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

[MistyWaters]

This is the first I’m hearing about Mr Jessop was supposed to be released that day. Where is that reported? I recall it reported that the police originally thought The Jessops could be making up the story of Christine being missing so that Mr Jessop could be released sooner.

My source was from this thread, I linked the post.

 

[deugirtni]

.... Does anyone know how long RJ had been in prison when CJ was murdered? It wouldn’t surprise me if CH unexpectedly dropped by the Jessop house from time to time under the guise of a thoughtful caring friend, as is often the habit of diabolical predators/pedophiles waiting for an opportunity.

.... He was then sent to prison on 17th September 1984

ETA Sept 17 - Oct 3, 1984, 16 days

.... One thing I don’t understand is why Mrs Jessop would visit her husband at the detention centre on Oct 3rd, if it was known he’d be released the same day after serving his 16 day sentence. And how’d he get home and so then this occurred in the midst of their missing daughter as well? That would seem a much larger coincidence than CH happening to overhear a phone conversation about a visit by the wife a couple of days prior.

This is the first I’m hearing about Mr Jessop was supposed to be released that day. Where is that reported? I recall it reported that the police originally thought The Jessops could be making up the story of Christine being missing so that Mr Jessop could be released sooner.

My source was from this thread, I linked the post.

The post being referred to was only stating how long BJ had already been in jail prior to CJ's disappearance, in response to MW's question asking same, it had no relevance to how long his sentence was to last.

I also remember reading that police were initially suspicious that BJ had orchestrated the disappearance as a way of getting out of jail.

 

[MistyWaters]

The post being referred to was only stating how long BJ had already been in jail prior to CJ's disappearance, in response to MW's question asking same, it had no relevance to how long his sentence was to last.

I also remember reading that police were initially suspicious that BJ had orchestrated the disappearance as a way of getting out of jail.

Thank you for the clarification!

 

[Andreee]

DBM

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Cops turned up heat on cold cases in 2020 | Toronto Sun

 

[Truth Prevails]

Thank you so much for sharing your great comment, Georgia8. I especially appreciated your closing statement.

Due to most of the points you mentioned, I don't think this case will ever be satisfactorily solved. Just not going to happen.

Now, at least, we know who last raped Christine, but that's about all we're going to get.

 

[Andreee]

There were mistakes made by police, and it is not impossible Hoover wasn't looked at closely at the time. He is the rapist and the ensuing murderer, it makes perfect sense now that the DNA confirmed that. Respect that LE has it right this time and that the family now has closure.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

More than three decades after the murder, the puzzle pieces were put together by Anthony Lukas Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave, who operate Redgrave Research Forensic Services in Athol. The husband and wife team discovered Hoover in just the right spot in their research tree after exhaustive work and put him forth as the suspect. Toronto Police then followed through with other standard means of identification to confirm the Redgraves’ assertion.

“We’re just the closers, basically,” said Lee Redgrave.

Notably, the forensic use of family genetics is the same technology used to catch the Golden State Killer in April 2018.

“Working to find the identity of Christine’s killer was an intense experience. We thought about her family all the way, and of Guy Paul Morin, who, though he was exonerated, was still treated with suspicion and lived under a heavy burden until the real killer was found,” Anthony Redgrave said. “We put every waking moment into looking for a candidate for identification to put forward to the police, because we were driven by the thought of all the pain and uncertainty that was being felt by her family, neighbors, and everyone who had ever worked on her case. ... I don’t know if I can fully describe the emotions I felt when we realized that he was it, because there were so many.”
Cracking cold cases: Athol couple uses genetic genealogy to ID bodies, find killers

 

[Andreee]

View attachment 280029
More than three decades after the murder, the puzzle pieces were put together by Anthony Lukas Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave, who operate Redgrave Research Forensic Services in Athol. The husband and wife team discovered Hoover in just the right spot in their research tree after exhaustive work and put him forth as the suspect. Toronto Police then followed through with other standard means of identification to confirm the Redgraves’ assertion.

“We’re just the closers, basically,” said Lee Redgrave.

Notably, the forensic use of family genetics is the same technology used to catch the Golden State Killer in April 2018.

