Original subtitles

GOOD EVENING I m Antony Robart, this is Crime Beat. PREVIOUSLY ON CRIME BEAT:

She was just feisty. There was no ignoring Victoria Stafford.

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

My nerves are shot and I can t handle much more.

You can actually see she's skipping along with the person almost as if she knows them.

One of my friends called and said, that s Terri-Lynne McClintic in that video.

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

Back off. Everybody back off this van right now!

Terri-Lynne s full of s***. I didn t do anything. Oh that s not entirely true.

That is entirely true. I didn t do anything.

This is the girl you killed. She s not missing anymore. She s dead.

8-YEAR-OLD VICTORIA STAFFORD, KIDNAPPED ON

HER WAY HOME FROM SCHOOL.. RAPED... THEN MURDERED. HER BODY DISCOVERED WEEKS LATER BURIED IN A FARMER

S FIELD UNDER A PILE OF ROCKS. MICHAEL RAFFERTY, AND HIS GIRLFRIEND TERRI-LYNNE MCCLINTIC,

BOTH FOUND GUILTY. Woooo!

Not right now, I just want to enjoy this.

BUT THIS WAS NOT THE LAST TIME THAT TORI STAFFORD S FAMILY WOULD SEE,

OR HEAR FROM, TORI S KILLERS. Growing outrage tonight surrounding one

of Tori Stafford s killers The injustice of Terri-Lynne

being sent to a healing lodge. Send her back, send her back!

There was phone calls saying his mother needed to provide money for protection

inside there s probably the equivalent of 20-, $25,000, $30,000 worth of money.

His last day in court and he said, If you want the missing pieces,

then you can talk to me about it. This fight for justice will never end.

AND NOW HERE S MARK CARCASOLE WITH TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET

Unable to physically see his daughter. To talk to her. To wrap his arms around her. Trips to

the Oxford Memorial Cemetery are how Rodney Stafford has found solace since the guilty

verdicts.

Ah yeah, sucks. Like, it s the only way we can communicate with her.

Mark: How often do you come out here to see her? Rodney: I like to come out as much, as often

as I can anyways. I think the longest stretch is maybe 4 months.

Her birthdays are spent here. All holidays are here.

It s not like her friends that are, y know, able to continue moving on in their life,

growing up, going to school. And that was stolen from her and all of us.

We ve had notes left out here from people, from out of town, who literally only came here just to

see Tori s headstone and be a part of things, and offer their support.

Woodstock, Ontario seemed to lose its innocence in 2009. Like Tori Stafford s

family, many in the town, who helped in the search, who attended the vigils, held out

hope for her safe return to the very end. Lucille Chapman: This is a small town and

not much happens here. I remember, I couldn t believe she was dead. It just made me sick.

Vince Cosby: It s pretty sad what happened to her. I lived a couple of doors away from Tori

and one day she came over to my house and said, Hey Vince, there's a snake out there. I seen a

snake. So she gets a stick. And then all of a sudden I hear her calling me going, Vince,

Vince . And she had this snake by the head in a hole. And yeah, it was pretty awesome.

I got her name tattooed on my hand, on my knuckles because I knew her and I knew the,

I knew her mother. And I just I felt really bad for what happened. And I just

wanted to get a tattoo of her name. Mark: He lifts up his fist and shows me

he's got Tori tattooed on his knuckles. And it's a guy named Vince who I guess was your neighbour?

Tara: Yeah. Mark: And so he told,

told us a story about Tori one time, like finding a snake in the grass and calling him to...

Tara: Help her out... Mark: Yeah.

Years ago, Tara McDonald got her OWN

tattoo to memorialize her young daughter Tara: That is incredible the blue is perfect

They say you have to forgive and forget and you have to try to heal for yourself. The anger will

eat you inside out, and it does. But you can't do, like I can't do anything about it.

By the end of May, 2012, Terri-Lynne McLintic and Michael Rafferty had both been convicted

of first degree murder. Rafferty was also convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault.

Each was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years,

though McClintic has an opportunity to apply for it after 15 years with the faint

hope clause -- a provision intended to promote prisoners rehabilitation

and encourage good behaviour behind bars ...It s no longer an option for newer convicts,

but still exists for McClintic because she pleaded guilty a year before it was abolished.

