Original subtitles

GOOD EVENING, I'M ANTONY ROBART. THIS IS CRIME BEAT.

TONIGHT -- IT'S A PARENTS NIGHTMARE.

YOUR EIGHT-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, DOESNT COME HOME FROM SCHOOL.

This isn't what happens to our kids. Like where is my daughter?

Something was off, something was wrong. HOW A COMMUNITY IS BROUGHT TOGETHER

AS SUSPICIONS -- AND STIGMA -- THREATEN TO TEAR IT APART.

It's a small community. And then when you're involved in drugs,

it's an even smaller community. [sirens]

We knew that a female had taken Victoria seemingly willingly.

Who was it, first off. Like, who was she with? Why's Tori walking with her?

We never believed that the investigation was going to ramp up to what it eventually

did. One of the largest police investigations in Ontario's history, if not the country's.

AND NOW, HERE'S MARK CARCASOLE WITH THE STORY OF TORI STAFFORD:

NEVER FORGET.

A little tomboy. Wouldn't mind playing in the dirt

worms, frogs, any animals, she loved 'em. Was quite a playful little bugger. Laughy, jokey,

giggly little girl. A lot of bounce in her step. Tara: A firecracker. She never wanted to get up

in the morning, like every single day it was a fight to get her out of bed, except for Sundays.

My mom took her to church every Sunday. And Sunday, she would get up -- --7:00 AM,

dress on, tights on, hair done. I'm like, how can you not do this on your school days? She

was always filthy, like I was constantly using baby wipes and wiping out her face because she

always had food all over her face, like she just was a little hot mess all the time.

She was just feisty. For eight years old, it was kind of unbelievable like she just was like

an in-your-face presence. There was no ignoring Victoria Stafford.

Born in the city of Woodstock, Ontario, Victoria, or Tori Stafford was a presence...

An attention-getter. An animal lover. Tara: Lay down, lay down, look where s your bed?

Tori would have loved him. She, Oh God. Yeah, she had a shih tzu.

Here look, why don't I take this to your bed... Tara: And He was like her baby, she would come

home from school and she'd put her hands out like this and he'd put

his paws on her hands. And she d go 'Look mama, he loves paw massages.'

But after school on Wednesday April 8th, 2009 Tori didn t come home...

Rodney: A typical day, I was back in trying to finish my grade 12 and I spent my day in class

doing my lessons and stuff. Tori's parents had

divorced when she was 2 years old. Tori and her older brother spent most of their

time at their mother s their father Rodney admits he wasn t always there for his kids in the early

years, but he tried to help out when he could. Rodney: Just before four o'clock, I had walked

home and had called Tara, my children's mom, and said I was running behind. I was supposed

to be picking the children up that night. And so she said, OK, Tori hasn't come home

from school yet. So that's not a problem. Tara: Well, like the kids are always home

by quarter to 4:00. So by four o'clock when they weren't like she wasn't home,

I and my mom had driven around looking for her. And so there was a police cruiser in front of

the school. And me and my mom stopped and talked to that officer and he said, you need to go to

the police station to report her missing. We drove to all of our friend's places.

We called her friends. We looked everywhere first. And we went to the police station at 6:00. And

like by bedtime, I was losing my mind. Rodney: It was about 25 after 6, when

she had, when Tara had notified me that Victoria hadn t made it home from school.

At that point in time, I started calling around like to my family members, seeing if any of them

had heard from Victoria. My mom, she drove me over to Tara's and we had sat with police for a little

bit. I believe it was shortly after that, we went over to my apartment. They had to search my

apartment to make sure that Tori wasn't there and just clear that out. And right after that, it was,

get out on the streets and start searching for Tori.

Ad so did Oxford Community Police. But it soon became apparent to investigators, this wasn t the

type of missing child case they were used to. Rod Freeman: 99.9% of our reports of missing

children are resolved successfully. This particular case, there was a

sense of urgency, a bit of a different twist to this one, and we all instinctively felt

it. Something was off, something was wrong. Mark: That first night when the sun goes down

and your daughter is not at home in her bed, what is going through your mind at that point?

