight to trial and the family of the girl furious over a book published long before justice is done.

"This book could potentially ruin the trial," an angry Rodney Stafford, Victoria's father, said yesterday.

"If it comes down to that, I'll snap."

With a Christmas bereft of his eight-year-old daughter looming, the timing of the book couldn't be any worse, Stafford said.

"It's getting really hard right now. Christmas was a big thing for Tori," Stafford said. "I am going to do everything I can to get this book out of here."

Victoria's mother, Tara McDonald, declined comment.

The book's author, Dianna Holden, broke her media silence yesterday to say she meant no harm to the family.

"I didn't write this to personally attack anybody. I didn't want to re-open a wound."

Holden said she wrote the book to show how speculation fuelled by the media and the Internet complicated the case and may have led to the wrong people being behind bars.

The book, Convicted of Abduction and Murder Online: Based on the True Story of the Abduction and Murder of Victoria Stafford Canada's Angel, can be ordered or downloaded online.

"This is crazy," Holden said of a sudden onslaught of attention, much of it negative. "I am really upset because people are judging the book without even knowing what the book is really about."

The book doesn't delve into details about the abduction as much as the online reaction, she said. However, included in the book is a purported transcript of an interview with a police investigator, which Holden said casts doubt on the charges against two people.

"I think it (the book) may jog people's memories as to what happened. I believe there is more in this case," said Holden, a British Columbia resident who operates what she calls a people-finding agency.

One of the two accused, Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, yesterday waived her right to a preliminary hearing on charges of kidnapping and murder.

Dressed in a striped sweater and blue pants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, McClintic quietly said yes and nodded her head when asked several questions in a Woodstock courtroom heavy with police officers.

Two Stafford family members sat silently in the front row, but declined comment afterward. McClintic showed no emotion in court.

"She clearly has made it known by today's action she is ready to move forward," her lawyer, Jenine LeRoy, said outside court.

LeRoy wouldn't say why her client wants to move quickly to trial and brushed aside speculation it's because McClintic is working on a deal with prosecutors. "There is no deal."

McClintic is to appear in court in March to begin the process of setting dates for trial.

Co-accused Michael Rafferty, 28, is to appear via video in court tomorrow.

Stafford was abducted April 8 as she walked home from school in Woodstock. Her disappearance launched a massive search for her and, later, for her body.

McClintic and Michael Rafferty were charged with murder in May, about six weeks after Stafford went missing.

The girl's body was found in July.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2009/12/17/12183586-sun.html

The lawyer for the man charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in Victoria Stafford's slaying says her client will plead not guilty when the case goes to trial.

Attorney Laura Giordano says Michael Rafferty has elected to have a preliminary hearing, which is tentatively scheduled to run from June 21 through July 13.

Rafferty is of two people charged in Stafford's death.

His co-accused, Terri-Lynne McClintic, earlier this week waived her right to a preliminary hearing and chose instead to go straight to trial.

Stafford, eight, was abducted April 8 as she left school and her remains were found about five months later north of Guelph.

McClintic and Rafferty were arrested and charged in May.

Rafferty appeared in court via video from Chatham, Ont. Giordano says he was transferred there from a London, Ont., detention centre after being threatened by inmates.

She said a hearing will be held Feb. 17 to confirm the dates for a preliminary hearing.

"We will come back and confirm our readiness for preliminary hearing dates (and) ensuring that all counsel are fit to proceed," Giordano said outside court.

"His story will come out at trial and I would ask everybody to reserve judgement and simply to be patient and let the story unfold as it will."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/12/18/tori-stafford-murder-trial-not-guilty.html

I am guessing that this lawyer is another "Bozo"! "His story will come out" UGH, Makes me want to puke! (JMO) Oh, and while I am at it, He got moved because of "threats", shit, let them at him! (Again, JMO)

Tori Stafford's mother breaks her silence

Posted By RANDY RICHMOND, QMI AGENCY
March 13, 2010

The mother of Victoria (Tori) Stafford broke her eight-month silence and made a surprise appearance Friday at a court hearing for the woman accused of killing her little girl.

"I just have decided it is time to start coming and prepare for the trials ahead," Tara McDonald said.

