Cops Plead For Clues In Eight Year Old Murder Of Etobicoke Mother

There is an axiom in police circles that homicide detectives have a 48-hour window to solve a murder before the trail goes cold and it becomes much harder to gather clues. So you can only imagine what cops are up against as they try to figure out who murdered a young mother nearly eight years ago.

On Wednesday Toronto Police provided an update on the investigation into the murder of Patricia Real and they admit there are still some major questions that remain unanswered.

It was the night of July 18th, 2000 when Real and her boyfriend came back to her Etobicoke home. They didn’t know that someone had been following them on, of all things, a bicycle. Around 11pm, the couple had gone into her backyard when a stranger suddenly appeared from out of the darkness.

The unknown intruder walked up to Real, pulled out a gun and shot her twice in the head at close range. Her boyfriend struggled with the man, but he managed to get back on his bike and ride away, leaving the mother of two badly wounded. She didn’t survive the encounter.

All these years later, the tragic murder remains unsolved. Cops would later reveal that Real was the intended target of the ambush although she was an unlikely one.

Det. Sgt. Reg Pitts said Wednesday that Real had ended a long-term relationship with a man named Ronald Harper the January before her murder. Harper had been spotted on Real’s street on the day of the killing but police said they confirmed he was at Casino Rama in Orillia at the time of the crime.

They still believe he may have been involved, possibly hiring the gunman. Harper committed suicide nearly a year later.

The victim was gainfully employed, lived on her own, was never involved in any criminal activity and had been previously married. But there was one tantalizing clue – police revealed that she had been “associated with a criminal element” at some point in her past. But whether that was related to her death has never been clear.

The only real piece of evidence investigators have is the bike the killer pedaled away on. It was recovered not long after the murder and Pitts said the intitial DNA tests on the bike didn’t yield any results, but more recent examinations have provided more information.

“… a DNA profile has been developed. The DNA profile is mixture of a male and a female from at least two individuals,” Pitts explained. “Patty Real is the contributing source of the female profile.  The male profile is not among those captured on the convicted offenders’ index of the national DNA databank.”

It was a black mountain Mongoose “Rockadile” two wheeler with chrome rims, a racing seat, knobby tires, front shock absorbers, straight handle bars and a missing hand grip on the left side.

The only description of the suspect is vague. He was tall, thin and wearing a black puffy jacket and a baseball cap the night of the attack.