Canada - Christine Jessop, 9, Queensville, Ont, 3 Oct 1984 - #2 *killer identified*

[Skibunny]

I'd reallllly like to know where CH was the day Nicole Morrin vanished!!

I wonder now if he was employed by a cable TV company. They used to be in and out of apartment buildings all the time, because, at this time in Toronto, a cable employee had to go a panel in the apartment building and open it and hook the wire up to the connection point for your apartment in order for you to get cable TV. Maybe they had keys to the buildings they worked at frequently. The building where NM lived was considered to be a very nice, modern apartment building at the time from what I remember. jmo

 

[LylienTuc]

Reading about this case, a thought flashed through my mind. Had WS been around in the 80s-90s, I wonder how many of us would’ve been convinced Morin was guilty just because he was “weird” and charged, much like the jurors who initially convicted him. But no, he wasn’t guilty at all and now almost 40 years later all the apparently indisputable evidence about Hoover comes out, four years after his death. I admit I don’t quite get why that is. Am I missing something, what of this evidence is “new”, that wasn’t known decades ago?

Acquittal and conviction in the murder of Christine Jessop: A look back at one of London, Ont.'s biggest trials
“....Durham Regional Police first became interested in Morin after Jessop’s mother labelled her next-door neighbour as a “weird-type guy.” In April 1985, acting largely on their assessment of Morin as being “weird,” he was arrested.....

.......Janet Jessop expressed relief.

“Finally, the guilty one has paid for Christine’s murder.”.....

......The trial for Morin’s appeal of his conviction was short, with the judge giving a directed verdict of acquittal on Jan. 23, 1995 in response to the DNA evidence that all parties agreed were accurate.

“I’m just in heaven. I’m happy. I’m free. That’s how I feel. Free,” an elated Morin told reporters on the day of his acquittal. “It totally exonerated me in both categories. Proving I - me, me here - did not do this crime.”

Morin’s father said, “I think there’s a lot of wrongs that have to be righted.”

Christine Jessop’s brother Ken, who was 14 at the time of his sister’s disappearance, broke down in court, and apologized outside of court for all that was said about Morin. “Every time you see the Crown or the police, they turn and tell you that this is the man…he’s going down this time.”

After 10 years of hearing that, Ken said he didn’t know what else to think. He felt “brainwashed.”

“Now I have to sit back and realize, and really let it sink in, that he’s (Morin) not the one who sexually assaulted her. That’s what this evidence proves. He’s now a free man. I hope he sues the *advertiser censored** off of them.”......”

He got money for the 10 years in prison.
They matched hoovers blood samples from his 2015 suicide to the semen found on Christine's panties after making genealogical tree from the semen. Thus confirming that it is Hoover.
This technology is costly and not very common in Canada.

 

[MistyWaters]

He got money for the 10 years in prison.
They matched hoovers blood samples from his 2015 suicide to the semen found on Christine's panties after making genealogical tree from the semen. Thus confirming that it is Hoover.
This technology is costly and not very common in Canada.

Thank you. What I don’t understand is why Hoover wasn’t a possible suspect after Morin was acquitted. DNA crime testing has been around since the late 90s and without seeking out genealogy trees of dead people, a match to a living Hoover’s DNA surely would’ve been found on the panties if he’d been considered a suspect. Instead it appears all those years this unsolved murder file sat gathering dust while a guilty man walked free.

 

[photographer4]

that’s exactly my point. The trailer owners said they saw absolutely nothing around the time she was abducted and until they closed their trailer but their path was passing exactly through where her body was located. They saw nothing at all.
Also as a little girl I think the last thing she would want is let go of her recorder, the only thing that is remotely related to where she feels safe. It’s wrong to assume that she was immediately stripped naked and tortured or raped. She could have stayed elsewhere and then brought to the woods where the rape and murder unfolded. Possibly few days after the day her parents found out she was missing
Also it is very possible that the rape prior was done without much resistance with the promises she will be returned home. Then when he was done he brought her to the woods where he could hide the body at once

What time did CH get home that night? Knowing that detail just might help us determine whether she was killed that night or not. If she wasn't killed that night, where did he keep her? How did he know about the area where she was ultimately found dead? It doesn't seem a spot that one would have just happened upon one day...does it?

 

[MsBetsy]

Have you seen any specific points why she is assumed to be killed exactly on the same day right after abduction? I know you wrote that usually child murderers are done within few hours. I wish we had more details from his wife on what happened that day exactly and when he was home. Because if it as you say was all done in one day he must be home quite late.
If he was home on time then he must have left Christine somewhere otherwise no sense logistically.
We don't know if Hoover owned any other properties at that time. Maybe a chalet nearby ? or a storage 10 minutes way? who knows


the police didn't check

Yeah, I think that's what LE are investigating right now. They said they need to put together a timeline and put the pieces together. I hope the ex-wife will remember at least what time Hoover came home and if his behavior was unusual. It was a long time ago but it was such a tragic event, I would think she would recall anything out of the ordinary.