Almost immediately after his conviction, Rafferty started the process of appealing

it. Claiming the judge made an error in his instructions to the jury.

Tara: You're just putting everything back together and you never know when it's

coming. There's never any sort of warning, right? And it just pops up and it's like

old wounds being reopened every single time. Rodney: We ve got no choice but to relive

it until this is done. Tori s family had to endure a three year

wait for it to go to court And when it did Crowd: Justice for Tori! Wooo!...

It was over in half a day. Rodney: We can move forward and

continue working on ourselves, better. And yeah, he can go back and rot.

But any sense of closure they achieved in the years that followed,

was again shattered in late 2018. Alan Carter: Growing outrage tonight

surrounding one of Tori Stafford s killers. Crystal Goomansingh: Terri-Lynne McClintic

has been moved from a maximum security prison to an Indigenous healing lodge.

COMING UP: TORI S FAMILY MEMBERS AREN T THE ONLY ONES QUESTIONING THE MOVE.

TORI S FAMILY IS SHOCKED WHEN NEWS BREAKS THAT TERRI-LYNNE MCCLINTIC HAS BEEN MOVED

TO AN INDIGENOUS HEALING LODGE, JUST 8 YEARS INTO HER SENTENCE. WE NOW RETURN TO MARK CARCASOLE

WITH TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET. Dawna: Abigail, is there a perception

McClintic will have it easier in this healing lodge than a conventional prison?

Abigail: Well Dawna, healing lodges don't have traditional bars, the one in question

in Saskatchewan is described as an open campus facility. They're designed to allow Indigenous

offenders to practice their culture and any offender can self-identify as Indigenous.

No proof is needed. Terri-Lynne McClintic, like anyone convicted of murder, she began

as a maximum security prisoner. But in 2014, she was reclassified as medium security...

Tori s father, Rodney, struggled with not just why Terri-Lynne McClintic was moved,

but also how...Given that during Michael Rafferty s trial, the public learned that McClintic

hadn t exactly been an ideal inmate in prison...Viciously

assaulting another prisoner Later pleading guilty to it.

This healing lodge, located in Saskatchewan, was a lower-security facility. Healing lodges

are designed for Indigenous offenders, offering Elder services and ceremonies. And according

to Corrections Canada, the main goal is to address the factors that led to incarceration

and prepare them for reintegration into society. Rodney: Nobody knew that she was coming there.

And it was they just, they put the whole town, in my opinion, they put the whole town

at risk with a child killer being there. Lisa Raitt: This is a terrible decision,

it s despicable. Why is the government, and this Prime Minister not acting?

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister: On this side of the house we choose to anchor our decisions in

fact, in the rule of law, and in due process. Dave MaKenzie: When Tori's body was found,

it was naked from the waist down. The autopsy revealed that she had suffered beatings that

caused lacerations to her liver, broken ribs, and her death was as a result of repeated blows to the

head with a claw hammer. Her killer, Terri-lynne McClintic, has been moved to a healing lodge.

The Prime Minister has the power to reverse this decision today.

Will he stand with the family and ensure that this child murderer stays behind bars?

Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister: Please do not continue to increase the level of graphic detail

read into the official record here. Andrew Scheer: "If the details of

this horrific case are so awful that the prime minister can't stand hearing them,

then he should do the right thing and make sure that the killer is behind bars."

Mark: Even the Chief of the Saskatchewan First Nation where

the lodge is located, has spoken out. Sask. Chief: Well, it is quite shocking

because of the crime It s a move even McClintic

s adoptive brother questioned. McClintic s Adoptive Brother: She s no more

Indigenous than I am green from the planet Mars. But two of the highest-ranking officials

overseeing Canada s healing lodges would tell Global News,

that McClintic s move fit the rules. Marty Maltby: We have a requirement to

meet the spiritual and cultural beliefs of our, of our inmates and those individuals

who are non-Indigenous, who have decided that this is a sincere belief we would actually be

violating their Charter Rights. Crowd: Justice for Tori!