Rodney: At that point, I'm hoping she's either over at a family member's house or at a friend's

house. Where she has said, you know, maybe she told somebody that she had permission

to stay and, or just something along that line. Tara: I didn't sleep that night. Thursday morning,

I came downstairs and there was a pile of missing posters on the table.

And I lost it. Like I lost it, I'm like, how can this be happening? Like,

this is not what happens in Woodstock. This isn't what happens to our kids. This isn't what happens,

like where is my daughter? Rod Freeman: We never believed

that the investigation was going to ramp up to what it eventually did. One of the largest

police investigations in Ontario's history, if not the country's.

We had on duty and off duty officers out searching the area for her.

Police and emergency services personnel from surrounding regions comb wooded lots

and ravines for any sign of the 8-year-old. They ve fielded over a hundred tips so far

...And we called out the fire department to assist with that search.

Firefighters spent the afternoon searching some of the many wetlands in the area.

We ended up calling in the OPP helicopter to help out.

Concern is growing tonight as police in Woodstock, Ontario, search for a missing eight-year-old girl,

Victoria Stafford, who also goes by Tori, has not been seen since yesterday. The grade three

student failed to arrive home after school and she lives only a few blocks away. While police do not

suspect foul play, they have not ruled it out. Still some frustration, an Amber Alert wasn't

called on Wednesday. JIM MCDONALD: Kind of upset

about that. There should have been one instantly as soon as the kid disappeared,

there should have been an Amber Alert. Rod Freeman: My inspector of operations did

contact the OPP, twice. Asked for an Amber Alert to be issued and was told, that No , that our

investigation didn't meet the very narrow criteria of the Amber Alert program at that time.

CST. LAURIE-ANNE MAITLAND: A simple way to describe it is, if if you were to see some

young child forced into a vehicle and left the area right off the bat, that's when you want an

Amber Alert. Right off the bat. It's immediate and you have an absolute belief that a person under

the age of 18 has been abducted. Rod Freeman: What we did is we

made sure through our media sources that our community was notified. And we wanted

everyone in Woodstock when they woke up to know that we were investigating a missing

child, an eight year old child. Reporter : What kind of girl is Tori?

Classmate: Smart and intelligent girl. Resident: She's so kind-hearted. And she would

do anything for anybody. She needs to be home with her family and her friends, and everybody

that loves her. And I m just begging anybody that has her right now please, please bring her home.

The first break came a day into the investigation.

Rod Freeman: The Thursday, April 9th, officers who had been canvassing the area for

video recordings -- or some type of evidence that would indicate to us what had

happened to Victoria -- who discovered that very short clip of recording where Victoria was seen

being led away from Oliver Stevens School. JAMES GORIS: 100 percent, it is

our little girl. (Reporter: Who is the other person?) I wish I knew.

Rodney: You can actually see she's skipping along with the person almost

as if she knows them. And that scares me. Rod Freeman: We knew that a female adult had

taken Victoria seemingly willingly off her path of going home. But that's all we had at that point.

Rodney: Who was it? First off. Like, who was she with? Why's Tori walking with her so calmly?

ANTONY: COMING UP, QUESTIONS THAT LEAD TO AN INFERNO OF SCRUTINY, CRITICISM,

AND SPECULATION ACROSS CANADA -- SUSPICIONS THAT ARE ABOUT TO CATCH UP WITH TORI S OWN MOTHER.

WITH VIDEO SURFACING OF 8-YEAR-OLD TORI BEING LED AWAY FROM HER SCHOOL BY A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN

POLICE MUST ACT FAST. HERE S MARK CARCASOLE

WITH TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET Tara: I just want everybody to continue

your prayers and keep looking and don't give up, because we're not going to give up for a

second until she's home safely. If she can find a phone, a window ...anywhere, any way that she

could get back to us. If she can call her, if she can get away. Just to fight to come home.

