Ontario man sentenced to life in prison for 1983 murders of Toronto women

A Moosonee, Ont. man has pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of two Toronto women who were killed within months of each other in 1983.

Toronto police confirmed with CityNews 680 that 61-year-old Joseph George Sutherland has been sentenced to life in prison following his guilty plea in the deaths of 45-year-old mother of four Susan Tice and 22-year-old aspiring fashion designer Erin Gilmour.

The Toronto women were sexually assaulted and fatally stabbed within months of each other in 1983. The pair were not known to each other.

Joseph George Sutherland, pictured. Photo: Handout.

In 2008, police announced a $200,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest but nothing came of the appeal. A similar reward was offered in 2016 with the same result.

RELATED: Toronto police announce arrest in unsolved cold case murders from 1983

For decades, their killer eluded authorities but advances in science and genetic genealogy led investigators to a suspect they believed was responsible, identified as Sutherland, who was arrested and charged in November 2022.

Sutherland had been living in Toronto at the time of the murders but was residing in Moosonee, Ont. — roughly 850 kilometres north of Toronto — when he was taken into police custody. Authorities have said without the advanced form of technology, they would have never linked Sutherland to the two murders.

Erin’s brother, Sean McCowan, tells CityNews 680 that this will avoid a trial, which is a relief for the families.

“The odds weren’t in our favour a decade ago or even five years ago,” McCowan said. “To get here is an amazing result. It won’t bring Erin back, but it’s a nice piece of closure in what has been a super long journey for all of us.”

In February, McCowan said in an interview that his mother, until the very end of her life, had always wanted someone to be held accountable for his sister’s murder and Tice’s murder.