Very lengthy article.
www.thestar.com
By Edward Brown May 12, 2023
''In her early twenties, she connected with the Ontario Provincial Police’s Criminal Investigation Branch, the police authority that continues to investigate Valerie’s homicide. Det. Const. Andy Packer was among the first officers assigned to the case in 1992 and was tremendously supportive, visiting her and sharing details about the investigation.
He let her view her mom’s file, look at photographs, asking if she recognized anyone. Robyn remembers how he explained that investigators were pursuing various leads, including the possibility a migrant worker employed at a local tobacco farm could be responsible for the killing, or that Valerie crossed paths with Alan Craig MacDonald, responsible for the murder of Brampton’s Lynda Shaw in 1990.
(MacDonald had earlier served 12 years in prison for gunning down a police officer and a witness in Nova Scotia. Paroled in 1988, he relocated to a Brantford halfway house and stayed in the community after being granted full parole. MacDonald committed suicide in 1994, years before DNA evidence tied him to Shaw’s death.)
Robyn initiated her own investigation of sorts to help come to terms with her mother’s disappearance. In addition to frequent visits to the local library to, as she puts it, “do extreme research on my mom,” she learned that Valerie had no connection to the community where her remains were found.
Reaching out to friends of her late mother, she says, “I heard from so many people my mom was absolutely beautiful.” She spoke with the acquaintance Valerie intended to meet that fateful night, and the conversation proved enlightening. Robyn informed authorities that the friend claimed to have called the apartment that night, inquiring if Valerie was on her way, yet authorities reported no record of that incoming call.
Eventually, Robyn found the courage to visit the spot near Brantford where her mother’s remains were found. On another occasion, an older cousin who had known her mother accompanied Robyn to Valerie’s childhood home on Wildwood Crescent in east-end Toronto.''
''Age: 19
COD: Not determined
Date last seen: September 9, 1989
Location last seen: Toronto, ON
Date found: October 22, 1992
Location found: Burford, ON
Pregnant 19-year-old Valerie Karen Stevens vanished in the early morning of Saturday, September 9th, 1989 after leaving her 17-month-old daughter in the care of a teenage couple. She left her apartment on Vendome Place to go dancing downtown at the Diamond Club and was never seen alive again. Days later, the police were alerted of her disappearance by the teenage babysitters, who had been taking care of her daughter for four days straight. After her disappearance, Stevens’s welfare cheques went uncashed and her bank account remained untouched.
Stevens’s skeletal remains were found on October 22nd, 1992 in a wooded area near Burford, Ontario, 100 km southwest of Toronto. An autopsy failed to find the cause of death, but all signs led police to suspect murder. They suspect Stevens may have been hitchhiking on Eglinton Ave. E. near her home when she was picked up by her killer.
Valerie Karen Stevens, 19, had asked a teenaged couple to care for her daughter Robyn at her apartment while she went with a girlfriend to a downtown Toronto club, the Diamond Club on Sherbourne St.
Though she didn’t return to the apartment, near Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave., it was four days before the couple took the baby to one of Stevens’ relatives and reported the disappearance.
Her father said his daughter was a month behind in the rent and had a couple of other bills, but nothing major.
Her father did believe his daughter had possibly fallen in with people involved in drugs.
Unable to find Valerie after spending a couple of days contacting various friends and relatives, her father finally went to Toronto Police.
On October 22, 1992, bones were discovered by two hunters walking through some bush on Burford Ontario’s, Fifth Concession. In addition to the bones, investigators found women’s clothing near the site. A pair of black jeans and white lace-up boots (some reports say only one boots was found) were found near the body. Police at the time believed the woman died about three years prior. The skeleton was found buried under leaves 15 meters off the rural road, accessible through a small clearing in the bush.
Investigators then used a technique called anthropometrics, in which a specialist with the Metro Toronto Police created a picture of the woman’s face from the skull.
A day after police released a reconstructed sketch of her she was identified by her relatives as Valerie Stevens. At the time of her death she was four months pregnant.''