Hi, how are you Police tracked down every lead,

followed every tip. But still -- nothing. Tara: My nerves are shot and I can't

handle much more. ...There s a search party

being organized at the Zellar s parking lot Tara: People gave me grief because I didn't go out

looking for her. When it came to looking for her and like Rodney would go out and go on searches.

And I said, like, I cannot do that. I can't. And it's not because I don't want to. It's because I

can't imagine if I were to find her. Inside the missing girls bedroom...

James: Everybody donated all this stuff for Tori when she comes home safe.

Her stepdad, James, shows us Tori's Bratz dolls and all of her pretty and pink things.

Days turned into weeks, with no word from Tori. Tensions were high. Rumours and theories started

to circulate about what may have happened Rebecca: Every possibility and scenario was

entertained at some point. And in a situation like that, you find yourself

looking suspicious suspiciously at people you've known your entire life.

Doreen: Trying to put a blame so that it would make sense to you.

Rebecca: Like, there were even people that were suggesting that the girl in

the video was my sister. (Yeah) She was too short to be my sister. But,

you know, that was still circulated out there. Doreen: Plus she was five months pregnant.

Rodney: Tori is missing. Tara: Rodney, I'm not going to stand

here and fight with you about it, OK? Rodney: You are showing a total

lack of support for your daughter. Tara: You know what you want to talk about a

lack of support for my daughter. Where the hell were you for the last nine years? (crosstalk)

Rodney: Check every one of these cameras, every one of these media, every one of those, please.

Tara: You've been at them now. Where were you for the last nine years?

Rodney: I told you . from the beginning. Tara: Like, I remember when me and Rodney

had gotten into that altercation on the front lawn and he said, you know, the the way you re

behaving like our daughter is missing. And I said, look, I know that, Rodney, but do you want me to

come out here and give people fake tears? do you want me to come out here and, you know, it didn't

matter if I was smiling, if I was normal, if I was crying, if like... it didn't matter what I did.

Tara kept hearing one rumour in particular. A rumour that she may

have been involved in Tori s disappearance. Tara: It bothers me to think that people think

that I'm capable of something like that, because if they knew me, they would know it's not even

possible Like, how does everyone else not see that that's not me in that video. Like

she's five-two, I'm five-nine. Like I used to go on like there Facebook pages,

like 'Help convict Tara McDonald of murder'. Tori s disappearance was national news. The boom

of social media only added to the attention the story was getting, and the theories

being suggested. But it wasn t just people on Facebook who were growing suspicious...

Tara: But pleading with the police, I would cry and beg. And I'm like, I can't

even tell you. Like, I don't know how to prove to you that I had nothing to do with this.

And it went on like it didn't stop in the first three weeks, like it continued through the entire

investigation that -- they came to my house and told me I was their prime suspect.

Rod Freeman denies that Tara was ever a prime suspect. He says there were never any grounds

for her arrest, and that it was due process for police to look into everyone in Tori s circle.

Rod Freeman: We had to keep our mind open to a broad array of possibilities at the

early stages of the investigation. Tara says, police tested her tried to

see if she d slip up and implicate herself. Tara: They thought that they would give me

this 1-800 number to share with the public for a ransom, Like they would put up a reward and that

I would call whoever had Victoria and just... everything would fall into place. And I'm like,

they even went so far as to show me a Ziploc bag of blond hair, in the same color as

Victoria's. And like, how do you claim your innocence when I've done lie detector tests,

I've been interviewed, interrogated, screamed at like ... I went through...

people can't even begin to imagine. Mark: What kind of toll does that take

on you, you don't know what the hell is going on. And everyone is trying their best to to make the

suspect YOU - people who don't know you, never met you, just heard your story in the news?

