The Murder of Tori Stafford

Victoria Stafford, known as Tori, disappeared in Woodstock on April 8, 2009. The investigation quickly became a major Ontario missing-child case. Her remains were found in July 2009 after Terri-Lynne McClintic assisted police in locating the rural area where Tori had been left.

Tori Stafford

Tori was eight years old. Contemporary reporting from her school and family described a lively child with strong bonds to the people around her. This archive does not reproduce the graphic evidence heard at trial; those details are not necessary to understand the legal case.

Arrests and McClintic's guilty plea

Police arrested Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty in May 2009. McClintic later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. When a publication ban was lifted in December 2010, the public learned that she had been sentenced to life imprisonment with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.

McClintic became the key Crown witness at Rafferty's trial. Her accounts changed on important details over time, including who physically caused Tori's fatal injuries. The prosecution's case did not require the jury to decide that question in isolation: Canadian party liability allowed the jury to consider whether Rafferty and McClintic acted together in the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder.

Rafferty's trial

Rafferty pleaded not guilty. After an eight-week jury trial, he was convicted on May 11, 2012 of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm. He received the mandatory life sentence for first-degree murder, with no parole eligibility for 25 years, plus concurrent sentences on the other offences.

The defence maintained that McClintic was unreliable and argued that Rafferty was not a principal or party to the murder. Those arguments were rejected by the jury.

The 2016 appeal

Rafferty appealed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. He argued, among other things, that the trial judge had mishandled evidence about his conduct after the crime, admitted part of McClintic's earlier statement improperly and failed to give a special warning about relying on her evidence.

In R. v. Rafferty, 2016 ONCA 816, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The court found no basis to disturb the jury's verdicts and explained that trial counsel had made a deliberate tactical decision concerning the warning Rafferty later said should have been given.

Why the case is solved

Both central defendants were convicted of first-degree murder: McClintic by guilty plea and Rafferty after trial. Rafferty's conviction survived appellate review. Disagreement over which participant inflicted particular injuries does not make the identity or legal responsibility for the murder unresolved.

Timeline

1. April 8, 2009
   Tori disappears

   Victoria Stafford is reported missing in Woodstock, Ontario.

2. May 2009
   Two arrests

   Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty are arrested.

3. July 2009
   Tori is found

   Police identify remains found in a rural area as Tori's.

4. April 30, 2010
   McClintic pleads guilty

   She is convicted of first-degree murder and receives life imprisonment with 25 years before parole eligibility.

5. May 11–15, 2012
   Rafferty is convicted and sentenced

   A jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping and sexual assault causing bodily harm; he receives life imprisonment.

6. October–November 2016
   Appeal dismissed

   The Ontario Court of Appeal rejects Rafferty's challenge and later issues written reasons.

Current status

The case is solved / adjudicated. Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty remain convicted of first-degree murder. Rafferty's Court of Appeal challenge was dismissed in 2016. Parole eligibility is not the same as release; any future parole decision is a separate process.