“Working to find the identity of Christine’s killer was an intense experience. We thought about her family all the way, and of Guy Paul Morin, who, though he was exonerated, was still treated with suspicion and lived under a heavy burden until the real killer was found,” Anthony Redgrave said. “We put every waking moment into looking for a candidate for identification to put forward to the police, because we were driven by the thought of all the pain and uncertainty that was being felt by her family, neighbors, and everyone who had ever worked on her case. ... I don’t know if I can fully describe the emotions I felt when we realized that he was it, because there were so many.”
Cracking cold cases: Athol couple uses genetic genealogy to ID bodies, find killers

 

[Andreee]

Yes, thanks for that! This case is definitely solved, and we can be sure the family is glad to finally have some closure.

 

[Georgia8]

This is a bit of a scary precedent. It is essential if at all possible cases and investigative methods get tested in court. We don't need LE to simply find dead individuals and claim they are linked to homicides. We know about the incompetence and even malfaisance in this case which extends well beyond the police to for example the coroner who missed stunningly obvious evidence in the remains and actually took the victims bones home to his house. In the Elizabeth Bain case LE suppressed evidence to gain convictions, we all know about the errors in the Bernardo case. And these are some of the most important and difficult cases of which there are only so many: after all most posters on Websleuths are less interested in cases where one petty gangster shoots another or a husband kills his wife and then calls the police on himself. In this case the possibility of multiple perps was posed. So far Hoover is a mysterious perp. Maybe we will learn more about him maybe not.

 

[Andreee]

Christine's mother is elderly now and her brother as well has put alot into this investigation emotionally, it has consumed their lives. Maybe they want to give it all a rest at this point and be satisfied that the case has been solved. Maybe there will be an investigation with their active support, or maybe it will happen regardless. Time will tell!

 

[MistyWaters]

Christine's mother is elderly now and her brother as well has put alot into this investigation emotionally, it has consumed their lives. Maybe they want to give it all a rest at this point and be satisfied that the case has been solved. Maybe there will be an investigation with their active support, or maybe it will happen regardless. Time will tell!

Innocence Canada called for a review last October but the investigation was still ongoing. No word about it since then.

Legal group calls for review of Christine Jessop investigation by Durham and Toronto police
“.....It said that where the Kaufman report examined Morin’s wrongful conviction, a new review would examine how Hoover was overlooked.

“To what extent, if any, was his alibi sought and examined? Was consideration given to obtaining his DNA? If not, why not?” said Makin.

Makin added that the the probe his group was now calling for wouldn’t involve public hearings, nor would it examine a host of other events and mistakes that were catalogued in the Kaufman report.

Meaghan Gray, a spokeswoman for Toronto police, said that the force understands Innocence Canada’s position but noted that the police investigation of the case is ongoing.

“Should an independent third party review of the original TPS investigation be ordered, we will co-operate to the fullest extent the law allows,” said Gray.....”

 

[Truth Prevails]

I don't think the family is satisfied the case has been solved.

Quote:
"The last 36 years have been a nightmare of trials and appeals and blindsides that have almost destroyed my mother and I," Mr. Jessop said in a statement sent last night to Innocence Canada. "Our prayers were answered on Oct. 15, 2020. But the answer was not justice. It was a kick in the teeth. With that answer came a million questions."
Family Members of Christine Jessop Demand Independent Review of Murder Investigation

 

[Andreee]

What I meant was the perpetrator has been identified to their satisfaction. As for the case itself, I'm sure they aren't satisfied with the way it was conducted IMO.

 

[deugirtni]

I would like to know why the family themselves never gave CH a thought, considering that most often victims know their killers, he had apparently free access to the home, he'd just been with the family, etc. Was the family ever questioned about who had access, or who were their friends and acqaintences and neighbours and coworkers?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

While shooting the breeze with a colleague, acting Toronto police Det. Sgt. Steve Smith wondered aloud whether there wasn’t a more efficient way to investigate the Jessop case than just following up on tips that trickled into the cold case unit.

He yearned for a new approach to solve a case that had bounced between three separate police forces — York, Durham and Toronto — been wrestled with by almost 40 investigators, amassed 400 bankers boxes worth of information and tested the DNA of 320 men over 36 years.

