Okay, so I'm trying to put together all the information available into one big piece, in chronological order, in a way that makes sense, and is very informing.
Below is what I have so far, and I will be in the process of updating it with the most recent Star article.
Please let me know if there's anything missing, or something that may have been placed incorrectly.
Thank you.
COLD CASE: #5/1973
The Double Murder of Wendy Ann Tedford and Donna Lee Stearne (1973)
DETAILS OF INVESTIGATION
On the morning of Friday, April 27th, 1973, at about 8:40 a.m., the bodies of two females were discovered by 18-year-old Tony Iscaro. Tony Iscaro of Deverell Cres., was a Grade 10 student at Downsview Secondary School, and found the bodies in a Downsview field while taking a short cut on his way to school. The vacant field, described as rubble-strewn, where a cement plant once stood, was located south of Wilson Avenue, near Keele Street. Iscaro spotted the victims, Wendy face down, and Donna on her back, lying side by side, near a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, by a row of trees that screened the backyards of homes on Winston Park Boulevard. They were both fully clothed. “I didn’t even take a good look” he said in an interview conducted at school later that same day, “I took off – I was scared stiff.” Iscaro ran to a nearby KVN Concrete Asphalt plant, where George Melo, a 34-year-old truck driver at the plant, went to look for himself and then notified police. “One had blood on her hand and the hand was in a clawing position,” Melo said. “I felt really bad because they were such young kids.”
The two females were identified as 17-year-olds Donna Lee Stearne of Gosford Boulevard., and Wendy Tedford of Falstaff Avenue. Donna's father said he wasn’t aware his daughter was dead until about 3:00 p.m. while he was at work when fellow employees told him of the discovery of the bodies of two unidentified girls. Checks at the Tedford apartment and at school revealed that Donna and Wendy were unaccounted for. “We hoped our fears were groundless, but they turned out to be true,” Jack said.
With no leads, and no motives, Deputy Chief Bernard Simmonds issued a request for the public’s assistance.
An autopsy was performed by Dr. Hans Sepp shortly after the bodies were discovered, which indicated Donna died of a single gunshot in the back of the head, and Wendy had been shot twice through the neck. Both had been killed by a .38 calibre Colt revolver. The bodies were fully clothed and had not been sexually molested.
According to Donna’s father, Jack Stearne, “Donna left the house about 7 p.m. (Thursday) with her schoolbooks to go to Wendy’s home, go shopping and stay the night at Wendy’s place.” Their townhouse was located on Highway 400 and Finch Avenue. Her father stated “she went upstairs to kiss her mother goodbye and she kissed me too, when she came down.” Donna’s mother, Joan Stearne, said her daughter “didn’t kiss us every time she went out, but she was a loving daughter and that time is something for us to remember.”
Donna arrived at Wendy’s apartment where she lived with her elder sister Shirley, and Shirley’s 4-year-old son, located on Falstaff Avenue, and the two left at approximately 7:30 p.m. for Yorkdale Shopping Centre, two miles to the east. The scene of the shooting is about midway between Wendy’s apartment and Yorkdale Shopping Centre; about a mile from both. Shirley said Donna was going to spend the night at Wendy’s, as she had done in the past.
The two were last seen a few blocks away from the murder scene drinking a couple of cokes in the Sit ‘n’ Eat restaurant, a local Keele Street hangout, about nine hours before their bodies were discovered. 18-year-old Michael Armstrong of Sunray Crescent, a Grade 12 student who went to Downsview Secondary School with Donna, called police after seeing pictures of the slain girls in The Star. He stated he saw the girls in the Sit ‘N’ Eat at about 10:35 p.m. when he went in to buy two take-out coffees. “They were sitting right there and I said hello to them,” recalled Armstrong. “I knew Wendy fairly well, but I just knew Wendy to say hi to.” Armstrong said he left after a few minutes to take the coffee to his brother Donald who was working in a nearby Becker’s Milk Store. “I stood around outside the milk store drinking my coffee and talking to friends. Then I went back toward the restaurant and looked in and both girls were gone. That was about five minutes later.” He said he could not recall seeing the girls leave or standing at the bus stop, nor could he recall seeing any strange cars on the parking lot. “I don’t think they went out hitchhiking,” he says. “If they did, they got a ride pretty fast.” He said it was the first time he had seen the two together in the restaurant in a long while. “They used to hang around here about a year ago.” He said the restaurant “used to be a hangout, but it is not as bad as it used to be. There was a lot of drug action, but they cleaned that up about a year ago.” “They were pretty quiet really,” he said. “They would never say hi to me unless I said hi to them. Donna would blush in school if I said hello to her in the halls.”