If she was abducted between 4:00 and 4:30 pm, he could have been at that location at around 5:00 pm, assaulted and killed her within an hour, and got back home by eight or nine at night. He must have cleaned up at some point because I can't imagine he wouldn't have had blood all over him.

The main reason they believed she was killed there and left there is because of the specific injuries noted in the autopsy. It's very rare for a killer to assault the victim in two different locations. The longer the victim is alive, the more risk of getting caught and there is more evidence left behind.

Usually in a case like this there are two or three significant locations. The first is where the child is abducted from, the second is where the murder occurred and the third is where the body is disposed of. In this case the location the body was left in was also the perfect place to commit the crime. Hoover wouldn't have had to move the body at all, and there would only be one crime scene.

 

[Forest_Wood]

Thank you. What I don’t understand is why Hoover wasn’t a possible suspect after Morin was acquitted. DNA crime testing has been around since the late 90s and without seeking out genealogy trees of dead people, a match to a living Hoover’s DNA surely would’ve been found on the panties if he’d been considered a suspect. Instead it appears all those years this unsolved murder file sat gathering dust while a guilty man walked free.

My understanding is that they didn’t have CH’s DNA until 2015 after he committed suicide? But that still doesn’t account for why it took them 5 years since then.

 

[photographer4]

He got money for the 10 years in prison.
They matched hoovers blood samples from his 2015 suicide to the semen found on Christine's panties after making genealogical tree from the semen. Thus confirming that it is Hoover.
This technology is costly and not very common in Canada.

I followed this case in the 90's and I read the news articles, and at some point I also read a book about this case, might have been Redrum The Innocent (Makin), and as I read about the case in that book, I realized how badly the police had screwed this investigation up. I remember being pleased when DNA finally cleared him.

 

[photographer4]

Thank you. What I don’t understand is why Hoover wasn’t a possible suspect after Morin was acquitted. DNA crime testing has been around since the late 90s and without seeking out genealogy trees of dead people, a match to a living Hoover’s DNA surely would’ve been found on the panties if he’d been considered a suspect. Instead it appears all those years this unsolved murder file sat gathering dust while a guilty man walked free.

If he didn't have DNA registered in any crime database, then how would they have made a match to him prior to genealogical matching beginning in recent years?

 

[photographer4]

I wonder now if he was employed by a cable TV company. They used to be in and out of apartment buildings all the time, because, at this time in Toronto, a cable employee had to go a panel in the apartment building and open it and hook the wire up to the connection point for your apartment in order for you to get cable TV. Maybe they had keys to the buildings they worked at frequently. The building where NM lived was considered to be a very nice, modern apartment building at the time from what I remember. jmo

I actually had a different thought, and I might super far off the mark here (so purely spitballing on my part here) but was CH ever known to be a cross dresser? I'm asking because there was a CH in the city directory in the mid to late 70's who was listed as a wig maker. I wonder, did he maybe deliver a wig to someone at her apt building? Or... more far fetched, could HE have been the "lady" at Nicole's building who people saw but whom I don't think was ever identified?? Now I know both sound odd, but I mean... anything is possible, right?

 

[photographer4]

Also, someone upthread posted the marriage record for when he married JH (August 2003). So we know for sure from that that he was in Nevada on August 26, 2003... I hate to do this, but have to ask, anyone missing from that area in the days / weeks / months before or shortly after this? Where did he go from there? Also, has anyone found a record of divorce from HH? When did they split up and under what circumstances?

 

[sibyl3]

Yeah, I think that's what LE are investigating right now. They said they need to put together a timeline and put the pieces together. I hope the ex-wife will remember at least what time Hoover came home and if his behavior was unusual. It was a long time ago but it was such a tragic event, I would think she would recall anything out of the ordinary.

If she was abducted between 4:00 and 4:30 pm, he could have been at that location at around 5:00 pm, assaulted and killed her within an hour, and got back home by eight or nine at night. He must have cleaned up at some point because I can't imagine he wouldn't have had blood all over him.

The main reason they believed she was killed there and left there is because of the specific injuries noted in the autopsy. It's very rare for a killer to assault the victim in two different locations. The longer the victim is alive, the more risk of getting caught and there is more evidence left behind.

Usually in a case like this there are two or three significant locations. The first is where the child is abducted from, the second is where the murder occurred and the third is where the body is disposed of. In this case the location the body was left in was also the perfect place to commit the crime. Hoover wouldn't have had to move the body at all, and there would only be one crime scene.

A lot seems odd about the timelines and how no one noticed... but either the family had their suspicions and kept it quiet (which bothers me a lot, because it makes them complicit) or perhaps Calvin had a habit of coming home at odd hours saying he worked late, etc... so it wasn't suspicious. Also, because of the nature of this crime--it is thought to be his first murder, but probably not his first crime and probably not his last murder-- so assuming that might be true, he may have had a habit of weird behaviour that made it not all that weird to his family who consequently didn't take notice... OR maybe he was a total weirdo all the time and they were just happy he wasn't around them and didn't question when he wasn't. People in weird situations don't always behave the way you would expect or even those involved would predict, but I do hope police share the information the gain, though I'm not sure they will unless they are able to connect Hoover to other cases.