Tara: I was pleading with the police like I think I cared what the public thought,

but I really didn't. I really cared what the police were thinking because that's who

I needed to convince, because they were going to be the ones who had the ultimate decision,

right. So I was honest with them. Honest with them about her drug

use. An addiction to OxyContin. Tara: Rodney didn't believe that I had

told them about my drug usage. And I said I told the police about my drug usage the night that Tori

went missing. I said, I didn't tell the public because I didn't think it was anybody's business.

Tori s mom says she has been seeking treatment for her OxyContin addiction at the methadone

clinic here in Woodstock for the past two years, except for one relapse just over a year ago. She

says she has not gone back to using the drug. But the rumours persisted. Some suggested perhaps

Tori was taken as part of a drug debt owed by Tara or partner at the time.

Tara: It's absolutely bull****. Like he was charged with drug

charges in the year 2001. It is 2009. James: We do not owe people money and

there is no reason for anybody to steal our little girl.

Tara: There was no drug debt whatsoever. Mark: No beef at all? No nothing?

Tara: Nothing. Rod: We investigated that drug

connection that maybe Victoria had been taken for some purpose surrounding a drug debt or something

like that. We ran that up. The investigators ran that out. And it was proven to be unfounded.

In the background, the investigation rolled on and local police did all they could to find more

leads. What the public didn t know was that they d already secured what would become a huge break.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES . A WOMAN HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO CUSTODY.

COULD SHE BE THE ONE SEEN LEADING TORI AWAY? ...THAT S AFTER THE BREAK.

AS TORI S MOTHER FIGHTS TO DEFEND HER REPUTATION, THE PUBLIC IS UNAWARE THAT POLICE HAVE SECURED

WHAT WILL BECOME A HUGE BREAK IN THE CASE HERE S MARK CARCASOLE WITH TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET

On April 12th, 2009 four days after Tori Stafford s disappearance

...Oxford Community Police had acted on a number of tips from the public related to the video

of the girl being led away from her school. Tara: One of my friends called me, and said,

that's Terri-Lynne McClintic in that video. And he had introduced us to her.

So I called the police station right after I got off the phone with him, and I told them.

And then that was Friday. Saturday, she went and handed out missing posters.

And then on Sunday, she was arrested on other charges.

Rod: It did assist us in identifying a person of interest, Terri-Lynne McClintic, who we took into

custody on the authority of an outstanding warrant for her arrest. And that's where the investigation

really started to become more criminal in nature as opposed to simply a missing child.

Police believed they may have had the woman in the white coat.

While 18-year-old Terri-Lynne McClintic was detained for an unrelated offence, she

was questioned about the missing girl and denied any connection.

Without any proof of her involvement, Woodstock Police couldn t officially call her a suspect.

But they didn t rule her OUT, either. Keeping her on their radar while she

remained in custody on unrelated charges. So the search for answers continued. They

canvassed neighbourhoods, interviewed registered sex offenders in the area.

With public pressure mounting, 9 days after Tori Stafford went missing, and five days

after McClintic was arrested, the Ontario Provincial Police, with all their resources,

joined the investigation. For 10 days, police in

Woodstock have been scrutinized for not doing enough. Today in partnership with the OPP,

the start of what authorities are calling an intensified search for clues.

Rod: It was a huge help. An investigation like this really is, is beyond the resources of any one

police service. And for the first time, police

publicly took the stance that Tori was taken. DET. INSP. BILL RENTON: We're now considering

this case the child abduction. Reporter: It's a new classification

in the case, yet a contradiction to earlier police statements that said Tory walked away willingly.

Rodney: Honestly. to me, it's always been an abduction like,

I just want my baby back. Police had a potential suspect in custody,

who people had identified as the person in the white jacket leading Tori away from the school.

Terri-Lynne McClintic was a mystery to some in Woodstock But not to Tara,

and her partner James, Tori s stepfather. Mark: You had met Terri-Lynne McClintic before.