"It's going to be tough. It's going to take a lot of strength."

But in her typical fiery fashion, McDonald also had a warning for any lawyers hoping to strike a deal for either accused.

"I will raise hell. I will round up as many people as I can to raise hell. What kind of deal did my daughter get?"

Tori, 8, was abducted April 8 while walking home from school in Woodstock. Her body was found in July.

Charged with her abduction and murder are Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty.

McClintic has waived her right to a preliminary trial, raising suspicions -- rejected by her lawyer -- there is a deal in the works.

McDonald said Friday she wants video appearances by McClintic and Rafferty before being in the same room with them.

"So we can have our chance to look at them and not have them looking at us," she explained.

But Tori's father Rodney Stafford has been to several hearings already and told reporters Friday he's tired of seeing the accused only by video.

"I kind of wish they were there so they can get a sense of us sitting in the courtroom, so they know just exactly what happened and how we feel about it."

McClintic was expected to appear by video at Friday's hearing.

Instead her London lawyer Jeanine LeRoy appeared on her behalf and had the proceedings adjourned until April 16.

Both of Tori's parents Friday expressed frustration with the slow process of getting McClintic and co-accused Michael Rafferty to trial.

"It's almost a year later and we still don't know anything more than we knew 29 days after she disappeared," Stafford said.

The parents said they were bracing themselves for the year anniversary of Tori's disappearance.

"I am leaving it up to Daryn, (Tori's 12-year-old brother)," McDonald said. "If he wants to go to the cemetery, or look through pictures, it will be his call."

Her son has spent the better part of a year trying to come to terms with what happened.

"There are days where he is angry, there are days where he's sad, there are days where he has happy memories of his sister."

McDonald and her ex-husband Stafford held daily news conferences last spring to keep media attention on Tori's disappearance.

After Tori's funeral, Stafford cycled from Woodstock to Jasper, raising more than $50,000 for Child Find.

McDonald simply disappeared from view, and moved out of Woodstock.

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2490454

Tori's parents want answers

Updated 2 mins ago March 15, 2010



Tara McDonald and Rodney Stafford are ready to hear some answers.

The parents of Victoria Stafford said Friday morning they want the trials of the two people charged with their daughter's murder to start soon.

After a brief court proceeding concerning Terri-Lynne McClintic, the woman accused of the murder, Victoria's parents talked about the agonizing wait for the two trials.


"It's to the point that we're both ready for it, I think," Rodney Stafford said. It's important to find out a little bit of what is going on," he said.

"It's almost a year later and we still don't know anything more than we knew, what, 29 days after she disappeared."

McClintic, 19, was not present Friday and was represented in Superior Court by her lawyer, Jeanine LeRoy.

McClintic is charged with the confinement and the first-degree murder of Victoria 'Tori" Stafford, 8.

The girl disappeared on April 8 last year while walking home after school, sparking a massive ground and air search. McClintic and her former boyfriend Michael Rafferty were both charged with first-degree murder in May.

LeRoy and assistant Crown attorney Geoff Beasley agreed to have the case adjourned to April 16 at 9:30 a.m.


McDonald, speaking for the first time publicly since her daughter's remains were found last July, said she came to court for the first time Friday to get a feel for what the process will be like.

"It's more trying to prepare ourselves for what is ahead of us," she said. "We want to get use to the courtroom setting, having to see them in person or by video camera."

McDonald said her decision to get out of the public eye was made to protect the couple's son Daryn.

McDonald said she is unsure if the trials will happen in Woodstock.

"This is where it happened, and I think they would have a hard time finding an unbiased jury here," she said.

Rodney Stafford, on the other hand, is hopeful the trials will be at the Oxford County courthouse.

"Tori was taken from Woodstock. It should happen in Woodstock. Woodstock people need to know," he said.

http://www.oxfordreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2491968

A lasting memory

Posted By ELLIOT FERGUSON, SENTINEL-REVIEW
Updated 22 mins ago 4/5/10

A year ago, Victoria Stafford danced down the aisle at College Avenue Church.

She held a palm leaf over her head, waving it back and forth as she led a Palm Sunday procession.