In response, Rodney Stafford and his family organized a protest on Parliament Hill,

and meetings with the Commissioner of the Correctional Service and the

Prime Minister himself. Rodney: The injustice of

Terri-Lynne being sent to a healing lodge. Crowd: Send her back.. What do we want,

justice! ABIGAIL:

The killer's brother tells Global News he wished he could stand alongside these protesters.

Brother: For Mr. Stafford. and busloads of people. I really, really hope that

they can they can make an impact. Rodney: To me, he would be one of the

best people to know who she is. And I couldn't be any more grateful.

Less than a week later, the government acted. Ralph Goodale: They will follow the rules,

apply the policy. If that results in changes, then they will inform the family.

Rodney: I got a call from Correctional Service Canada

stating that Terri-Lynne had been transferred from the healing lodge to, back to a penitentiary.

The federal government not only reversed course, but added several factors to the

transfers of female inmates, including their sentence length, behavior, and consultations

with local Indigenous communities. Rodney: You can t heal. We have the

memory of the day she was taken, the memory of when Terri-Lynne was arrested, the day Michael

Rafferty was taken to court, Terri Lynne was in court. The appeal, the the injustice of her being

moved to the healing lodge. Each one of those who have their own day. That sticks with you.

Everyone has different ways of coping with grief. Rodney Stafford s has been to fight back,

spinning his first rally in Ottawa into an online movement under the banner Justice For Tori,

Protest For Change. Rodney: I've been basically

advocating for victims of crime and other families,

joining other families together and trying to create one main support for all of us,

where we can all express our concerns regarding the correctional system, the parole board,

all the way down to provincial jails. Like, the whole judicial system needs change. Anybody who's

convicted of taking another person's life -- you spend the rest of your life behind bars.

Rodney would soon find out that Rafferty had also been moved, to a medium security facility

in Quebec. The government's rationale was that it specializes in dealing with sex offenders.

The office of then Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale provided a statement assuring that the

correctional facility is suitable for Rafferty s incarceration.

Quote: The number one priority of the correctional system is public safety.

[...] buildings are fully surrounded by a guarded double fence with advanced security systems,

both physical and electronic. Mark: People will say, Terri-Lynne McClintic,

Michael Rafferty, they may be in, they may not be in maximum security, but they're never going

to get out. What about rehabilitation? Why not make them better people? Why not educate them

while they're behind bars? Rodney: Some people can be

rehabilitated. But when it comes to child killers and the deviant and really heinous nature of the

crime that they committed, there's no reason for these two to be walking on the streets again.

If we haven't done that protest November 2nd in 2018, Terri-Lynne could be on her way out the door

right now. There's, there's nothing saying that the healing lodge wouldn't say Yeah you know, for

the last two, three years, she's maintained this kind of lifestyle. So the parole board says, OK,

let's work her into day passes. It, it happens. Mark: Do you think Michael Rafferty will

ever be a free man? Dirk: I think that people in the position of Mr.

Rafferty start off from a real disadvantage. The National Parole Board average for people who are

convicted of first degree murder is that they get out on mean at 32 years, not at 25.

And that only goes up and down based on what kind of offense it is. I do know that at every parole

application, all sorts of people, including families of the victim, are invited to come

and, and bring it forward. It's not like it's something that happens in the dark.

Mark: Fighting that fight, but trying to live a life. Has it impacted

your your life away from that, even just in terms of work, personal relationships?

Rodney: Tremendously, tremendously. I can't keep my head focused. It takes one thing

and it'll set you back weeks, months, years, whatever. It'll set you back.

And trying to find the balance, it's it's hard, but we're getting through the day-to-day,

barely. But we're getting by. And no matter what, this fight for justice will never end.

WHAT THE JURY DID NOT HEAR ABOUT MICHAEL RAFFERTY S DISTURBING PAST.

AND A RELATIVE OF RAFFERTY S COMES FORWARD WITH UNSETTLING ALLEGATIONS. THAT S AFTER THE BREAK.