Tara: Yeah, twice. We had met on two separate occasions. James had been purchasing pills from

her mom, and she was present. And James' best friend had been seeing her at the time. That's

how we met her. And her mom and I had discussed breeding our dogs. And that's why my phone number

and name was on a piece of paper there. And I wouldn't even say we're, we were

acquaintances like in Woodstock, it's a small community. And then when you're involved

in drugs, it's an even smaller community. Mark: Would she have even known about Tori,

would she have known.. Tara: No. I never even

mentioned that I had children. Like, it wasn't that kind of discussion.

Since Terri-Lynne McClintic hadn't been as forthcoming as investigators had hoped,

Cops now turned their attention to McClintic s boyfriend at the time, Michael Rafferty, who had

phoned and visited her while she was in custody Surveillance video from the detention centre shows

them, talking...hugging... McClintic watching Rafferty as he walks out of the building

Following him through a window as he walks outside and away.

Rafferty was later interviewed for the first time by police Where he claimed his relationship with

McClintic wasn't serious.

Tara: I didn't even know who Michael Rafferty was.

I had no clue who he was. Mark: You d you ever, you'd never heard of

Terri-Lynne McClintic or Michael Rafferty before? Rodney: Neither one of them, no.

Until late May. More than a month and a half after Tori went missing, McClintic did a full 180.

There was lots of speculation as to why she changed her story,

but no reason was ever confirmed

Rod Freeman: When Victoria was taken

from Fyfe Street here in Woodstock, she was led by Terri-Lynne McClintock to a car

about 300 meters up the street where Rafferty was waiting. He had been parked up the street

from Oliver Stevens school, waiting for Terri-lynne McClintock to bring him a victim.

According to what McClintic told police, once they had Tori in Michael Rafferty s car, they hit

the highway. McClintic sitting in the back with Tori, making sure she stayed crouched and hidden.

The radio on in the car listening for any reports of a missing girl.

She says they made multiple stops: First, a Tim Hortons, where she ordered a tea.

And then they stopped at a home -- in Guelph about an hour's drive from

Woodstock -- where Rafferty bought Percocet pills...Then a gas station where Rafferty,

as seen in this surveillance footage, used an ATM to take out money.

Each time, McClintic was left alone in the car with Tori.

The next stop, was a neighbouring Home Depot where McClintic says Rafferty sent her inside.

Surveillance video from the store shows McClintic

calmly browsing the store...

Using the self checkout to scan through the garbage bags

and the murder weapon, the claw hammer.

McClintic appears emotional in the video UNTIL the investigator leaves to get her Kleenex.

The crying starts again as she hears OPP officer Jim Smyth returning.

Rod Freeman: It was Jim's talent in interviewing that

really got us our first break, a very solid break, and led the investigation

in the direction that it went.

Rod: I personally held on for every minute

of the first 30 days of this investigation that we would find her alive somewhere. And that hope,

of course, was dashed after we got admissions from McClintic as to what had transpired how the crime

had occurred, that Victoria had been left in a farmer s field, under a pile of rocks.

The confession was what police needed to arrest 28-year-old Michael Rafferty

that very night. The charges: kidnapping,

sexual assault causing bodily harm...and murder. Cop: Everybody back off, everybody,

back off this van right now. Get off the van now. Come on, guys.

Rafferty had met McClintic four months prior, at a local pizza shop. At the time, McClintic s mother

told reporters the two were infatuated. Rodney: My son and I were down in

Port Bruce actually collecting beach glass. And I had got a phone call

saying that, police wanted to speak with me. There's been some developments in the case and

they didn't specify what. All the way home, it was just like they found her, they found her,

they found her, you know, like, "yeah!!". Rodney: You know, but then to get back to the

house and...they had a bunch of people there in the living room. And it was like, OK, I want to

hear and I want to hear it. And the first thing they said was, we have two people in custody.

And it was just like, yes, OK, you know, and then and they're both being charged with murder.

And it was just like, pardon?! Murder? What do you mean, murder?

One of them has confessed to murdering Victoria. And right then it was just like, OK,

yeah. So I've heard it. I still don't believe it. I haven't seen her.