It is a lasting memory for her family and, for most in the congregation, it is the last time they saw the girl.

"That was Victoria's first Palm Sunday here," said Linda Winters, Victoria's grandmother.


Later that afternoon, Winters helped Victoria sound out the word Jerusalem as they read the Bible story of Palm Sunday together with Victoria's brother Daryn.

Winters read the same Palm Sunday story from the same Bible to the children of College Avenue United Church at this year's service.

"You felt such comfort in Tori," Winters said. "A lot of people saw a little girl who danced around and caused a lot of commotion at school. But if you ever got to know her, the comfort was so overwhelming."

To mark the first anniversary of her disappearance, the church dedicated a figurine of Jesus holding an infant and a little girl.

"It's like a closure for the church family," Winters said.

http://www.oxfordreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2520631

Family struggles to fathom Tori Stafford’s disappearance a year later



Allison Jones
The Canadian Press
Last updated on Wednesday, Apr. 07, 2010 6:35PM EDT

It has been one year since Victoria Stafford's family last held the bright, smiling eight-year-old, heard her giggle or saw her trudge off to school with her beloved big brother.

She missed a lot in the past year: two family weddings, a new baby cousin and numerous holidays and milestones when the absence of a loved one is most acutely felt.

But she is still very much a part of her tight-knit family.

“We've taken her along with us,” said her grandmother Doreen Graichen.

“There's nothing that we've done that we haven't had the feeling of her presence with us...She's alive in us now.”

It was April 8, 2009, when the girl, clad in her Hannah Montana jacket, failed to return home from school in Woodstock, Ont., setting off a desperate search that touched hearts countrywide. It was also likely the same day she was killed, though her remains were not found until more than three months later.

Holidays and birthdays are tough, but the tight-knit family takes care to include Tori.

Last Easter she had already been missing for four days and her dad bought her Easter treats to give his “baby girl” upon her return. This year for Easter, the family took some flowers to her grave.

For Halloween her family brought to her grave a little witch decoration that cackled when the wind blew. It would have made Tori giggle, Ms. Graichen said. They visited her on Christmas, too, and her aunt Randi Millen left a candy cane on her grave.

The family tries to focus on the good times and the laughter they shared with Victoria, but they say they can't properly deal with their grief when they have no answers.

Two people — Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty — are charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder, but police have been tight-lipped about what they allege happened between when Tori was seen on surveillance video being led away from her school and when her body was left in a field far from home.

Tori's death spurred a review of Ontario's Amber Alert guidelines, giving police greater leeway for sounding the alarm in the critical first few hours of a child's disappearance.

The abduction unleashed a torrent of criticism against Oxford Community Police for not issuing an alert after the Grade 3 student went missing. The force said the case didn't meet the criteria.

Previously, police had to confirm a child had been abducted, believe the child to be in danger of serious harm or death, and have descriptive information about the child and a suspect or vehicle.

Now, police only have to believe, and not confirm, that a child has been abducted and fear that they are in any type of danger. Authorities can also issue an alert without descriptive information about an abductor or vehicle.

Hearing what really happened to their little girl through court proceedings will be awful, but hopefully it will ease the terrible questions that plague them, Ms. Graichen said.

“I pray that this eases as time goes by, but not having any answers is the worst,” she said.

“We don't want to know but we do want to know.”

There are good days and bad days, but the bad days feel like their year-old wounds have been opened anew and their grief is as fresh as when Tori first vanished.

Ms. Graichen, who works at Cami Automotive Inc., started thinking about the prospect of staring down Tori's accused killers in court one day and broke down.

“I've been sent off line because I couldn't control myself,” she said. “I couldn't breathe.”

Her son, Rodney Stafford, is out West right now, setting up a second bike ride to raise money for Child Find Ontario in his daughter's memory. Last year he rode from Woodstock to Edmonton. This year he and his 11-year-old son Daryn are riding from Edmonton to Woodstock on a journey they're calling Kilometres for Kids 2: A Sibling's Story.

He's doing well and is busy organizing the bike ride, but has moments where he just breaks down and cries, reliving all his pain of the past year, Ms. Graichen said.