TORI S FATHER WANTS HIS DAUGHTER S KILLERS TO SERVE THEIR FULL SENTENCES,

IN MAXIMUM SECURITY FACILITIES. AND HE S ABOUT TO GAIN A NEW ALLY. HERE S MARK CARCASOLE

WITH TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET When the jury was sent out to deliberate his fate,

the public learned more about Michael Rafferty. Court documents ruled inadmissible for the trial

revealed he had torture sex fantasies; and searched for and downloaded child porn

and snuff videos on his laptop Women he dated said he was a serial cheater.

One ex even testified that he convinced her to become an escort and lived off her earnings.

Relative: if you've known Michael, this is sort of the personality that he's had his whole life.

Manipulative, knows how to sort of sway people's opinions pretty easy.

Years later,Tori s father, Rodney, was joined by an unexpected ally in his call for Rafferty

to stay in a maximum security prison. Relative: They said in order to be moved

into medium, there would be some criteria to meet. One of them was admitting your guilt.

But yet somehow he was moved into medium. Mark: So he still to this day denies that he had

anything to do with Tori Stafford s death? Relative: Absolutely.

Speaking exclusively to Global News on condition of anonymity, a relative

of Michael Rafferty s has come forward. Relative: Yeah, like I have been in contact

with him from when he's, when he's gone in, just sort of relaying information from the family

back and forth. The conversations were that you can't keep using your mother,

you've made your bed. You need to man up, own up and take care of your own responsibilities.

Rafferty s mother, Deborah Murphy, showed up only once during his trial,

staunchly defending her son. Deborah Murphy: First of all,

my son s innocent. And this could happen to any man that s walking around right now.

Terri-Lynne McClintic has wrecked our lives,

and I just hope that justice is served and that he s freed.

The relative we spoke to alleges that after he was convicted,

Rafferty abused his mother s loyalty for years from behind bars. Starting in maximum security.

Relative: There was phone calls saying that he had been in the infirmary,

his mother needed to provide money for protection inside the maximum, sort of facility.

He says the manipulative behavior continued once in medium security, as of 2018.

Relative: When Michael was moved to Medium, I guess he had been reaching out to his mother

on a regular basis and sort of, you know, getting money sent to him and sent to what

seems to be inmates' spouses, claiming that he was fearful of his life, that he had owed people.

You have to be on good behavior medium. So you really shouldn't need much protection

inside a medium security facility like you might need in a maximum.

Going through Rafferty s mother s records, her family found stacks of receipts

and written documentation for cheques and money orders sent out to dozens

of people dating back several years. Relative: We've got boxes and boxes of them,

but there's probably the equivalent of, twenty twenty five thousand dollars, thirty thousand

dollars worth of money and is sent through to other people out there.

Mark: Just here? So this isn't even it? Relative: That s not even all of it, no.

Mark: These documents that you've given me, there's names here, addresses,

money orders that were sent out by Michael Rafferty's mother. Who are these people?

Relative: I honestly don't know who they are. They're all Montreal and Quebec addresses,

which is where the facility is that Michael is being detained in. She didn't know anyone

outside of her apartment building where she lived. So they're not friends.

We reached out to Rafferty to see how he would respond to the allegations, but he declined our

interview request. We also contacted several of the individuals named in the documents, but

nobody would corroborate this relative s story. Relative: This is just him looking to get money

to better his life and manipulate his mother even after everything that's happened.

It s this relative s belief that Rafferty WAS legitimately threatened, AT TIMES,

in maximum security, but that he is SAFER in medium security. And at both levels,

was largely taking advantage of his mother. Relative: In our opinion, we were sort of

looking at it thinking that he's pretty much extorted money from his mother. It

wasn't for protection. It wasn't for the security of his wellbeing. It was for

the well-being of his lavish lifestyle. A lavish lifestyle allegedly centered around

small perks and treats from the prison canteen. Relative: If you could buy a block of cheese

inside and you didn't have the money in your canteen, someone would get you a block cheese.

You owe them two blocks of cheese when it comes time to pay them back

or three if it's not paid on time. Mark: So these people are essentially,

he's paying them for favors? Relative: Correct.

Mark: So really they're not threatening to beat him up. They're doing favors for him

and he's paying them back? Relative: That's correct.

Deborah Murphy died of a heart attack in August of 2018. At the age of 60.