 

[MistyWaters]

My understanding is that they didn’t have CH’s DNA until 2015 after he committed suicide? But that still doesn’t account for why it took them 5 years since then.

Yes 5 years since he died and why didn’t LE obtain a warrant to collect Hoover’s DNA in the preceding 20 years after Morin was acquired? For that reason I wouldn’t expect LE to disclose incriminating evidence against Hoover because then the question would be asked of them - why was Hoover never considered a suspect?

 

[Tadpole12]

MPP Percy Hatfield asks why Windsor police won't ID cold case suspects | Windsor Star
October 20, 2020

"They continue to stand firm. Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, police said, a person maintains privacy rights for 30 years after death."

 

[MistyWaters]

If he didn't have DNA registered in any crime database, then how would they have made a match to him prior to genealogical matching beginning in recent years?

LE obtain judicial warrants to collect DNA samples from living suspects all the time - if the DNA sample from the suspect matches DNA found at the crime scene then searching for a genealogy connection is not required. So was Hoover never, ever a possible suspect in the eyes of LE even after Morin was acquitted ......and if that is true then what came about to suddenly prompt somebody to compare his DNA to Christine’s panties five years after he died?

 

[photographer4]

LE obtain judicial warrants to collect DNA samples from living suspects all the time - if the DNA sample from the suspect matches DNA found at the crime scene then searching for a genealogy connection is not required. So was Hoover never, ever a possible suspect in the eyes of LE even after Morin was acquitted ......and if that is true then what came about to suddenly prompt somebody to compare his DNA to Christine’s panties five years after he died?

The way I understood the news articles from last week, he was at one point considered a person of interest, but never an official suspect. What made him a POI, I can't say, because I do not think police have ever told us that information. We know from the news that police interviewed KJ in 2015 and at that point he became a more prominent possibility in the eyes of police, but Toronto Police have said they didn't interview him regarding this crime. That's not to say NO other police organizations failed to interview him. Perhaps they did, but may have not had enough to get a warrant for his DNA. It would be nice if police would clarify this, wouldn't it?

 

[wary]

My understanding is that they didn’t have CH’s DNA until 2015 after he committed suicide? But that still doesn’t account for why it took them 5 years since then.

But if they considered him a possible suspect, they could have worked on getting his DNA, starting in 1995, 25 years ago.

 

[LylienTuc]

But if they considered him a possible suspect, they could have worked on getting his DNA, starting in 1995, 25 years ago.

The problem is that they had a profile of a loner. hoover had two kids and was married at the time of the crime. I am pretty sure most people can't fathom how he would be committing such atrocities on a little girl the age of his kids.

He must be extremely sexually deviant more than being a protective dad. A normal parent will be shaking at a thought of something like that happening to a child. More so committing it.

 

[MistyWaters]

The problem is that they had a profile of a loner. hoover had two kids and was married at the time of the crime. I am pretty sure most people can't fathom how he would be committing such atrocities on a little girl the age of his kids.

He must be extremely sexually deviant more than being a protective dad. A normal parent will be shaking at a thought of something like that happening to a child. More so committing it.

I don’t think it’s ever really been proven which came first, Morin or the profile of a loner.

 

[photographer4]

The problem is that they had a profile of a loner. hoover had two kids and was married at the time of the crime. I am pretty sure most people can't fathom how he would be committing such atrocities on a little girl the age of his kids.

He must be extremely sexually deviant more than being a protective dad. A normal parent will be shaking at a thought of something like that happening to a child. More so committing it.

So I guess that goes to show that profilers aren't always correct. If I'm not mistaken, it was John Douglas, a profiler from the US who at some point worked on CJ's case and created the profile in question (was there more than one done? I'm not sure t one honest). This is concerning, because he also had a hand in another as yet unsolved atrocity - Jon Bennett Ramsey... And he was very adamant in his position as to who done it on that particular case as well, if I recall correctly. In Christine's case he thought the killer's parents may have been having marital troubles, and may have been pressuring him to find a job..... meanwhile... CH was employed, married and had kids.....
For Janet Jessop, October is a time to mourn murdered daughter Christine all over again

 

[WhitePine]

LE obtain judicial warrants to collect DNA samples from living suspects all the time - if the DNA sample from the suspect matches DNA found at the crime scene then searching for a genealogy connection is not required. So was Hoover never, ever a possible suspect in the eyes of LE even after Morin was acquitted ......and if that is true then what came about to suddenly prompt somebody to compare his DNA to Christine’s panties five years after he died?

The process that was followed was referred to as similar to the Green Bay killer...in that process, they showed how they used a sample that was compared to a database (from genealogy programs, I believe) to narrow down to a family tree. From there, they ticked off people based on where they lived, eye colour, etc. and the Green Bay killer was the only one from the set of possible matches that fit in other ways. LE didn't get into details but I am guessing that they used a similar process with this sample. They located a family tree that was a close match and then they worked to rule out people until they came across suspects to narrow in on. Does this help explain why they only just looked now and didn't before? They certainly could have tried this with possible suspects much earlier but I think that it is these databases that are growing that is the real key to how this was resolved and how future unsolved cases can also be put to rest.