To me, this is like one of the hardest times for me was middle of the night, banging on

the door. My mom wakes up. You know, Mom, I need to speak to, you know, it s really important.

And I flat out said they had two people arrested for Victoria... And what, next words were like.

And they've been charged for murder. And just like the look on my mom's face

along with this was like... It hurt cause because I know she knows what I was going through.

COMING UP, WILL INVESTIGATORS FINALLY BE ABLE TO LOCATE

TORI? ...AND WHAT WILL MICHAEL RAFFERTY TELL POLICE ABOUT THAT FATEFUL DAY?

TERRI-LYNNE MCCLINTIC AND MICHAEL RAFFERTY HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH

MURDERING 8-YR-OLD TORI STAFFORD. BUT POLICE STILL NEED TO LOCATE THE LITTLE GIRL S BODY

HERE S MARK CARCASOLE WITH TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET

C mon in, grab a chair Within hours of his arrest,

Michael Rafferty was questioned again by police. This time, investigators were armed

with Terri-Lynne McClintic s confession. Jim Smyth: Hey Staff, how are

ya? Mind if I come in for sec? I understand, uh, Mike here wanted to see what, uh,

Terri-Lynne had to say. Mike, Terri-Lynne s still speaking to my partner,

okay? This is the girl you killed, alright? She s not missing anymore, she s dead.

...Terri-Lynne was asked today if she wanted to call a lawyer, four times. She said no,

all four times. She went through two boxes of Kleenex.

Alright? She says on the 8th of April, Wednesday, the 8th of April, 2009, at 3:30 in the afternoon,

you drop her off at Pavey, south of Fyfe, south of the public school where Tori walks out of.

You tell her to get a girl, and you want her young. She walks up the street and you drive up

to the old age home and you park your car. She walks up to Tori, Tori is nice to her,

she trusts her. She holds her hand for a little bit. She walks up the street with her,

Terri-Lynne tells her about her little dog, gets her across the street to your car.

Opens the back door, Tori doesn t like it anymore, she pushes her in the car.

You just start driving. She says she s freaking out.

She says she s worried about you. She s scared of what you re gonna do.

She says you guys hit the 401. You started driving to Guelph.

You park outside a house, you go in for a little while, you come out with some drugs, she thinks.

Then you drive to the Home Depot. You park at the end of the parking lot, you tell her it s

her time, her turn to get out of the car. ... You tell her to go in there, you give

her some cash because you don t wanna use your debit card so they don t track it.

She goes in there, she gets garbage bags like she s told to do and she comes back out.

Then you go driving, and you pull into a farmer s field,

right across from a house, to the point where you re even asking her if anybody can see you.

...And what does she do? She says she goes for a walk, because she doesn t wanna see what happens.

Then she comes back, and you re not sitting in the front seat anymore, Mike,

you re sitting in the backseat, and she s not liking what she sees, so she walks away again.

Then she comes back and you make her hold one of those garbage bags while you put some of your

clothes, and her jacket and hammer in one of those garbage bags. Then you drive to a gas station.

She never sees Tori again. You drive to the gas station, you get out, you wash up,

you dump the bag. You drive back to Woodstock. Unlike McClintic, Rafferty would not confess

MF: Terri-Lynne s a liar. Jim: How old are you Mike? 28-years-old?

You wanna tell us your side of the story? Get rid of your f***** security blanket

and start being a man. MF: Terri-Lynne s full of s***

I didn't do anything.

Well, that's not entirely true. MF: That is entirely true. (No)

I didn't do anything. As charges against the two

accused made their way through the courts, police were determined to find Tori s body.

They sought information from anyone who may have seen Rafferty s car the day of the abduction.

...and had McClintic help them draw up a sketch of the area where she claimed they left Tori.

With her assistance, they retraced the pair s route out of Woodstock to the final scene.

Nothing. McClintic could not pinpoint the spot where Tori lay.

But there was a glimmer of hope when police got a record of cellular pings from Rafferty

s Blackberry... that put it in the small township of Mount Forest, Ontario, near Guelph,

the night Tori Stafford disappeared. It was a little north of their previous search grid.