Relative: She lost the house in that regard and ended up going, spiraling backwards. Having

to rent after credit was no longer any good. She'd hide it and she would borrow money from

family members in order to send money to Michael because she didn't have it. And, and she was

trying to find a way to cut him off. But the stories got deeper and they got more animated

from him, that she just couldn't. The stress of the constant phone calls and

the struggle financially to try and keep supporting him in prison was just

too much for her. When she passed away his grandmother, her mother, passed away

shortly thereafter. Once his mother was unable to facilitate finances to him, he

started approaching his grandmother to do that. Mark: Do you see Michael's mother ,and in essence,

I guess his grandmother after all this, as his second and third victims in a way?

Relative: Absolutely I, our family, one hundred percent hold him accountable for

both their deaths. Emails show Rafferty s

relative corresponded with CSC, the Correctional Service of Canada, for most of 2019... and he

was told the Service would get back to him. Relative: We started writing the government,

asking them for an opportunity to explain what we found that was going on. Why Michael should

probably be in a maximum security facility as opposed to a medium security. And that was based

on the fact that he clearly wasn't abiding by the rules, whether they knew it or not. But we had

enough information that we could provide to them. And then we did provide to them over the period of

time that you would think we would warrant moving him back, to at least help bring some closure for

the Stafford family, that they knew that their perpetrators were in the, in the appropriate

facilities. And the conversation went back and forth for a period of about a year and a half,

ultimately with no outcome. And we have yet to hear anything further from that.

We reached out to Corrections Canada. In a statement, a spokesperson tells us quote,

we do take action in reviewing information about inmates brought to their attention from both

victims and families. But, citing the Privacy Act, CSC says it s quote, unable to comment on

the specifics of an offender s case. Rodney: It s crazy to be honest. It s

very disheartening. And to know that his family is willing to make those steps as well, to

do what s right in this case, it s I couldn t, I couldn t appreciate it any more.

Mark: Does it surprise you at all? Tara: No, like I think that he's just a person

who has his own agenda, and that he's out from Number One, and that's it. He's a sociopath.

COMING UP: TARA GOES TO MEET MICHAEL RAFFERTY. FACE-TO-FACE.

AS TORI S FAMILY TRIES TO HEAL, HER MOTHER FACES AN UPHILL BATTLE. WE RETURN TO MARK CARCASOLE WITH

TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET. Tara: This is her watching the cookies

in the stove. For some reason I think she thought that if she looked at them, they d cook faster

Over a decade later, the effects of all the news coverage still follow

Tori s mother, Tara. Tara: I don't want people

to place that stigma on me. Mark: And that's something

you're still dealing with today? Tara: Oh, yeah. Like all the time.

And even in a small community, like, I'm in a tiny town and people still look at me and like

whisper and, Woodstock is even worse. I can't even go to Walmart there. Like

it's constantly, you feel like everybody s staring at you, everybody's scrutinizing you.

Today, Tara lives in another town Taking comfort in her

new puppy, Capone. Tara: Oh, Capone!

...who s been sitting at her feet chewing on his toys the entire time we ve been talking.

But comfort has been hard to come by.

During the search for Tori Stafford, her mother Tara s front lawn became the site of

daily news conferences Intensifying the media coverage, keeping the story front and centre.

Even earning a segment on American s Most Wanted. Tara: There were days where, like, I would have to

have pep talks. Like my aunt would be like, you ve got to do this, Tara. You've got to keep her face

front and on the papers. You need to keep it fresh and keep it in everybody's minds. If they see her,

then they recognize her. You've got to do this for her. And then me and Rodney were getting into it,

and the tension was getting high. Rodney: you are showing a total

lack of support for your daughter, Tara: You want to talk about a lack of support.

Where the hell were you for the last nine years?! Tara: And it wasn't done on purpose. But I mean,

it kept the media involved. Tara : Woodstock is full of rumours, stories

crap, quite frankly James: "GET YOUR SHIT OFF THE YARD, now.

The media attention fueled speculation. Much of which insisted, wrongly, that Tara was

involved in her own daughter s kidnapping. Mark: Having people build their idea of who

you are as a person just generated on what they see and hear and read in the news. Does that

going forward now make it hard to trust people? Tara: Oh, definitely.

