CANADA Canada - Glenda Tedball, 16, Thedford, Ont, 31 Oct 1967

[Richard]

Bumping thread up. Glenda has been missing for over 55 years.

 

[Richard]

Glenda Tedball, age 16
Missing since 31 October 1967

Where is Glenda Tedball buried?

Glenda Tedball went missing on Halloween 1967 from Thedford, Ontario. She was 16 years old at the time of her disappearance, stood 5’6” tall and weighed approximately 138 lbs. A neighbour saw her leaving her residence heading towards the back of the property, possibly to take a walk; this was the last time she was seen or heard from. Those that knew her described her as shy and lonely, especially in school. She was not known to leave home frequently, and instead wrote poetry and took long walks in the woods on her family’s property.

In September of 1999, a 66 year old London man named Edward Graton, a former farmhand, was charged with the culpable murder of Glenda Tedball. He claims that Glenda died during a botched abortion carried out by Glenda’s mother. Graton stated that Glenda bled out in the basement of her family’s farmhouse as Graton held her shoulders while Glenda’s mother performed the abortion. Graton claims that he helped tie her wrists and ankles to a cot, and that he placed a gag in her mouth while she struggled. Graton told police that Glenda was buried beneath the farmhouse, an excavation failed to recover her remains. The farmhouse itself has since burned down. Edward Graton was sentenced to 2 years of community service to pay for his crimes. Glenda’s mother died in 1999.

The Toronto Star and neighbours interviewed for a story state that Glenda’s mother was a domineering alcoholic that remarried while Glenda was still young and moved the family to a farmhouse outside of town. The family hired Graton as a farmhand, and he and Glenda bonded. Graton states they engaged in intercourse at least 3 times before Glenda found out she was pregnant. Graton would not marry her, so the couple went to Glenda’s mother to procure an abortion (which was illegal in Canada at the time).

The abortion scenario is quite likely, especially at such a time when the procedure was illegal yet single motherhood was frowned upon. A lonely girl like Glenda strikes it up with a “slow” farmhand, and an accident happens. Glenda would not be the first girl to die in an illegal abortion, and she will not be the last. The real question is, where is her body?

Excavations at the farmhouse basement did not yield any remains, and it appears that the rest of the property has not been searched. 50 hectares equals around 124 acres, so there is a fair amount of earth left to be turned. Is it possible that Glenda Tedball was buried in the basement of the farmhouse and just wasn’t found? Or could her body be buried in the woods in which she loved to walk?

Glenda's Doe Network File
The Toronto Star article reposted on a Google Forum

PorchlightCanada for the Missing and Unidentified-1967 TEDBALL, Glenda 10/31/1967

Glenda Tedball Missing since October 31, 1967 from Thedford, Ontario Date Of Birth: 1951 Age at Time of Disappearance: 16 years old Tedball was last s

www.tapatalk.com

 

[John/Jane Doe]

553DFON - Glenda Tedball

www.doenetwork.org

 

[dotr]

553DFON - Glenda Tedball

www.doenetwork.org

TY, from link..

553DFON - Glenda Tedball​

Name: Glenda Tedball
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: October 31, 1967
Location Last Seen: Thedford, Ontario, Canada.

Physical Description​

Date of Birth: 1951
Age: 16 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 138 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Unknown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers​

Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance​

Tedball was last seen when she left her residence heading for the back of the property and was seen by a neighbor. She has not been seen or heard from since.

She lived with her mother and her companion and with her siblings near the village of Thedford northwest of London. She went to the local high school and has been described as very shy. In September 1999, police charged Edward Graton, a 66-year-old London man, with culpable murder in this case. Since the arrest, investigators have had the foundations of the old farmhouse where Glenda Tedball lived, dug up. The house itself burned to the ground several years ago. Glenda has never been found.

Edward Gratton confessed to police that Glenda Tedball's death was caused by a home abortion carried out by her mother. She bled to death in the basement of her remote country home as Gratton held her down by the shoulders and her mother performed an abortion with a coat hanger. Gratton helped tie Glenda's wrists and ankles to a cot in the basement and when she struggled as she bled, he held her down, putting a gag in her mouth. Although Gratton told police the teenager was buried under the farmhouse, a recent excavation failed to turn up her remains. In 2000, Gratton began two years of a community sentence to pay for his crime. Glenda's mother Norma Poore died in 1999.''

 

[dotr]

September 27, 1999

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www.cbc.ca

''They have charged 66 year old Edward Gratton, of London, with first-degree murder.
The arrest is the result of Project Angel, an effort by the police to look into 20 unsolved murders in southwestern Ontario dating between the mid-fifties and mid-eighties.''

Various short articles at link.

Arrest made in 30-year-old case

groups.google.com

 

[spartanx]

I have no doubt that Glenda's mother moved the body at some point. I should have known that one day, sooner or later, Graton would speak... I wonder what reasons the police have for finding this man credible...
In 1967, there was still strong pressure for men to "do the right thing" and get married if they got a girl pregnant... I find it incredible that this guy who was obviously wrong to have sex with a 16 year old girl would say "I'm not marrying her" and her mother says "Oh, okay, I'll give her a home abortion and you can help her" and then covers up her death... I wonder if Graton might be a fantasist. Maybe so. he killed her, but not like he says, or maybe he had nothing to do with it. False confessions are quite common...some people are harassed by the police or get involved in crimes...I don't see Graton's actions as a capitulation, but rather that it was the mother who suggested and performed the abortion to save her family and her daughter from the shame of single motherhood. Graton could have agreed, since it was an immediate solution to the problem without taking into account that Glenda could die...
I just hope that when she dies so terribly she is in a better place...
either way
rest in peace