U.S. Officials Question Delay In Reporting Missing Girl
Posted April 14, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
U.S. officials are questioning why police in Ontario appeared to keep information concerning an eight-year-old missing girl to themselves for 12 hours.
Oxford Community Police announced on Thursday that Victoria Stafford didn’t come home after school the day before, on Wednesday Apr. 8.
However, an officer with the force said that the appropriate people knew about the case. The officer explained that the information was put into a national database before midnight on Wednesday.
In the States, police are required to report all missing children to the FBI within two hours.
“If I did have detailed information, I wouldn’t be allowed to release it anyway, it would compromise the case,” outlined Const. Laurie-Ann Maitland.
As for the efforts of the local investigators, Const. Maitland says they’ve been top notch.
“To say they’re working hard is an understatement, they are slaving … to find out where young Tori is,” she insisted.
Five days after Victoria went missing, her relatives in Woodstock once again watched a surveillance video. This time, it had been enhanced and some of the graininess had been removed.
The camera footage shows Victoria walking side by side with an unknown woman on Wednesday afternoon.
CityNews reporter Tara Weber watched the cleaned-up video with a few of Victoria’s relatives. One of them suggested that they may now recognize the unknown person.
“Well, we only know one woman who walks that way,” the relative reportedly commented.