On Sunday, July 19th, 2009, on his way back to Woodstock from OPP headquarters in Orillia,

Ontario OPP Detective Sergeant Jim Smyth, the same investigator who coaxed a confession out of

McClintic, and played bad cop in the interrogation of Rafferty, got off the highway and drove through

Mount Forest on a hunch. He found a spot that sounded a lot like McClintic s descriptions.

And there found Tori Stafford s body, buried under

a pile of rocks

I walked the crime scene and (long pause)

saw what had transpired and where it had transpired.

And so it was very difficult. My younger son is the same age as Victoria and uh

Let's just keep going. Mark: I think anyone can understand

why that would be emotional. Rod: Yeah, but that's

part of policing. That's part of why we do what we do is to catch these people that are

responsible for these types of evil acts and to hold them accountable before the courts.

And that's what we do. And so when it comes to doing the job, you know, you put on your armor,

you rely on your training and the people you've surrounded yourself with and you do it.

Rodney: It was gut-wrenching because, you know, the search is over, but still, up until the point

they had actually found her remains, that... I had always held out hope that maybe, you know,

the story's just all lies. In a morbid sense, it's it's it's relief. But she won't be back. So it's,

it's just so much more traumatizing as well. Tara: The night that the police came to tell me

that she had passed away, I was convinced that they were coming to tell me that they found her.

Alive and well. I guess maybe it s... a mom can't wrap her her head around it, like I just couldn't

fathom the fact that she had passed away and that, I thought like I questioned my bond as

her mother because I thought maybe I would I would have known, like wouldn't I have known that she

passed away? Like, when I felt something? Daryn Stafford, Tori's Brother: I love you,

Tori. I miss you and I mean we miss you and always will. I miss seeing

you every night.

The anguish and guilt that fill the mind of Tori

Stafford s 11-year-old brother is unexplainable. Tara (reading brother s words): I'm your brother,

which means I'm supposed to protect you. But I guess that I didn't.

A public memorial to honour Tori s memory

Now followed by a private funeral service to bury Tori s remains.

COMING UP, TORI S FAMILY IS CAUGHT OFF GUARD WHEN MCCLINTIC SUDDENLY CHANGES HER STORY.

TORI S FAMILY MUST NOW FACE HER ACCUSED KILLERS IN COURT.

WE RETURN NOW TO MARK CARCASOLE A little more than a year after she helped

kill Tori, Terri-Lynne McClintic pleaded guilty to first degree murder at the Woodstock courthouse.

Sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years. Her plea DID spare Tori s

family from one prolonged trial. Tara: They read an agreed statement

of facts that he was omitted from, so anything to do with him was blacked out.

McClintic s guilty plea was kept secret with a publication ban,

so as not to taint potential jurors in Michael Rafferty s separate trial.

Which wasn t till a while later. Tara: We waited another three years. It was

four years in total from the time Tori was taken until the time they were both brought to justice.

And Rafferty s path would not be so quick it was now the spring of 2012.

Dirk Derstine: It was certainly a remarkable trial, it was full of publicity, full of

public anger, full of condemnation, full of ideas about what should and shouldn't happen. I mean,

it's the kind of case that tests the boundaries of how we can provide fair trials in Canada.

We try to move things out of jurisdictions if there's enough that you're worried that a person

might not get a fair trial there. So in this case, it was a great deal of publicity. But they decided

to move it to London, which, you know, in our estimation wasn't really all that far away.

Knowing full well it was the only path to justice, Tori s family,

did their best to keep their emotions in check. But it wasn t easy watching

Rafferty emote in response to certain testimony. Doreen: We had to come face to face with him and

you'd catch him giving me smug looks. And it it just made I know, it made my sons want to jump

over the boards and to tackle them, but Tara: He was so arrogant. Like he would come

into court and they'd give him his tie because he wasn't wanted to have one all the time and

he'd be checking himself out in the glass of the prisoner's box.