As the matriarch Ms. Graichen finds the grief of her children — Rob, Rodney, Randi, Rebecca and Russell — almost too much to bear.

“Knowing that all of my kids are suffering and there's not a damn thing I can do — I'm hurting, they're hurting,” she said.

“But there's nothing worse than watching my son, who has lost his daughter, and seeing his heart broken.”

Daryn spends a lot of time at Millen's house playing with her kids, and she said he seems to be doing all right, but only because everyone is keeping him occupied.

Ms. Graichen and Millen made a quilt for Daryn for Christmas, made out of some of Victoria's old clothing and some of his as well.

“(It's) something that he could wrap himself up in when he was missing her,” Ms. Millen said.

Ms. Millen, who gave birth to a daughter months after Victoria disappeared, dreams about her niece almost every night and will wake up in a cold sweat after having nightmares about Victoria crying.

“I'm having a hard time coping,” she said. “I think about her 20, 30 times a day.”

Tori's young cousins are having a hard time coming to terms with her death, too. Ms. Millen's seven-year-old daughter, who spent a lot of time playing with Tori, has nightmares too, where she sees “bad things happening to Tori,” Ms. Millen said.

“She's afraid of what happened to Tori happening to her,” she said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/family-struggles-to-fathom-tori-staffords-disappearance-a-year-later/article1526780/

Court appearance for accused in Tori Stafford death

WOODSTOCK, Ont. -- A preliminary hearing date has been set for a man accused in the killing of eight-year-old schoolgirl Tori Stafford more than a year ago.

Michael Rafferty made a brief court appearance via video Friday in Woodstock, allowing Crown and defence attorneys to schedule his preliminary hearing from June 21 to July 13.

Rafferty is charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping related to the disappearance of the third-grader. Terri-Lynne McClintic, another resident of Woodstock, also faces the same charges. She's scheduled to make a court appearance on April 30.

Stafford was last seen on surveillance camera footage walking away with an unknown woman after school on April 8, 2009.

Her body was later found in a rural field more than an hour away from Woodstock, a town of 35,000 some 150 kilometres west of Toronto.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2943352

Monday morning quarterbacking follows pub ban in Ontario child-slaying case

Published Saturday May 1st, 2010

TORONTO - A sweeping court-ordered publication ban that prevents anyone from reporting on a high-profile court case into the slaying of an eight-year-old Ontario girl has raised some hackles across the country.

With front-page editorials lambasting the temporary ban as one that goes too far, experts in media law agree the extent of the ban on the Victoria Stafford case is unusual and one that will simply fuel rampant speculation.

"It's unusual in its scope and how broad it is, and how much it covers," said Iain MacKinnon, a lawyer acting on behalf of several media organizations covering the case.

"Gagged" yells a bold headline on the front page of Saturday's Toronto Star. "This ban goes too far" argues an editorial in the Globe and Mail.

Stafford disappeared in April last year, after leaving her school in Woodstock, Ont. Her remains were found three months later, some 100 kilometres away in a field north of Guelph.

One of the suspects charged in her death, 19-year-old Terri-Lynne McClintic, was scheduled to appear in court Friday facing a first-degree murder charge.

A blanket publication ban issued by Justice Dougald McDermid prevents all media from saying anything else.

The decision has sparked some fierce criticism.

One Star editorial points out that open courts give the public confidence that justice is being done. A second front-page editorial goes further with blacked out sections indicating where details of what transpired Friday would have been written.

The affront to traditional media sensibilities is clear, MacKinnon said.

"I think the media is right to feel outraged," said the lawyer, who plans to argue against the ban at a later date.

"It's quite frustrating and discouraging."

The reason for the ban being imposed, is also off limits.

MacKinnon said the ban was issued so any information from Friday's court proceedings would not undermine the case in the future.

"(Justice McDermid) wanted to take the very cautious and careful route of not allowing anything to be published, in case at the end of the day when we do have fuller argument, he decides that nothing can be published."

The scope of the stringent ban however may be unjustified, he said.

"No matter what, there should be some basic information that should be published."