Her mother disappeared from Toronto and was murdered 30 years ago. Now her daughter wants to learn why
A 30-year-old murder mystery sits near the heart of Robyn Stevens’ life even now; she still wants answers but ‘I learned to take something good from something horrible.’
''In her early twenties, she connected with the Ontario Provincial Police’s Criminal Investigation Branch, the police authority that continues to investigate Valerie’s homicide. Det. Const. Andy Packer was among the first officers assigned to the case in 1992 and was tremendously supportive, visiting her and sharing details about the investigation.
He let her view her mom’s file, look at photographs, asking if she recognized anyone. Robyn remembers how he explained that investigators were pursuing various leads, including the possibility a migrant worker employed at a local tobacco farm could be responsible for the killing, or that Valerie crossed paths with Alan Craig MacDonald, responsible for the murder of Brampton’s Lynda Shaw in 1990.
(MacDonald had earlier served 12 years in prison for gunning down a police officer and a witness in Nova Scotia. Paroled in 1988, he relocated to a Brantford halfway house and stayed in the community after being granted full parole. MacDonald committed suicide in 1994, years before DNA evidence tied him to Shaw’s death.)
Robyn initiated her own investigation of sorts to help come to terms with her mother’s disappearance. In addition to frequent visits to the local library to, as she puts it, “do extreme research on my mom,” she learned that Valerie had no connection to the community where her remains were found.
Reaching out to friends of her late mother, she says, “I heard from so many people my mom was absolutely beautiful.” She spoke with the acquaintance Valerie intended to meet that fateful night, and the conversation proved enlightening. Robyn informed authorities that the friend claimed to have called the apartment that night, inquiring if Valerie was on her way, yet authorities reported no record of that incoming call.
Eventually, Robyn found the courage to visit the spot near Brantford where her mother’s remains were found. On another occasion, an older cousin who had known her mother accompanied Robyn to Valerie’s childhood home on Wildwood Crescent in east-end Toronto.''
''Age: 19
COD: Not determined
Date last seen: September 9, 1989
Location last seen: Toronto, ON
Date found: October 22, 1992
Location found: Burford, ON
Pregnant 19-year-old Valerie Karen Stevens vanished in the early morning of Saturday, September 9th, 1989 after leaving her 17-month-old daughter in the care of a teenage couple. She left her apartment on Vendome Place to go dancing downtown at the Diamond Club and was never seen alive again. Days later, the police were alerted of her disappearance by the teenage babysitters, who had been taking care of her daughter for four days straight. After her disappearance, Stevens’s welfare cheques went uncashed and her bank account remained untouched.
Stevens’s skeletal remains were found on October 22nd, 1992 in a wooded area near Burford, Ontario, 100 km southwest of Toronto. An autopsy failed to find the cause of death, but all signs led police to suspect murder. They suspect Stevens may have been hitchhiking on Eglinton Ave. E. near her home when she was picked up by her killer.
Valerie Karen Stevens, 19, had asked a teenaged couple to care for her daughter Robyn at her apartment while she went with a girlfriend to a downtown Toronto club, the Diamond Club on Sherbourne St.
Though she didn’t return to the apartment, near Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave., it was four days before the couple took the baby to one of Stevens’ relatives and reported the disappearance.
Her father said his daughter was a month behind in the rent and had a couple of other bills, but nothing major.
Her father did believe his daughter had possibly fallen in with people involved in drugs.
Unable to find Valerie after spending a couple of days contacting various friends and relatives, her father finally went to Toronto Police.
On October 22, 1992, bones were discovered by two hunters walking through some bush on Burford Ontario’s, Fifth Concession. In addition to the bones, investigators found women’s clothing near the site. A pair of black jeans and white lace-up boots (some reports say only one boots was found) were found near the body. Police at the time believed the woman died about three years prior. The skeleton was found buried under leaves 15 meters off the rural road, accessible through a small clearing in the bush.
Investigators then used a technique called anthropometrics, in which a specialist with the Metro Toronto Police created a picture of the woman’s face from the skull.
A day after police released a reconstructed sketch of her she was identified by her relatives as Valerie Stevens. At the time of her death she was four months pregnant.''