“Tips are great and we love every tip that comes in, but you really have to spend time to go through them to see if they’re worthy of a further followup … each tip is six to eight hours of work,” he said. “We were thinking there had to be a better way,”
'Fortuitous': Probe into Christine Jessop's killer Calvin Hoover went wrong until it went right

 

[Keswick84]

A possible theory for the failure to investigated CH:

York Regional Police did the initial investigation when CJ went missing. The Kauffman report criticized them harshly for failing to treat the case as a potential homicide, not properly gathering evidence, not properly documenting information. However, it does appear it was that York police initial missing person investigation that captured CH's name and relationship to the family.

However, since they were looking for a missing child and not for a killer, someone like CH, who was either at work or at home with his own children, IMO wouldn't be an immediate focus of investigation.

Then, when CJ's remains were found, Durham police took over the case, and homicide detectives were assigned. IMO, either the files from the York investigation were completely confusing and in disarray, or detectives might have dismissed them because that's the attitude people often take about other people's substandard work. They may have started from scratch, and by then, CH had been forgotten. And anyway, they had no evidence to link someone like CH to the crime. They targeted someone who fit the criminal profile and shaped the evidence to convict him.

The disregard for the useless York police missing person investigation documents may have continued in subsequent case reviews. However, when TPS looked through it for a specific name, that name was in there.

JMO

This case has always been about the perfect storm of mistakes, tunnel vision and bad luck as it has been about finding the killer.

York Police did not have a homicide squad back then. They also had poor record keeping (Kaufman). Durham tried to pin it on GPM. All of this allowed CH to escape justice until now.

York and Durham are not to be blamed for everything here, but they should be blamed for a lot of it.

The only question I have is why Toronto Police were not able to learn about CH earlier. The Jessop's must have mentioned his name at some point.

 

[Satchie]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

1. Heather Hoover was a co-worker and friend of the family, dating back to when they were neighbours. She probably had kids the same age as the Jessop's kids, IMO that, and the work relationship, would explain the neighbourly visits.

CH was an oddball, not very friendly. Heather evidently tolerated him as the husband of her children, but later divorced him.
"From (Heather’s) description, he wasn’t a nice person. He was just a bit of a mean, nasty person. He wasn’t home a lot and spent a lot of time out of the house. He didn’t spend a lot of time with the kids." 'He was a bit of a weirdo': An image of Christine Jessop's killer, Calvin Hoover, takes shape

IMO the connection was between the Jessops, and Heather and her kids, CH was probably just ignored. Therefore they wouldn't connect him with the crime because a) he was Heather's spouse and she was a good friend ergo, he must also be a good friend, and b) he lived fairly far away and was supposed to be at work when the crime occurred.

2. IMO we don't really know the full context of how his name appeared in the file, or what follow-up was done. For example, as has been speculated, Mrs. Jessop may have commented about her husband's work colleagues coming into eg, the basement to take supplies if they were working in the area. Then maybe a lengthy list was compiled of all those colleagues, which included CH's name. But perhaps the list was just used to check for people who were no longer employed, the assumption being they were looking for someone who was holding Christine alive. Perhaps the notes were in some seargeant's notebook, and there were dozens of boxes that were just too disorganized for the newly struck murder investigation to try to wade back through them all.

I think police have long since learned how to better conduct missing children investigations, IMO trying to go back and pin blame on one or other particular police officers' errors is not a worthwhile excercise.

For eg, why aren't there calls to go back and scrutinize every note of every police investigation into the Golden State killer. How could they have missed him, etc, etc for every cold case finally solved through DNA geneology.

 

[MistyWaters]

I think the ultimate good to come from the policework matching DNA to CH, even though he’s dead, is it truly exonerated GPM - finally, beyond any doubt. Even though he was acquitted by the same DNA, I’m sure there were some who still believed he was involved, perhaps along with another individuals as the evidence was made to fit him so well. “Well just because he was found not guilty doesn’t mean he’s innocent”....yada, yada.

GPM was indeed proven innocent.

BBM

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/guy-paul-morin-sister-christine-jessop-1.5765192
“Denise Kowalski says she's ecstatic her mother lived to see her son Guy Paul Morin exonerated — beyond a doubt — by science.

This week, Toronto police informed Morin they believe they have solved the cold, child murder case that ate up a decade of his life after he was wrongly accused and convicted.

"If dad was alive, my gosh, he would be just so, so happy. He knew in his heart his son would have never done that," Kowalski told CBC News on Friday....

......But Kowalski, who lives in Richmond, B.C., says a shadow had always hung over her younger brother because the real killer hadn't been found. ....”