Tori's parents plan her memorial - body still not found
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Tori's parents plan her memorial
By Randy Richmond, London Free Press
Last Updated: 29th May 2009, 4:56pm
WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Victoria (Tori) Stafford’s parents are planning a memorial service for her after police warned the family today their little girl’s remains may never be found.
Rodney Stafford and Tara McDonald had refused to plan a funeral or memorial service, hoping police combing Southwestern Ontario would find their eight-year-old daughter’s body.
They also held out the faint hope their daughter might still be alive.
But today afternoon, Stafford and McDonald met with a pastor to discuss a service, family members said.
“Police told us (Thursday) that they may never find her body,” said Tori’s grandmother, Doreen Graichen.
Police also told the family not to hold out hope for her safe return, even if her body is not recovered. “We told them we had a tiny little thread of hope. They pretty much said don’t hold out hope for that,” Graichen said.
The so-far futile search for Tori’s body has driven a family already stricken by grief over her disappearance even further into despair.
“Until I can lay her to rest, I can’t lay it to rest,” Rodney Stafford said today. “My mind is so confused right now. I don’t want to let her go. I don’t. I still haven’t seen any proof of her body or remains or anything like that.”
Stafford also made a direct appeal to accused Michael Thomas Rafferty, if he is involved, to co-operate with police at least enough to help bring Tori’s body back home.
“Can you finally be a man and let my daughter come home and . . . let my daughter be in peace?” he said.
Rafferty, 28, charged with of kidnapping and first-degree murder, has been advised by his lawyer to say nothing about the case to anyone.
Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, is also charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder.
She had been charged with accessory to murder after the fact but her charges were upgraded Thursday during a video appearance in court.
It was also disclosed McClintic and Rafferty will get separate trials, setting up the possibility one will testify against the other.
Forensic officers spent much of today sifting through material taken from McClintic’s Wilson street apartment in Woodstock.
A garbage truck and several police vans were parked outside her unit, with officers studying and occasionally taking photographs of items spread out in the back of the truck.
Tori was last seen April 8 after school, caught on a surveillance videotape walking with an unknown woman north on Fyfe Avenue in Woodstock.
For six weeks, her divorced parents and the rest of the family held out hope the girl would be found alive, holding vigils and passing out thousands of posters showing her smiling face.
Those hopes were dashed May 19 with the arrests of the two Woodstock residents for her capture and murder.
McClintic is co-operating with police and for several days after the arrests accompanied investigators on their search, but to no avail.
That search has bounced all over Southwestern Ontario, from garbage bins in rural and urban areas to farm fields, from lakes to alongside Highway 401, with special attention in the Guelph, Fergus and Woodstock areas.
Police are asking property owners within a 50-minute drive of Guelph to check their fields and report any suspicious or significant changes to landscape or familiar landmarks.
Investigators are also seeking anyone who spotted a car they say was involved in the abduction either in Woodstock or Guelph.
The vehicle is described as a 2003 Honda four-door, blue with black spray paint over portions of it. Police are trying to locate the vehicle’s missing back seat.
Stafford said today he was somewhat satisfied charges against McClintic were upgraded.
“But it is still not enough. Justice will never be served for the loss of Victoria,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what they receive. It will still not bring her back.”
Stafford didn’t attend Thursday’s court hearing, saying he didn’t want to see the accused by video. “I want to see them in person. I really don’t know why.”
His mother, Graichen, said she, too, was waiting until the accused showed up in person to attend court. “I want to force them to look into our faces, to get them to come face to face with what they’ve done.”
Rafferty is due back in court on June 12. McClintic is due back June 23.
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