Police investigators are still pondering why they went to the Sit ‘n’ Eat on north Keele Street instead of going directly home along Lawrence Avenue.
According to Homicide Inspector James Noble, “the two were given to hitchhiking,” and he issued a public appeal for anyone who may have seen the two young girls either hitchhiking or getting into a car. “To be honest with you, Donna did do some hitchhiking,” said her father. “But I used to point out to her articles in the paper about girls who got hurt hitchhiking. So she stopped a couple of months ago – on her own; she had a couple of bad experiences and didn’t like it a bit.” It is not known for sure that the girls did hitchhike that night. Armstrong told the police that the girls often would hitch rides at the bus stop opposite of the Sit ‘N’ Eat restaurant at Keele Street and Keelate Drive. “If the bus came first, they would take it, but they would take the ride if it came first,” he told The Star.
Michael Giugias, who took over the restaurant in January, said he knew Donna by sight, but was unable to recognize Wendy’s picture. He said he told police he did not see either girl there that night. “It was very busy and we would not notice,” he said.
Noble stated a female friend – whose name he refused to release – told police she saw the girls board a Keele Street bus at 10:45 p.m., which conflicts with Armstrong’s account that he saw them at the same time in the restaurant. “It doesn’t work out,” Armstrong said. “I saw them here and they were already eating, so they must have been here fifteen minutes anyway. How can they be two places at once?”
A neighbour, Ann Curley, said she heard what sounded like dull thuds at about 11:00 p.m. – “like something hitting the ground,” she said. She didn’t pay any attention because they are used to hearing noises from the nearby MacDonald-Cartier Highway. “I know school kids use the field for a shortcut and that cars are always going up and down there. My son Jimmie said the gate has been open for quite a while.” The field can also be reached by walking along an old CNR railway spur below Wilson Avenue which abuts a few other lovers’ lanes. Fred Faion, 50, who lives where Floral Parkway ends at the spur, says young people used to park there about a year ago, but police now keep them on the move.
The family of Solomon Korenblum, whose Winston Park Boulervard house backs on the field where the bodies were found, told police they thought they heard four shots at about midnight, but they were unsure of what the sounds were. Heather Korenblum, 17, told her parents at the breakfast table the following morning that she had heard some “loud bangs” about midnight. The gunshots were what neighbours then thought to be a car backfiring.
On April 30th, 1973, the Metro Police Commission posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the killer.
A funeral service for the girls was held on Tuesday, May 1st, 1973, at the Peoples Church on Sheppard Avenue, North York. Reverend Elmer S. McVety estimated early 1,000 people attended the service. Gerard Leroux, 42, whose 16-year-old daughter Yvonne Leroux was found raped and shot to death on a back road in York Borough last November, came to the funeral to tell both families that “I know what it’s like. I want them to know that life does go on, and that it’s easier with time. I know what the families going through.”