Like, I have huge issues. That s why I live in a controlled-entry building. our privacy was so

stripped. The pressure

led Tara back to old demons. OxyContin. Tara: And I started using again at that time

because it was the only way that I could function. I couldn't even imagine trying to get clean at the

time. I'm like off the wagon because that's the only thing that kept me going, was doing pills

and getting through to the next day. It was like one minute after another and that's it.

Reporter: Quiet' and 'unassuming' are just some of the words that residents here used to describe

their city. That was -- up until recently. It s starting to turn into a scary city."

Becoming the focus of a nationwide nightmare gave the city exposure it never had before.

Warts and all. Rod Freeman: This is not a

bad place. This is a fine city. It's a hardworking city, a resilient city, full of good individuals

and good families who cared very much about our investigation and supported our investigation.

And yes, there is a drug situation, a drug problem here in Woodstock and our Oxford County. But it's

the same problem that every county and every city across this province in this country is facing.

Tori s mother had been to Terri-Lynne s McClintic s home twice while her partner

bought pills from McClintic s mom. McClintic was an addict. So too was Michael Rafferty.

Officer: Are you comfortable telling me how long you've been on Oxys?

Rafferty: Been taking painkillers for years. Rod Freeman: No question in my mind,

drugs were a thread that ran through this investigation because Rafferty and McClintic

were drug users. But the two people and the two people alone who are responsible

for this horrific crime that was inflicted on Victoria are Rafferty and McClintic.

Looking back, it s a case Rod Freeman, personally, will always feel connected to.

The day Tori s body was discovered always marks a bittersweet anniversary. By sheer coincidence,

it s the same day he was promoted to Chief of the local police force.

Rod Freeman: I was presented with a framed photocopy of the verdict sheet from the Rafferty

trial. And it just serves as a reminder for me of that investigation, and uh, the fact that we were

successful in acquiring a conviction. I ve also during the trial I was given a couple of ribbons,

Tori ribbons, by Victoria s grandmother, Doreen. And I keep one of those ribbons in my home office

downstairs. Again, just as a reminder of a challenging, difficult investigation.

Because my kid is the same age, one month difference from Victoria, you know,

it's a daily reminder that she should have enjoyed life like he has and like he will in the future.

Michael Rafferty never took the stand in his own defence.

But on May 15th of 2012, the day he was sentenced to life in prison for killing Tori Stafford,

he was offered a chance to make a statement to the court. And spoke only briefly, to one person.

Tara: 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. Mark: I remember when he stood

up in court and said that to you. Tara: It was haunting. And so for three years,

waiting for his appeal to be over like I would dream of what he was saying. And he was in the

courtroom. He was telling me the straight, honest-to-God truth of what happened. And he

his mouth is moving and I can't hear what he's saying. And I would wake up, agitated and I'd

have like my nails would be embedded into my hands. And I just want to, like, freak right out.

Restorative Justice allows victims and their families to speak to their victimizers and

personally address the harm done. Tara: And that's what I found,

a bit of peace when I did the restorative justice because

I was able to ask him about her, her final hours that weren't brought up in the courtroom,

things that are my own that I don't have to share with anybody ever. And I never have since I did

the restorative justice program. But Tara was willing to

share some details with us. Tara: And I mean, I didn t want to know her

demise, that s not what I wanted to know. I wanted to know from the time she was picked

up from school until the time they went to that field. What was Victoria doing at that point,

and in those times? And so that was something that was shared with me.

There was actually one story that made me laugh, like he gave her an iPod to put on because they

were going to discuss something and they didn't want her to hear. So they gave her an iPod. And

it was when Terri-Lynne was in the Home Depot. And he goes, do you know how to use the iPod Victoria?

And she's like, Uh yeah, like an eight. and I was like, that's perfect. And so when he told me that

story. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's all Victoria. And maybe it's denial. Maybe it's running away

from it. But it's the only way that a mom can function with what we've had to hear.

And I'm grateful to him for sharing those with me, but at the same time... those shouldn't

have been my daughter's last memories. He reiterated that he's not as involved as

everybody was expecting. And I don't know whether or not to believe that or not.

The police, he said he's a sociopath. At the same time that I was doing it with him,

she applied to do restorative justice with me as well. And I denied her.

Mark: She, being Terri-Lynne? Tara: Yeah, because I don't know why I

have such a hate-on more for her. For her to lie the way she did and say, for three years

when she had her trial, like her one day in court, she said it was him. He killed her.

And then she gets on the stand and we're depending on her because she's the only

witness that there is, to stick with that story. And she changes her story and says, I did it.

And I'm like, what?! Like, what do you believe? Because I've heard her side. I've heard his side.

And the only person that can tell us the truth is Victoria.

So, like, I don't even know even now, all these years later. I still don't have the answers that

I thought I would get from a trial. Though she still finds herself

tortured by the things she DID learn. Tara: I won't walk down the aisle where the

hammers are. I can't use a hammer. I use shoes, like high-heeled shoes, because I just cannot even

look at a hammer without feeling sick to my stomach. I can't use a certain color

of garbage bag.

Rodney Stafford and Tara don t talk anymore. And Tara s spent the years staying

OUT of the spotlight that burned her so badly. Tara: I'm grateful to Rodney for fighting the

battles that he has when it comes to Terri-Lynne in the healing lodge. And

he went and met with Trudeau. And I'm proud of him for stepping up like that. But for me,

I just can't do it. I feel like Rodney is fighting those battles so I don't have to.

I don't find healing in it. I don't have the strength, like, I have to save what I got left.

And she s needed a lot of it. She s sought treatment for her oxycontin addiction

and her grief has taken her to some dark places in the years since

including the passing of her ex-partner James,

the man considered Tori s stepdad. Tara: He was the only person that understood

at the level that I understand, of what happened and that can commiserate with me and that we can

talk about what we went through. And there's nobody to do that with now.

It's something like my therapist said, you're never ever going to stop blaming yourself.

It's just going to be a constant ... Like a failure. You feel like you failed your child.

There's so many long term repercussions of what happened that people don't understand

either. Like once the trial's over, life doesn't go back to normal. It never goes back to normal.

COMING UP: CHANGES TO THE AMBER ALERT SYSTEM, FOLLOWING A POLICE-LED REVIEW.

TORI S FAMILY IS MORE DETERMINED THAN EVER TO KEEP HER LEGACY ALIVE. WE RETURN NOW TO

MARK CARCASOLE... WITH THE CONCLUSION OF TORI STAFFORD: NEVER FORGET

In the summer of 2008, Tori Stafford took what her family says was her favourite vacation,

to visit some of her paternal relatives in Alberta... A trip

that was supposed to be the first of many now holds some of their most cherished

memories of her. Rebecca Nichols:

We were just outside of Canmore and we stopped on I think it was Highway 1A. And there's this little

spot where there was this stream coming// down the mountain. And I remember we were all trying

to stick our toes in it. And Tori's walking around through there and just having a great time walking

back and forth. And I m just thinking, how are you managing this kid?! Like I can t even stand

that cold, it was so intense. Tori: Ah it s cold!!

Rebecca: My father-in-law tells her to be careful because you don't know what animals are relieving

themselves up the mountain into the stream. Grandad: Good stuff, huh?

Excellent Tori: Hmmm,

that s awesome. ...animals come down here

Tori: No wonder animals come Rebecca: Just the memory of her dancing in

the stream is just how I want to remember her. Doreen Graichen / Tori s Grandmother: The

energy of an eight year old, it was insane with her wanting to climb,

go to the top of the mountain. Rebecca: In her flip flops.

Doreen: In her flip flops, no less. Yeah, that's my favourite picture of her. Because

she's smiling and happy and I don't know, she's just a lovely, loving

little girl. Rebecca: This is

a teddy bear that my father-in-law bought for Victoria. My father-in-law's father's

name was Fred. So they landed on naming the bear Freddy Bear. And so this is Tori hugging

Freddy Bear shortly before we ended up at that mountain stream. And I actually have Freddy Bear

in the house. He's upstairs, warm and safe. Doreen: She loved her mom. She loved her dad.

She loved her brother more than anything in this world. She loved her brother.

