OPP Confirm Worst Fears: Tori Stafford’s Body Found In Wooded Area
Posted July 21, 2009 11:03 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The OPP have confirmed the worst fears of Victoria Stafford’s family: the child’s body found over the weekend is that of the missing Woodstock girl.
“We have positively identified the human remains to be that of Tori Stafford,” Det. Insp. Bill Renton of the OPP announced on Tuesday morning.
“Now we can bring Tori home.”
Following an examination by forensic experts in Toronto, the provincial police force held a press conference.
“On behalf of the OPP we extend our deep regrets to Tori’s family and certainly to the community, I’m sure that we are all grieving the same for the tragic loss of an innocent little child, and the…realization one more time unfortunately that evil does lurk,” said OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino.
The remains had been exposed to the elements for several weeks, investigators revealed, and dental records were used to identify the body.
Renton said that he could not comment on a cause of death.
The eight-year-old disappeared after school on April 8. She was last seen on a security camera video walking with a young woman.
Two people have been arrested in the case.
On Tuesday, officers also said that the backseat of a car – considered to be a vital clue in the case – still has not been found.
Tori’s father, Rodney, said news that the extensive police search of the fields, rivers and woods of rural Ontario had finally yielded a body was not what the family was hoping to hear, but at the same time it offers a sense of closure.
“Out of the scenarios we came up with, it was the worst of the possibilities,” he said.
“We know where she is, she is coming home and we’ll be able to lay her to rest.”
When asked what his family has endured since her disappearance, he responded, “A living hell. I’ll leave it at that.”
Investigators have been searching an area near Guelph for months, looking for any trace of Tori.
The grisly discovery was made on the 6th Line in Arthur Township, just a 90-minute drive from her home.
Michael Rafferty, 28, and Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, have both been charged with first-degree murder and abduction.
Their trials are not expected to begin until next year.