The most difficult stretch for the family, the six days where McClintic took the stand for the Crown

.DESCRIBING, every second, in excruciating detail Of Tori s final hours From the abduction,

to the purchase of the hammer and garbage bags, to the murder

Rodney: The only time I actually left the courtroom was the day that

the images had come out Tara: You can't prepare yourself. There's no

preparing for that. I was just like, is there any way, shape or form that I can't that I don't have

to do this? But at the same time, like I said, I had to go through it, so if she had to go through

it. I can sit there and and listen to it Rodney: It was rather revolting. The whole

time you're listening to it, you your your hate, your rage on the inside just

continues to get that much more... More. Tara: I wanted to just snap so many times.

I'm just like I am going to lose my mind and I had to keep it together.

But on the stand, McClintic changed her story to claim Rafferty only committed the rape,

and that SHE committed the actual murder. She first gave that new account to a counsellor

in prison, just weeks before Rafferty s trial. And backed it up in a police interview a day

later. TLM:

It was me that committed the murder and not him.

He didn t physically kill her. It wasn t him that killed her. It was me.

That gave Rafferty s lawyers the chance to suggest he had no idea Tori would be harmed

That McClintic staged the kidnapping and murder herself. And that Rafferty was simply a shocked

bystander. Though we never heard it from him. Dirk: I still believe that to this day that

there's a good chance that she was the one who actually selected Tori Stafford and lured

her out of there. So that was very much not her testimony, but that was always something

that I actually thought during the course of that trial. Rafferty lived the totally

on the other side of town and she lived right around there and walked her dog around there.

Mark: And so maybe it wasn't just Tori being in the wrong place at the wrong time,

as we heard. That she might have known from the beginning that that's who she was after.

Dirk: You know, it's either that or a remarkable coincidence.

After 2 months, viewing almost 200 pieces of evidence

and hearing from more than 60 witnesses, the jury retired to deliberate.

McClintic s retelling of the story and the defence s points left some wondering whether there was

enough there to prove the intent necessary to convict Rafferty for first degree murder

It took almost a full day of deliberations before the jury

returned its verdict to a hushed courtroom Rebecca: When that verdict was read in the

courtroom and there was an audible whisper across the entire courtroom

of one word -- yes. As each charge was read in each conviction was given, there was a yes.

Rodney: Yeah. There was that immediate. Yes! You know, and you're not allowed to cheer. You can't

you can't show emotion. You can't it's tough when you're going through this kind of stuff.

The celebration outside the courthouse, a very different

story Tara:

We came out of the courthouse that night and I was blinded. I couldn't even see for all the cameras

going off and the noise. And I was overwhelmed Tara: Not right now. I just wanna enjoy this.

It was as if a great battle had been won. A monster, as the trial judge called him. Defeated.

Michael Rafferty sent to prison for life -- with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The full motive for what triggered the pair to abduct, rape and murder Tori... never explained.

Rod Freeman: I couldn t care less about him now. He s gone. He s history. And he is no

longer a concern to any of our citizens here in Woodstock. He s no longer a concern to me

as Chief of Police of any of my police officers. Rodney: And it was all for this little girl right

here. Not just Tori but for every little child in Canada that doesn t deserve what happened to

her. (Cheering). Rodney:

It's unfortunate that her legacy will have to live on through us, but it always will. I'll

keep her, keep her story alive. Antony / Host:

But this would not be the last Tori Stafford s family would see of, or hear from Michael Rafferty

OR Terri-Lynne McClintic. Tara: When he looked at me...

His last day in court and he said, if you want the missing pieces, then you can talk to me about it.

I was able to ask him about her, her final hours Rodney: The injustice of Terri-Lynne

being sent to a healing lodge. ...Send her back.....What do we want, justice!

THAT S NEXT TIME ON CRIME BEAT IN THE CONCLUSION OF TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET.

I M ANTONY ROBART, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TONIGHT ON CRIME BEAT

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