CANADA Canada - Donna Stearne & Wendy Tedford, both 17, Toronto, 26 Apr 1973

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Your right in thinking the police would have investigated this angle CrimeSolver, but since we don't know what they investigated and since it's still unsolved, it naturally raises doubts. I was thinking the same thing when you say that perhaps the girls met this person at the diner, I'm thinking this meeting was prearranged, hence only the cokes and short window as reported by the eye witness, a few minutes. I think the location must have been convenient to both the girls and whom ever they were meeting. That's why I naturally thought about a transportation company, convenient time, location, movement of the weapon, ... maybe.
In a nut shell, I think this person was known to them, the place and time was prearranged, some type of sexual activity took place by someone, hence the semen and possibly the vacant field location. Then something went horribly wrong with lives taken and families shattered.
 
Well, one of the witness-statement discrepancies we've discussed here is whether or not they ate burgers at the diner as well as drinking sodas. According to dxman, their stomach contents revealed burgers and fries eaten shortly before their deaths, and one of the witnesses - I believe a Michael Something-or-other, who was standing across the street - saw them eating, whereas the diner employees swore they consumed only Cokes.

My gut feeling is that there was no prearranged meeting and that their killer was a stranger, but that's just pure empirical conjecture on my part. What lends credence to the prearranged meeting theory is that the girls went to the diner at all. It was out of their way to go there if the plan was for Donna to sleep over at Wendy's apartment south of 401 (or was it Wendy sleeping over at Donna's apartment? I don't remember and it's irrelevant.).
 
SamIam - A very insightful and excellent observation on the connection between the truck loading dock, Sitn'Eat, and the terminal and Windsor. I would have never thunk it.

CS - you said "I would imagine police investigated that angle, unless they were too fixated on the drug dealer theory."...... Would it be unreasonable to say that a trucker could be a drug dealer as well? Very conducive for the distribution/selling of drugs across southern Ontario, never in one place, therefore hard to track, etc?
 
DX - The transportation company angle was something that's been nagging at me since reading about this case. I know that it seems obvious and I do hope the police did investigate this angle thoroughly. I can hear them asking, "Did by chance any of your drivers NOT show up for work or call in sick today?"

CS - I do now remember the discrepancies you mention, I'm still thinking it's feasible that it could have been a prearranged meeting Maybe Wendy found the person she was looking for, the one she wanted to invite to her sisters party.
 
Afraid not. None that I have heard. I emailed Toronto Police a couple of months ago with SamIam's info re: Apex Trucking (see above), but, as per standard operating procedure for that outfit, didn't get the courtesy of even a form reply. Waste of time trying to deal with these people.
 
37th Anniversary is today.

Prayers for Wendy, Donna and their families.
 
I've just become aware Wendy and Donna's tragedy. I've read most of these excellent posts as well as your links. Knowing so little, I just had a couple of "newcomer ideas":

1. I was in college around that time and a lot of activity revolved around concerts. So I just began to check online to see what groups might have been touring at that time --- all through the area and down into Buffalo, etc. The dates need to be checked out more specifically and correlated with the timeline, but I think bands like the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, etc. were not far from Toronto in April 1973. Johnny Winter was in Toronto and Detroit right around those days. I wonder if a couple of guys said they had tickets and a place to crash after a concert used that as a lure?

2. If the male outdoor witness didn't see Donna and Wendy leave, I wonder if they went through the kitchen where they knew someone, stopped, hung out and talked with them, and were given a hamburg and fries before they left? Or maybe as someone posted, they took the food out to eat on a loading dock? I don't know --- the witnesses statements differ.

3. Shot in the back by a fence sadly makes me think they were running from someone and were blocked and couldn't run any further. I know it was a school night but maybe they were planning to go see an out-of-town band the next night, skipping work and school the next day and returning over the weekend? Did the perp or perps misunderstand the girls' intention to just go to a concert (with no physical contact), and react violently to what was perceived as withholding or teasing?

4. I saw this happen in college: If Wendy and Donna were sharing a joint in the car (to sample the quality before buying) did they accept some without paying (in cash or whatever way the perps expected) without realizing how these monsters would react?

Lower-level sellers of pot in general seemed pretty mellow in those days, so if it was related to grass, I would guess they were referred to a higher level person(s) or a real sociopath. In either case, I doubt this would be an isolated case.

Please bear with this speculating. Donna and Wendy did nothing different than any of us did in 1973 as teens, but it seems they ran into a monster. Having a gun from Windsor that was handed around, travelled a 4-hour distance, and wound up back in Windsor doesn't sound like something a fellow student would wind up possessing... JMO
 
CS: Thanks for the head up. That's what I figured. We've covered quite a bit on this forum. Chances are, the author got information from the info/ exchanges made herein. Hope all is well.

Poobah: Prayers are continuing for them.
 
dxman said:
CS: Thanks for the head up. That's what I figured. We've covered quite a bit on this forum. Chances are, the author got information from the info/ exchanges made herein. Hope all is well.
Click to expand...
Could be. We have covered a lot of ground. I don't remember all the details. Alas, nothing has led to a solution. Hope all is well with you, too.:)
 
CrimeSolver said:
I bought that a couple of months ago. Nothing in it that we don't know already.
Click to expand...

This book was just released in June of this year. I would encourage the public read it as well as this forum.
 
Patience said:
This book was just released in June of this year. I would encourage the public read it as well as this forum.
Click to expand...
I preordered it at Amazon and then devoured it pretty quickly. Sadly, most of the cases are well-known, the write-ups don't contain any surprises, and there aren't even any pictures. What's a true crime book without pictures?
Still, it's worth getting, for those so inclined.
 
Back after two years and sadly still unsolved for the families.
 
Thanks for the pics, SamIAm. I actually had no idea the burger joint still existed, though its name has changed and I'm sure it's under different ownership.

I'm not sure where exactly along the fence line the girls' bodies were found, but somewhere in the general area of your shots. Of course, the parking lot and businesses there did not exist in '73. It was an empty lot.
It remains a pretty bleak part of the city (because of the industry and railroad tracks), although the adjacent residential neighbourhoods are perfectly nice and safe.
 
Thanks CrimeSolver, wanted to document some of these places before there gone. I did not know there was a billiards "Good Boy Billiards" with "Sit & Eat". Seems they shared the same parking at some point, not sure if the billiards was there back then. Also here's another bit of coincident I think, there was a small take out only resturant in a strip mall at the corner of Jane and Sheppard called "Take & Eat". It was know for it's great burgers and fries. It was popular with the local Police since it was right across the street from the then, 31 division police station. I remember it closing and hearing that the owner was moving to the Keele Sheppard area to open a burger joint with sitting, "Sit & Eat"? I always connected the two but never really knew for sure. Small world if they are connected and smaller still when you think that the family members back then would have been asked to come into the police station for questions and an update. I believe that station would have been the 31 division. Just came across this, you might find it interesting, http://www.31divalumni.com/History.html
 
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