Publication bans are normally issued to protect the fair trial of an accused or group of accused, but as one media law expert says, the far reach of the ban will get some indignant tongues wagging.

"In effect, it is a gag order," says Klaus Pohle, who teaches media law at Carleton University.

"Since we have no idea whatsoever what this publication ban is all about and what it seeks to protect, it may lead to all kinds of speculation."

Pohle points out that a similar ban was issued in the Karla Homolka case, which lasted for years. Homolka served a 12-year prison sentence for manslaughter after entering into a plea bargain with Ontario Crown officials in 1993 in exchange for testimony against ex-husband Paul Bernardo.

Typically, Pohle says publication bans generally allow the media to say whether the accused appeared in court, and what the appearance was for, with a ban on the proceedings themselves.

But the shroud of secrecy that has blanketed the Stafford proceedings could lead some to suspect plea bargaining is underway, he said.

"Unless you know what the reasons are you can't make a judgement, and therefore it sounds as if something nefarious is going on," he said.

In addition, because the ban goes beyond traditional media and extends to anyone using print, broadcast and Internet channels to share information Pohle says speculation is bound to occur.

"There's going to be conspiracy theories, and speculation all over the blogosphere, because that's the nature of it," he said.

The one sliver of redemption stemming from the volley of criticism spurred by the ban, is that it is temporary, MacKinnon pointed out.

"Publication bans are never forever," he said. "They always expire, it's just a matter of when."

http://www.canadaeast.com/rss/article/1035760

Stafford facts will come out: McGuinty

Published On Mon May 03 2010

The Canadian Press

WALKERTON, ONT.—Premier Dalton McGuinty is defending a temporary publication ban in a first-degree murder case involving the death of an eight-year-old Ontario girl.

McGuinty says he has confidence in the justice system and notes it’s “early days” in the cases against two accused in the death of Victoria Stafford of Woodstock.

Speaking at an unrelated event in Walkerton today, McGuinty said most of the facts surrounding Stafford’s death will eventually be made public.

The Grade 3 student disappeared after leaving school in April last year. Her remains were found three months later in a field north of Guelph, about 100 kilometres away.

Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, and Michael Rafferty, 29, were arrested in May 2009 and charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

McClintic was scheduled to appear in a Woodstock court Friday but a temporary publication ban prevents the media from providing any further information until further order of the court.

Last month the court set June 21 as the date for Rafferty’s preliminary hearing to begin.

The hearing, which allows a judge to weigh the evidence and decide if the case can move forward to trial, is expected to last about four weeks.

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/803788--stafford-facts-will-come-out-mcguinty

Stafford murder suspect to go straight to trial



TORONTO — A 29-year-old man charged in the death of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford will go straight to trial without a preliminary hearing.

Michael Rafferty's preliminary hearing was scheduled to start June 21, but the Ministry of the Attorney General is now proceeding with a direct indictment.

When Tori failed to return home from school on April 8, 2009 in Woodstock, Ont., it set off a desperate search that touched hearts countrywide.

Terri-Lynne McClintic, 20, and Rafferty, 29, were arrested the following month and charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping.

Tori's remains were not found until more than three months after her disappearance, some 100 kilometres away in a field north of Guelph.

Court proceedings in McClintic's case are under a sweeping publication ban.

Preliminary hearings are held to see if there is enough evidence to go to trial.

It was not immediately clear when Rafferty's trial would begin.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100602/stafford-murder-rafferty-trial-100602/20100602/

Victoria Stafford’s dad kicks off fundraising bike journey on Father’s Day

Jun 20 2010
Allison Jones
The Canadian Press

Father’s Day means something different to Rodney Stafford than to most dads.

For the father of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford, the southwestern Ontario girl killed last year, the day gives him renewed purpose to make the world safer for his son and all children.

Rodney Stafford and his 12-year-old son Daryn are spending Sunday at the top of a mountain in Jasper, Alta., a place Victoria visited and fell in love with the summer before she died.

Two people — Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty — were charged with first-degree murder in her death.

On Tuesday, Stafford and his son kick off a bike ride from Edmonton back to their hometown of Woodstock, Ont., a 3,500-kilometre journey that will take them to 44 cities and towns along the way.

