WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Hopes that Victoria Stafford would be found safe and returned to her family were dashed Wednesday with a man charged with the Grade 3 student’s murder and a woman charged with being an accessory.
Michael Thomas Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, were arraigned on the charges and abduction charges in a Woodstock, Ont., court. Documents suggest the murder took place on or around April 8, the day the eight-year-old girl known as Tori went missing from outside her school.
The developments were clearly devastating to Tori’s father Rodney Stafford, who said he was awaiting more details from police.
“I don’t know where to go from here,” said Stafford, who was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Tori that read “Daddy’s Little Girl.”
McClintic, a stocky brunette whose hair was tied in cornrows, also faces charges of helping Rafferty elude authorities.
Rafferty pulled his shirt over his head to cover his face as he was led into the courthouse. He cried during the proceeding, while McClintic was more stoic.
As Rafferty was led by police from the courthouse after his appearance, Tori’s uncle approached him and spat out an expletive.
The relationship between the two accused was unclear, but there are reports the pair is known to one or both of Tori’s parents.
A search for the girl’s remains was reportedly underway in a rural area of Guelph, about an hour east of Woodstock. A police helicopter was on standby in the region marked with farmers’ fields, ponds and wooded areas.
Police were to hold a media briefing at 3 p.m. with more details.
Reached at a home in Woodstock, a woman who identified herself as McClintic’s grandmother sobbed as she said she was estranged from the woman’s mother Carol and her grandchildren.
“(Carol) was a stripper and she knew the wrong people and she wasn’t treating Terri-Lynne right.”
She said she felt “just horrible” about the arrests.
“It’s breaking my heart.”
From Day 1, volunteers lined up to join the search, plastering storefronts, street lamps and car windshields with flyers describing the petite blond girl with large blue eyes.
Early in the investigation, police released a video capturing the young girl in the company of a mystery woman around the time she disappeared.
That footage, of Tori walking away with a woman in a white puffy coat — seemingly without struggle — was followed by a police composite sketch of a female suspect.
On Easter Sunday, more than 1,000 people attended a candlelight vigil. One week after Tori went missing, others filled scores of purple balloons — her favourite colour — with helium and inserted information scrolls inside, releasing them into the sky at a popular park.
Tori’s mother Tara McDonald began holding daily news conferences outside her home to keep the story in the media spotlight.
CP24’s Sue Sgambati in Woodstock says the suspects are known to the parents but they did not know their daughter was the girl they allegedly took.Police sources also tell CP24 that the girl’s abduction has been allegedly viewed as an “opportunistic crime” and was not a random act. They also say the child may have allegedly been sought for “nefarious” purposes.
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.... Says What?