Lynne Harper Murder Likely Never To Be Solved

There are two sides to every coin, and that’s especially true in the case of Steven Truscott. As the 62-year-old breathes a long sigh of relief over his acquittal in the murder of a schoolmate in 1959, the family of Lynne Harper goes back into a place they’ve been for five decades – limbo.

The change in the conviction status of Truscott means the murder of the 12-year-old girl will likely never be solved. Authorities are free to reopen the cold case if they choose, but no one believes it will ever happen. Harper’s body was exhumed in 2006 as part of the appeal, but too much time had passed to yield any useful DNA. Witnesses involved have since died, and the murderer himself – whoever it may have been – is either extremely elderly now or possibly dead. “This is 50 years ago,” notes James Morton, president of the Ontario Bar Association. “The likely suspects would be men in their 30s. Certainly into their 80s now and most unlikely there will be a viable cold case.”

Attorney General Michael Bryant agrees, noting the court’s ruling speaks for itself on the issue. “This concludes the matter from the perspective of the criminal justice system. Decades and decades have passed. The possibility of a new trial was not at all realistic, the court said, and in that sense, we have a moment of legal closure … No appeal will be sought by the Crown. And an acquittal was entered, and it would appear then particularly given that the court entered into a hypothetical trial, that this concludes the matter in the eyes of the law.”

Truscott’s supporters have long contended the real killer may have been a military man. Clinton, Ontario was home to a Canadian air force base in the late 50s, leading to speculation that someone who toiled or lived on that property could have committed the crime and easily gotten away with it.

It has been an eternity to those who remember the delightful little girl who was just starting to blossom. Nearly 50 years on, those in the small community still cling to those precious memories. “Lynne was a robust, energetic type of girl,” remembers Edgar Maitland, her former teacher. “I’d call her above average academically.”

Others recall Harper as a child who loved sports and spent hours at her local playground with her friend Cathy Beaman. “She was quite athletic,” her classmate recounts as the years fall away though the shadow of memory. “She was into sports and they had monkey bars and things like that you know. And we’d go play on the monkey bars and see who could hang upside down the longest. Just regular kid stuff.”
 
Harper was also a typical 50s child, spending time in the Girl Guides. At her funeral, fellow troops formed an honour guard for a young life lost far too soon. She left a strong impression on many. “I’ll put it this way,” Maitland sighs. “I guess I wouldn’t mind having Lynne as a daughter.”

Truscott admits he’s not the only victim in the case, and feels for Harper’s relatives. “You know, all this fight has done something for me and my family. It has done nothing for her family and I doubt if the Crown will do anything after this date. And that’s a shame that it had not been done years ago.”

Former federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, who originally referred the matter to the high court for reconsideration, doesn’t think the Lynne Harper murder probe will ever be re-opened. “That’s up to the Ontario Attorney General,” he concedes. Still, he believes there may still be something to gain from re-examining the long closed case. “They might take another look at it, and see if there are some leads that they could have followed that they didn’t and may explore now. But my sense was, from listening to the Ontario Attorney General that this was, for him, a finality as well.”