Arrest made in 1998 Toronto cold case of murdered pregnant woman

Toronto police homicide detectives announced on Friday that an arrest was made in a 1998 cold case homicide involving the murder of a young pregnant woman in the downtown core.

Donna Oglive, 24, was strangled in a parking lot at 130 Carlton Street in Toronto on March 8, 1998. Authorities have maintained that Oglive, who was a sex worker at the time of her death, was killed by a client.

The 24-year-old woman split her time between Toronto and Vancouver, where her family is from. An autopsy revealed she was four months pregnant with a boy when she was strangled.

Former Toronto police Detective Sergeant Stacy Gallant said that investigators were able to obtain a male’s DNA but could not positively ID that person in 2019.

“We’ll go out and find them, get their DNA, and try to match it to them,” he said.

Steve Smith, Detective Sergeant of the Homicide and Missing Persons unit, announced that 50-year-old Ronald Gordon Ackerman of Gander, N.L., was arrested in connection with Oglive’s 1998 death.

The accused was taken into custody at Toronto Pearson Airport on Wednesday and is facing a first-degree murder charge. He was 25 years old at the time of the alleged crime.

Homicide detectives also noted that Oglive was a mother and had one previous child at the time of her death.

“Our thoughts remain with Donna’s family and friends, who have endured decades of grief and unanswered questions,” Smith said. “No matter how much time passes, we do not give up on victims of homicide.”

Investigators believe accused was victim’s client in sex trade transaction

Ackerman was remanded in custody in Toronto and appeared in court this week.

“It looks like this may have been a sex trade transaction, and it led to the death of Ms. Oglive,” Smith said on Friday.

Smith said the police force used genealogy technology to crack this cold case by tracking the DNA of the accused through familial DNA analysis.

“We had the accused DNA at the crime scene, but he was unknown to us,” Smith said. “It led us to the offender’s family. We collected a DNA sample and proved that Mr. Ackerman was the person responsible for the death of Ms. Oglive.”

Smith said that Ackerman lived in Newfoundland but worked in the Northern Alberta oil fields.

“That’s part of why we’re here today,” Smith said. “We need to find out what he’s been doing in the last 25 years and make sure that there are no other victims that are sexually motivated or homicides that he could be involved in.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators.