CANADA Canada - Sonia Varaschin, 42, Orangeville, 29 Aug 2010 - #3

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The Bruce McArthur angle is interesting. I hope LE has considered it.
I don't mean to distract from this stream of sleuthing, but: I was just looking at this video (Juia Jones TV) on youtube -



A few things strike me:
in the photo evidence of LE processing Sonia's car where it was found (behind the tack shop, as I understand), you can see in the first pic shown (with doors wide open) that the car looks like it sits in the middle-ish of the parking area (lined up, but not at outer edge of the small lot) and the detective gestures to that same area behind Greenhawk as where it was found; but in another image at the 1:00m mark, it looks like the car is parked alongside a grassed edge -- as if at the edge (not middle) of the lot or, more likely, the lot that is perpindicular and you see the car is kind of under the sign for the health unit (and the "V" of trees). Do others see this too? If I'm seeing this right: why would LE move the car inside the lot or to the adjacent lot to process it? I'm not sure if this is meant as a hold-back/red-herring tactic to use when working a POI -- apologies for drawing attention to it if so. Are there other reasons for why the car may have been moved that might help us sleuth?

Also:
in the video, the detective says there was blood "on the door handle"; he was earlier referring to the trunk bumber. But IF he means, say, the driver door handle and not trunk release/trunk handle (grammatically it should be the former -- at least in terms of a DOOR handle -- but folks aren't always precise in their language use) then this might be VERY promising for having a fingerprint, surely? The perp had to enter the vehicle; the handle is a hard surface (better for fingerprint collection) and if the perp had blood on his hands (literally as well as figuratively) then surely he's left a little of his ID behind! (Unless he was wearing gloves and if so: is that pre-med?) I don't recall hearing anything specifically about fingerprints or palm prints, partial or otherwise.

Anyway --
it's good to see some activity on Sonia's thread. I keep hoping LE will surprise us all one day with an announcement they have made an arrest.....
 
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The Bruce McArthur angle is interesting. I hope LE has considered it.
I don't mean to distract from this stream of sleuthing, but: I was just looking at this video (Juia Jones TV) on youtube -



A few things strike me:
in the photo evidence of LE processing Sonia's car where it was found (behind the tack shop, as I understand), you can see in the first pic shown (with doors wide open) that the car looks like it sits in the middle-ish of the parking area (lined up, but not at outer edge of the small lot) and the detective gestures to that same area behind Greenhawk as where it was found; but in another image at the 1:00m mark, it looks like the car is parked alongside a grassed edge -- as if at the edge (not middle) of the lot or, more likely, the lot that is perpindicular and you see the car is kind of under the sign for the health unit (and the "V" of trees). Do others see this too? If I'm seeing this right: why would LE move the car inside the lot or to the adjacent lot to process it? I'm not sure if this is meant as a hold-back/red-herring tactic to use when working a POI -- apologies for drawing attention to it if so. Are there other reasons for why the car may have been moved that might help us sleuth?

Also:
in the video, the detective says there was blood "on the door handle"; he was earlier referring to the trunk bumber. But IF he means, say, the driver door handle and not trunk release/trunk handle (grammatically it should be the former -- at least in terms of a DOOR handle -- but folks aren't always precise in their language use) then this might be VERY promising for having a fingerprint, surely? The perp had to enter the vehicle; the handle is a hard surface (better for fingerprint collection) and if the perp had blood on his hands (literally as well as figuratively) then surely he's left a little of his ID behind! (Unless he was wearing gloves and if so: is that pre-med?) I don't recall hearing anything specifically about fingerprints or palm prints, partial or otherwise.

Anyway --
it's good to see some activity on Sonia's thread. I keep hoping LE will surprise us all one day with an announcement they have made an arrest.....

I think it might just be a trick of the camera. Police had the car cordoned off and it seems to me the camera person was standing in the neighbouring lot (which is raised higher than Greenhawk's lot) and zoomed in making Sonia's car appear closer to the tree and grass. In the other photo, it seems the camera person was standing closer to Greenhawk's lot (beyond the tree) to get an unobscured shot.

 
About the "blood on the door handle" (per my earlier post): have we ever been told anything about finger or palm prints in Sonia's case? We know a LOT of men have had their cheeks swabbed in the wide DNA canvass, but what about prints?
And do we think LE was able to lift prints, even partial ones, from the car? It would be REALLY promising if LE had bloody prints other than Sonia's from her car (or home) -- these would be from the perp, and couldn't be explained away in terms of reasonable prior access to her house or vehicle. We know there was a lot of blood at the townhouse and on her trunk; surely he had blood on himself? On his hands? Surely there must be (bloody -?) prints on the hard surface of the car, doorknobs at home -?
Unless he was wearing gloves.....

Does anyone recall if there has ever been discussion of finger or hand prints in this case -- have any of the journos been asking specifically about this?
 
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I don’t recall any word from LE regarding prints lifted from the house or the car or from Sonia’s body. Another question - did LE retrieve CCTV from the perp leaving the car in plain sight? Or from anywhere in Sonia’s case? I mean other than the gazebo footage here


 
To help my own memory


Last Saturday, an OPP forensics van was parked for most of the day outside a Broadway apartment building in downtown Orangeville, just a five-minute drive from the semisecluded townhome by a ravine where Varaschin lived alone.

The downtown Orangeville apartment building is less than five minutes by car from the downtown parkette where Varaschin’s blood-spattered white Toyota Corolla was found on Aug. 30 with its trunk and doors open.

The apartment building is also just a five-minute drive from the country home near Mono off Hwy. 10 where professional photographer Shelley Loder was attacked last week.
 
.... Another question - did LE retrieve CCTV from the perp leaving the car in plain sight? Or from anywhere in Sonia’s case? I mean other than the gazebo footage here


RSBM.
There was footage of a white van in the area (I believe driving near the tack shop) that was caught on camera in the early morn hours but that was all we were ever given, AFAIR -- and the driver was found, questioned, and 'released' in terms of interest as a witness or other. Much later, in one of the recent anniversary updates, we were told that LE has footage of Sonia's car 'speeding away' (IIRC) in the time window of the crime. I'm sorry I don't have time to look for all the links, but I'm pretty sure I'm remembering this right.
I don't think Sonia had tinted windows in her car. With the wonders of satellite technology, could LE zoom in to see something about who was driving? I doubt it. But as always I hope I'm wrong about these things :)
 
^^^^^ Thank you. Yes, I remember the speeding away car. That had to be the killer speeding from the site to go and dump the body. It's amazing to me that no one, LE included, cannot find an image of the driver of that car. Or an outline of his body. Or to see if he was alone . Surely there is a way to enhance that video/photos by now?

Speeding car info

Excerpt

What OPP detectives do know is that a man entered Varaschin’s Spring St. townhouse, where he killed her. They have his DNA and a good idea of his movements after the murder. And there is a video of a speeding car fleeing the murder scene.
 
re-post re-fresher.
rbbm. 2019
''Police have both the DNA and the fingerprints of the murderer. Sonia’s car, which was used by the killer to take her body to the Beech Grove Sideroad in Caledon was returned to the town and parked on a downtown street not far from her home. To many amateur sleuths, it all looks like her killer was a local man. Is he hiding in plain sight daily? If the killer is right around Orangeville, many wonder if online databases have been searched for family members.''

''September 1, 2010 9:33PM EDT
ORANGEVILLE, Ont. - Provincial police say a potential witness has been unable to help them determine what happened to a missing Orangeville, Ont., woman.
Police appealed Wednesday afternoon for the driver of a white van that was in the area where 42-year-old Sonia Varaschin's car was found on Monday to contact them.
Police said Wednesday night that the driver talked with investigators, but did not see anything that could have helped the investigation.''

''Unfortunately the driver did not see anything that could have helped the investigation and police thank the driver for coming forward so promptly.''
image.


Police tape surrounds a section of the Orangeville municipal offices on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010. (CP24/Mathew Reid)

“It’s quite apparent from our scene examination that when the culprit left the scene, he was covered in a significant amount of blood. The blood would be expected to be on both footwear and clothing,” Det. Insp. Mark Pritchard said days following Sonia’s disappearance, adding it was not known if she’d been removed from her home dead or alive.''

''The OPP is routinely cross-checking the evidence in Sonia’s case with that of other closed or active homicide investigations. Aside from proximity, Sonia’s murder is not believed to be connected to a vicious attack on Shelley Loder inside her Mono photography studio on Dec. 7, 2010.
Glassford was specifically asked about Williams and convicted killer Terry Tremble, who claimed the same person responsible for the attacks on Sonia and Loder could have killed his wife, Adrienne Roberts, in Arthur on Oct. 6, 2010.''
1668989925235.png
 
I’m still floored by the way the car was parked right back in Orangeville. And no one saw anything. Where did the blood-covered person go after parking her car? Did he have another car waiting for him? Did LE do a thorough search of the ravine behind her house?
 
Could this be linked to Sonia and Shelley?

Started thread..
 
I don't like this one bit. VERY worrisome. Thanks for all the link-reminders, dotr, for Sonia's case earlier and now for creating the thread for Sherry.
No Stone Unturned: my word - thanks for alerting us! Let's all keep an eye out for Sherry. Let's hope there's a happy-news ending here.
(But my hinky meter like yours is also going off; I'm worried. Many of us do believe Shelley's and Sonia's cases are linked; the similarities to Sherry by gender, age, location, & appearance are eerie.)
Sending wishes for strength and support to Sherry's family and friends.
 
TWO women went missing from Orangeville in the same week this month. Sadly, Sherry Mitchell was found deceased. We are still waiting for LE to update us on her case. Sarah McKeown (age 25) is still missing. Thanks to dotr for creating threads for both cases here on WS.
This is VERY unsettling.
 
Here's hoping the arrest in the Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour murders might give answers in Sonia's case, too. It took 39 years to catch him. Many more cases are being re-examined for possible links to this man:


Both women lived alone and were sexually assaulted and stabbed to death in their homes in TO. Not every similar unsolved murder will be linked to him, of course, but it's good news that the technology used by Paragon, Othram, etc. is being used in other Ontario cases. A glimmer of hope today!
 
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