Tracking a Killer: Nearly 50 years later, still no arrests for Wendy Tedford and Donna Stearne murders

Toronto Police have close to 700 cold cases on file, including the cases of Wendy Tedford and Donna Stearne.

On April 26th, 1973, the two 17-year-old friends had planned a night of shopping and a sleepover, but the sleepover never happened. They were found shot dead in a field in the North York area of Toronto the following day by a high school student on his way to early basketball practice.

Almost 50 years later and no arrests have been made in connection with this case. That has been devastating for their family members who are still looking for answers. Wendy Tedford had four siblings. Her sister, Linda Harris, who is now 72 years old, says she’s never given up finding Wendy and Donna’s killer or killers.

“She was a very special person. She liked to draw. She liked to paint. She wrote stories. She loved to skate and swim,” Harris says.

“Yeah, but, the biggest part is her kind heart with my younger sister. You know, she just took her everywhere and did everything with her. She just was just a really nice girl. We miss her, we miss her a lot and, and, and we still cry over it at times, you know?”

Someone else who is looking for answers almost 50 years later is 58-year-old Janine Stearne. She is Donna Stearne’s youngest sister.

“She was just like, I don’t know, like an idol to me,” Janine says. “She was seven years older than me, and I thought she was perfect. She wanted to be a veterinarian. I actually became a vet tech later on in my life. I don’t know. I think it was kind of to honour her. ”

Toronto Police Detective Steve Smith has been with the service for close to 25 years and with the Cold Case Unit for the last four. He says Donna and Wendy were last seen alive at a restaurant called “Sit ‘N’ Eat” in the Keele Street and Sheppard Avenue area of Toronto late in the evening of April 26th, 1973.

“About midnight, gunshots are heard in the area of 943 Wilson Avenue, just east of Keele,” he says. “We believe at that time, both girls were shot dead. We believe that it was more of an execution-style. We had some persons of interest. We believe that this led to biker gangs out of the Windsor area.”

“I’m sure there’s a number of people that know who committed this crime,” Smith continued. “So we’re just looking for somebody to come forward whether they’re getting elderly and they want to admit to what happened, whether they know that someone else did this, and they want to provide us with that information, whether there’s been a lifestyle change, they’ve got up in the gang culture that they were in their twenties. Whatever it is, we’re looking for that information that they can provide to us.”

Even though it has been over 50 years since their sisters were killed, Harris and Stearne aren’t giving up on finding out what happened.

“Science and technology have caught up,” says Harris.” These guys better be watching their back because one day they may turn around and I’ll be standing there. I will never give up. Never.”

“You really can’t stop hoping that’s, you know, some sort of justice will happen,” Janine says.

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