On May 3rd, 1973, a week after the murders, began a police spot check of late night motorists on Wilson Avenue. “The spot check was set up in the hope of finding witnesses who could shed some light on the case,” said Detective Sergeant Walter Tyrell of the homicide squad. Inspector James Noble, head of the homicide squad, said a round-the-clock team is “still grinding out the investigation, following our leads and others phoned by the public.” Police were not “zeroing in on any specific area, including drugs,” said Noble. “There are so many facets this time.” Joan Stearne denied last night that her daughter smoked marijuana. Yesterday Linda Harris, sister of Wendy Tedford, claimed both girls frequently used the drug and left home to look for some that night. Mrs. Stearne said her daughter must have known people involved with drugs “as any teenager going to school these days would,” but “as far as I’m concerned my daughter was not a drug user.” She described Donna as “a Christian, church-going, good girl.” Mrs. Stearne claimed police have failed to make any connection between drugs and Donna’s murder. “We’re very pleased with the way the police are investigating this and we’re co-operating with them fully. We’re racking our brains to come up with anything that might be significant.” For the past three months Donna has worked after school until 9:00 p.m. when she was picked up and driven home, her mother said, so she doubted Donna had the time to get involved in the drug scene.
On Monday, June 4th, 1973, the Metro police now suspect the girls were killed by a madman who might strike again. S. Insp. Jim Crawford head of Metro’s homicide squad had said “It was initially felt that the murders were drug related.' Again, police have appealed to the public for any possible clues to the slayings. “It is a complete puzzle to us, a senseless killing,” said Sergeant Jack Evans, acting head of the homicide squad. “We are certain the girls were killed for no reason.” One theory is that the killer might have been so deranged that he mistook the girls for two other people he hated. Detective Sergeant Wally Tyrrell, in charge of the case, said police have no solid leads after interviewing over 500 people. The girls are believed to have been driven to the field, forced to stand side by side, then shot with a gun inches from their head. Police said they are not ruling out the possibility of a relationship between these cold-blooded murders and that five months ago in North York of 16-year-old Yvonne Leroux who had left a drug centre called the Clinic and planned to hitchhike.
WHO WERE THEY?
The girls had been close friends since they met four years ago while attending C. W. Jeffrey’s Secondary School. Both their fathers were in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Wendy’s brother, Doug Tedford said the girls spent so much time together that Donna was “just like one of the family.” Wendy's mother stated the two spent a lot of time together. They were close in life, and in death.
DONNA LEE STEARNE
Donna Lee Stearne was a Grade 12 student at Downsview Secondary School. She lived at home with her parents Jack Stearne, and Joan Stearne, her brother John Stearne, 19, who was attending York University, and her two younger sisters Alanna, 13, and Janine, 10. According to her father, Donna wanted to become a Veterinarian. “She was crazy about them and always wanted to work with them” he said. She was looking forward to a summer job she had applied to as a counsellor at a children’s summer camp operated by the Peoples Church in which she was baptized three years ago. Her father described Donna as “the religious one in the house. The rest of us didn’t have any regular church connection.” Joyce Hall, who taught Donna in Sunday school three years ago, recalled her as “a pretty young thing, a nice girl... she didn’t stand out. She was just a pleasant, pretty young girl.” Her father was served in the Canadian Armed Forces, and retired last year. He is now a records supervisor at Spar Aerospace Products Ltd., located on Caledon Road. Donna was born in Owen Sound, and in the course of her father’s postings, had lived in West Germany, Edmonton, and Downsview. Jack states “Donna loved to paint Canadian scenes, and was doing one for her mother – a bridge at dusk – it’s not finished.” She belonged to the church choir, and practiced with them most Sundays for about a year. She had been working after school for the past three months until 9:00 p.m. According to her mother, Donna had no boyfriends, and was mostly interested in school, painting, and church.
WENDY ANN TEDFORD
Wendy Ann Tedford dropped out of school two years prior to her death after the death of her father who died of cancer. She moved out from the Sheppard Avenue apartment where she lived with her widowed mother, and into the rented Falstaff Avenue apartment of her elder sister Shirley, and Shirley’s 4-year-old son. Three months prior to her death, she went to work in the business office of the Towers Department Store Ltd. on Orfus Road. Like Donna, Wendy also loved to paint. According to her four brothers and sisters and widowed mother, Wendy, the shy one of the family, was happiest when she was dabbling in oils or putting together model cars. She had been talking a lot about getting married after her 18th birthday on May 12th. It was payday for Wendy the day she was discovered.