Stafford made the journey himself last year, from Woodstock to Edmonton, raising money for Child Find Ontario. He has raised more than $60,000 from the start of last year’s ride to now.

He has no monetary target for this sequel journey, which he and Daryn are calling Kilometres for Kids 2: A Sibling’s Story.

“My main goal is just to create awareness,” Stafford said. “I want to get it out there that there are horrible people out there and parents need to stop taking it for granted that their children are safe.”

The father and son are planning to make it back to Woodstock on Aug. 8, building in a few days of rest to their trip. They will ride a tandem bike for most of the journey, but switch to single bikes as they ride into town.

There are fundraising events planned in many cities and towns along the way. Jasper has declared June 20 Victoria Stafford Day. Marathon, Ont., is hosting a birthday party in honour of Tori on July 15 — the day she would have turned 10.

Stafford describes his children as two peas in a pod. Daryn lost his best friend in Victoria and his dad wants him to experience the warmth and generosity people showed him on his bike ride last year.

Daryn said it will be “awesome” to see the scenery and meet a lot of nice people along the way.

“You see people and they do stuff for cancer, but you don’t see many people doing it for kids,” he said.

“If I can help someone’s family just not have to go through this, then it will make me feel a lot better.”

Stafford is on a mission to make the country safer for children and says this bike ride will not be the end.

“I’ve kind of opened my eyes to what’s happening now that I’ve lost Tori,” he said.

“What I’ve been through in the past 14, 15 months, I would never in my life want anybody I know or anybody for that matter to go through what I’ve gone through.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/826150--victoria-stafford-s-dad-kicks-off-fundraising-bike-journey-on-father-s-day

Kilometres for Kids arrives in the Sault

Posted By FRANK DOBROVNIK, QMI AGENCY
July 20, 2010

Last year, Rodney Stafford cycled 3,500 kilometres across Canada for his daughter, Victoria "Tori" Stafford.

This year, it's her brother, Daryn.

The Kilometres for Kids journey last year raised more than $50,000 for Child Find Ontario in honour of the eight-year- old Woodstock girl killed in April 2009. It was meant to be a one-time thing -- with no planning, Rodney jumped on a bike and took off within days of Tori's memorial service -- but last winter Daryn, 12, "asked me if he got permission to do the ride whether we could do it together.

"I didn't even hesitate," said Rodney, 34, in Sault Ste. Marie Monday.

They started off on the spot where he finished : Whistler's Mountain near Jasper, Alta., where Tori had visited a favourite aunt. It was June 20, Father's Day.

"To me, the closest I felt I could be to Victoria was on top of that mountain, and I wanted to spend Father's Day with both my children."

Rodney, 34, who is separated from Daryn and Tori's mother, also cherishes the extended period he's getting to be with his son.

"It's amazing," he said. "We're both seeing sides of each other we've never seen before."

They've "got our struggles along the way, but we're making the best of it."

They have been riding a donated Fiori two-person tandem bike, sometimes with Daryn switching to a solo bike upon entering some cities. Rodney wants Kids for Kilometres 2: A Sibling's Story to be about Daryn, not him.

City council proclaimed July 19 Victoria Stafford Day, one of four cities along their route to do so. Rodney admits the campaign is not generating as much publicity but believes steam will pick up as they approach Woodstock.

For his part, Daryn is enjoying himself.

"It's hard going up the hills and stuff but we just take our time," he said.

As for what runs through his mind on the long journeys, "I think about getting to the next place."

However, he says he's "not at all" sorry he set out on the trek. His mission from the beginning was clear: "I wanted to help kids that go missing and try to prevent it."

This time out, Rodney is appealing for people to donate directly to Child Find rather than through him.

Meanwhile, the wheels of justice continue to turn for Tori's accused killers. Last month the province decided to fast track the trial of the man charged with her murder, Michael Rafferty, through a direct indictment.

Rafferty, 29, is charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder in the April 8, 2009, disappearance of the eight-year-old girl.