In a statement... Tori s older brother Daryn, 14 at the time of Rafferty s sentencing,

said -- quote, "My sister was the only person I had to talk to, someone that felt what I felt,

cried when I cried, laughed when I laughed, and now I feel alone, like the world is playing a sick

trick on me. But it's not -- this is my reality." Daryn has stayed out of the public

eye since his sister s death. Tara: He s doing amazing, like better than I could

have ever expected. And he has taken his grief and his trauma, and he's not let it consume him.

For all the heartbreak associated with her name in her hometown,

Tori s story has helped create change far outside the boundaries of Woodstock,

in multiple ways including a donation to build a well for a village in Southern India

Rodney: Instead of having to walk five miles a day to get water, now they just walk to

the edge of the village. Somehow or another, Victoria s story has touched that person s heart

enough to wanna help others in their kind of way. And that s gonna help generations.

An unfortunate lesson learned during the search for Tori has also led to

improvements in Ontario s Amber Alert system -- despite the pleas of local police, Tori s

disappearance didn t qualify for an 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.

Less than 2 months after her disappearance, following criticism of the system,

a police-led review was announced. Rod: I was invited to be part of those

discussions up at OPP headquarters with their Civilian Board that oversees the

Amber Alert program. And we talked about the difficulties of that narrow criteria, and and

our circumstances with Victoria going missing. And that Board and the OPP

listened and understood our circumstance. And they then broadened the criteria

that now is being applied. Insp. Dave Ross / Ontario Provincial Police:

Certainly the Stafford case drew some attention to the Amber Alert and was a catalyst

for Commissioner Fantino calling for a review of the Amber Alert program.

Wording for the guidelines was simplified and streamlined so it s more easily understood.

David Shum / Reporter: Officers no longer need proof of an abduction to issue

an alert that s broadcast on highway signs, over radio or TV. Now they only

have to believe a child is in danger. Tara: And I try to think that if things changed

like the Amber Alert and something positive comes from losing Victoria, it doesn't make

me feel better. But it definitely doesn't make it as bad because something good came from it.

The good things are what Tara tries to focus on as she charts a new path. She says she s

now a doula... Helping bring new life into the world, while remembering the one she lost.

Tara: My doulah mentor, she had mentioned that her mom does quilting. And I was like,

oh, really? Because I had seen, like, memory blankets made before. I asked if she would

ask her mom, if she would make one for me. And she did. And it is beautiful.

She put like a little note. It was a great honour to be asked to make a memory quilt to

represent the life of Tori Stafford. Tori's hat that she came home from the

hospital in. It has the hideous christening gown in the middle. And then it was like the

ugly Christmas dress. She even put a pictures of us on it it has like her, Bratz lunch pail.It

has her Harley-Davidson overalls from when she was a baby. :ike all the good stuff,

all sewn into a huge, beautiful quilt. Like when people say to me all the time,

they're like, oh, you're so strong and you're the strongest person I know. And I'm like, well, what

other option is there? Right. I guess I could cave and fold up and just not get out of bed every day,

but like, where's that going to get anybody? Like, that's not going to be celebrating Tori's

life and she wouldn't have wanted that. Mark: Today, she would be 20 years old

Tara: Yeah Mark: What do you think she would be like now?

Tara: Still feisty for sure. I think about when she was a teenager, how we would have butted heads

because we were so much alike. Rodney:

Who's to say she might not have been the one to cure cancer?

The limit was endless at that point. She could have been anything she wanted to be.

My daughter s life and mine and my whole family s life, our community,

our friends, we ve all suffered because of it.

It's hard. But, you know, it's the only way we get to... I get to remember her, is like this.

TERRI-LYNNE MCCLINTIC CAN APPLY FOR PAROLE AS OF 2024

after serving just 15 years, of her 25-year sentence.

MICHAEL RAFFERTY CAN APPLY FOR DAY PAROLE AS OF 2031, AND FULL PAROLE IN 2034.

THE FAMILY S WOUNDS ARE SURE TO BE RE-OPENED... BUT TODAY,

THEY FOCUS ON REMEMBERING TORI -- THE FEISTY 8-YR-OLD, WITH AN UNFORGETTABLE PRESENCE.

I m Antony Robart.

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TONIGHT ON CRIME BEAT.

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