A date to appear before the Superior Court of Justice is expected to be set soon to begin discussions about trial dates.,

His co-accused, Terri-Lynne McClintic is expected to testify against him. McClintic, 20, waived her right to a preliminary hearing, but a sweeping publication ban from her April 30 appearance is still in place.

http://woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2676632

Bicycle odyssey of Tori's father, brother almost over

Updated: Fri Aug. 06 2010 7:26:53 PM
The Canadian Press

TORONTO — When Victoria Stafford's brother and father arrive in Woodstock, Ont., on Sunday after a 3,500-kilometre fundraising bike ride, it will be the end of their seven-week trip but the start of a much larger journey.

The eight-year-old girl disappeared outside her elementary school in April 2009 and was found slain three months later. Since then Rodney Stafford has made it his mission to see no other child ever suffers the same fate.

Last year he biked from Woodstock to Edmonton raising money for Child Find Ontario and when his 12-year-old son Daryn asked if he could do the ride for Tori himself this year, he knew they had to do it.

Daryn says he feels her presence with them constantly, and when he talks about his sister, his best friend, he drops his head and speaks softly.

"I just want (people) to remember Tori," he said. "I just don't want her to be forgotten."

Read more: http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100806/bicycle-trip-tori-stafford-father-brother-100806/20100806?hub=Toronto

Accused in Tori Stafford killing seeks change of venue

By Linda Nguyen
Postmedia News
October 15, 2010 1:05 PM

The lawyer for one of the accused in the high-profile kidnapping and killing of eight-year-old Victoria Stafford last year is asking that his client's trial be moved out of Woodstock, Ont.

The motion for a change of venue was heard in court Friday in the small southwestern Ontario city, about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto.

Defence attorney Dirk Derstine argued that his client, Michael Rafferty, will not be able to get a fair trial if it goes ahead as scheduled in the city where the child went missing.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/Accused+Tori+Stafford+killing+seeks+change+venue/3677999/story.html

Supreme Court reveals guilty plea, murder details in Stafford case


Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010


WOODSTOCK, ONT. – After her 3:25 p.m. dismissal from grade 3 at Oliver Stephens Public School on April 8, 2009, Victoria Stafford — a bubbly eight-year-old known as Tori, whose bright eyes, wispy hair and beaming smile gave her the look of a storybook pixie — ran back into class to fetch a pair of butterfly earrings she had forgotten inside.

It was an important day for her, the first time she was allowed to walk home from school alone.

Within minutes of retrieving the favourite earrings, however, Tori’s day became a foul milestone of a different sort: lured off the schoolyard by Terri-Lynne McClintic, then 18, a stranger promising a play date with a puppy, Tori was soon killed, in a wasteful and repugnant act of malice.

At an emotional hearing in April that could not be reported until now because of a controversial publication ban, Tori’s abduction and slaying was detailed in a large courtroom filled with family, police, lawyers and reporters who listened in tearful anguish.

It can now be revealed, because of a decision Thursday by the Supreme Court of Canada, that on April 30 — just over a year since Tori went missing last spring — McClintic, one of two people charged in the case, entered a surprise guilty plea to first-degree murder and, through sobs, declared her wish to bring “justice for an amazing little girl.”

“I didn’t wake up on that morning thinking I was going to take a child. I can’t honestly explain my thought process on that day,” McClintic said in court. “Every night I go to sleep hoping I’ll wake up and find this is a very, very bad dream… Every day I ask myself why. Why did I tell myself that everything would be okay?”

McClintic, referencing her own troubled childhood, poverty and drug abuse, heaped praise on Tori, a girl she did not know until she stole her from the schoolyard.

“I am honoured to have been able to spend even a brief amount of time with such an amazing person,” McClintic said, calling Tori a “precious little angel.”

“Tori will never leave my heart. She’ll hold my heart in her hands until the day I die. She has made me realize that I need to deal with my issues.”McClintic was given an automatic life sentence without chance of parole for 25 years, except under Canada’s so-called “faint hope” clause that could lead to release after 15 years.

“A few decades in prison is nothing” compared to the loss of Tori, she said.

The guilty plea and sentencing ends the legal proceedings against McClintic, leaving her former boyfriend, Michael Rafferty, 29, still facing first-degree murder charges. Significant details and allegations in the case, however, cannot be printed due to an order by Judge Dougald McDermid. His ruling demands that — for now — an incomplete record of events be published.



Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Supreme+Court+reveals+guilty+plea+details+Stafford+case/3951191/story.html#ixzz17dPeMc3x

I'm heartbroken all over again after reading this. The pain that Rodney, Tara, and Daryn have to live with must be unbearable. I really hope that Rafferty and McClintic are never released on parole.

Family 'destroyed' by Tori Stafford's killing

Linda Nguyen
Postmedia News
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010



WOODSTOCK, Ont. — The kidnapping and brutal killing of Victoria Stafford last year in southwestern Ontario has “destroyed” the girl’s family, leaving them with nightmares and overwhelming feelings of guilt and anger.

One of the most affected by the murder of the pretty, blond-haired, blue-eyed girl was her older brother and only sibling, then-11-year-old Daryn Stafford.

“I am supposed to describe my emotional losses, but it would take all the paper in the world to say how much I feel and what I have lost,” Daryn wrote in a statement read out loud in a Woodstock courtroom on April 30 by his father, Rodney Stafford. “But the thing I lost the most, not only my sister, but my bestest friend.”

Tori Stafford, eight years old at the time, was last seen walking with an unknown woman on April 8, 2009, steps away from her elementary school in Woodstock, about 150 kilometres southwest of Toronto. Her remains were found more than 100 days later under a rock pile in a deserted field in Mount Forest, Ont.

On April 30, Terri-Lynne McClintic, 19, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and first-degree murder. The Woodstock resident was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for 25 years. McClintic told the court that she lured the little girl by promising her she could meet her puppy, and testified that Tori was killed the same day she went missing.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Family+destroyed+Tori+Stafford+killing/3951660/story.html

there are some updates on this casehttp://djxtreme.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/victoria-stafford-the-search-is-over/

Tori Stafford news today ~

Tori Stafford's dad calls it 'hard' seeing her accused killer in court

http://home.mytelus.com/telusen/portal/NewsChannel.aspx?ArticleID=news/capfeed/national/TG1213.xml&CatID=National

Trial site to be decided by April

By Carla Garrett Sentinel-Review
February 8, 2011

WOODSTOCK— A trial site for the man accused of killing eight-year-old Victoria "Tori" Stafford will be decided by April.

London was discussed as a potential venue for the first-degree murder trial.

Other cities, such as Hamilton and Brampton, were also named as possible locations where Michael Rafferty could potentially get a fair trial.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney reserved his judgment on the change of venue application and other issues, but agreed to move the trial outside of Oxford County.

Read more: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2968574

Stafford murder trial gets change of venue

The Canadian Press
Posted: Mar 4, 2011 6:58 PM ET

~Snipped~

"What is clear ... is that London is not Woodstock," Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney wrote in his decision.

"It is a completely different city, a half-hour drive away."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/03/04/stafford-rafferty-trial.html

Rafferty faces 2012 trial in Stafford death

The Canadian Press
Posted: Apr 6, 2011 2:49 PM ET

The trial for the man accused of murdering eight-year-old Tori Stafford will begin early in 2012.

Pretrial motions have been set for Jan. 16 in London, Ont.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/04/06/rafferty-stafford-killing.html

Mother of slain Woodstock, Ont., girl Tori Stafford charged in drug bust

By: The Canadian Press
Posted: 09/28/2011 3:15 PM

WOODSTOCK, Ont. - The mother of slain Woodstock girl Tori Stafford is among those charged after a drug bust in the southwestern Ontario city.

Tara McDonald, 32, James Goris, 34, and Brandon Annis, 38, were arrested at a Woodstock home on Tuesday.

Police say crack cocaine, marijuana, cash and property allegedly stolen in break and enters in Woodstock were seized from the Norwich Avenue residence.

Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/mother-of-slain-woodstock-ont-girl-tori-stafford-charged-in-drug-bust-130731873.html

It was sad to read this after reading all the positive things Tori's father has done to raise awareness about missing children. It's amazing how two people dealing with the same tragedy can take two totally different paths. I pray that Tara can find the strength to turn her life around.