GUILTY Canada - Tess Richey, 22, Toronto, 25 Nov 2017 *Arrest*

[Jackeee]

I sincerely doubt the alleyway was picked out in advance. According to this article, there are up to 5 security cameras all within 20 metres of where Tess was found.* And according to the police press conference, police literally have video of him leading Tess down the alleyway and exiting alone.* If this guy scouted out the location in advance he would have seen the cameras:

http://torontosun.com/news/local-ne...-where-slain-woman-tess-richey-was-discovered

With respect to the sighting you were referring to, I think this might be the one:

https://twitter.com/butilovememore/status/940247453378457600

"He watched us from across the street, then approached.* Opened a cab door to us, and asked if we wanted to go to El Convento Rico. He was alone. Weird vibe."

She says she reported this info to Crime Stoppers.*

You’re right the timing is weird though. Tess was murdered in the early morning of November 25th.* The body was found on the 29th and it was ruled on homicide on December 1st. Police released the suspects photo on Sunday December 10th.* This girl posted on December 11th claiming she saw him “last Saturday” which would be December 2nd? The only way this sighting makes sense is if she was confused with the timing and was actually referring to a week earlier (November 25th). How stupid would the suspect have to be to approach women outside the bar linked to the Tess Richey murder, a day after it was ruled a homicide (on December 2nd)?

IF this was an authentic sighting of the suspect on November 25th – a big IF - you have to ask is why El Convento Rico?* Youre at Church and Wellesley and you want to go to College West?* There are a lot of great bars closer to the area they were in. It could be that its the suspects favourite bar.* In which case the staff there could easily recognize him. More probable, that location was preferred because he lives in that area or at least was staying nearby that night.* El Convento Rico is likely a convenient pit-stop before "going back to his place". He might even live within walking distance of there.

IF it was an authentic sighting it also means the suspect was clearly desperate to pick up.* He was approaching multiple groups of people, ALONE and OUTSIDE Crews and Tango.* This guy must have heard Crews and Tango was a good place to pick-up or maybe he is specifically into Trans girls?* Crews is a drag bar and i believe Tess's friend is Transgender.

If he is trying to pick up girls outside bars by himself, then he most likely tries to pick-up online as well.* He most likely has or had a presence on Tinder, Grindr, Craigslist, Adult Friend Finder and whatever other apps or websites people use for one-night stands – maybe ones specifically for transgender people if that is what he is into?

He most definitely would get spooked when his photo appeared in the media.* I would imagine he would try to delete at least some of his online presence.* According to this article Facebook shares user’s information with the police 80% of the time even without a warrant.

https://www.techworld.com/social-me...ith-police-80-of-time-warrant-or-not-3658735/

I’m sure in murder investigations, with a warrant, its 100% of the time. The Police could probably get a list of users on pick-up sites/apps in the Toronto area that deleted their account profiles since the murder. And another list of males of a certain range that were targeting/filtering for transgender girls online. You could end up with a big list – but you could start mining it for males in a certain age range, paired with other information. Nothing is truly ever deleted so Im sure user profile photos could be recovered as well. They could also try to match up IP addresses connected to user profiles with street addresses near certain areas like El Convento Rico and Church and Wellesley.

The more I think about how sloppy this guy was the more toast I think he is.* He was caught on camera all but committing the act and his face pic is currently circulating in the media and online. God knows how many other cameras picked him up that night. With the technology available today, he is toast. If he has any intelligence at all he would lawyer up and turn himself in because the justice system will treat him more favourably that way.

Im not able to bold, but about half way down, you say you believe Tess’s friend is transgender. Where did that come from? I don’t recall reading that before?

 

[Eikon1990]

Im not able to bold, but about half way down, you say you believe Tess’s friend is transgender. Where did that come from? I don’t recall reading that before?

I don’t know for sure.* But her name is quoted in the media in a few places including here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tess-richey-found-1.4426053

And if you look her up on facebook you will see some posts about Tess but if you go further down in her post history she seems to make some obvious references to being Trans. I don’t know if the police are looking at that angle or not, but its possible the suspect was preying on Tess friend initially and trans people in general, if he is hanging outside Crews and Tango and approaching random people who come out of there (like that one suspected sighting seemed to suggest). It's a drag bar.

 

[Grey-St]

Im not able to bold, but about half way down, you say you believe Tess’s friend is transgender. Where did that come from? I don’t recall reading that before?

I tracked her down on Facebook. I'm not sure what the relevance is, but it's true.

 

[Snoopster]

It's so disappointing that no one has identified this guy yet. (at least as far as we know)

We need more publicity around his photo/image!

I hang around twitter and check news headlines but hadn't seen these images. I'm admittedly not in Toronto, but everyone in southern Ontario should have seen this by now.

 

[Grey-St]

Is it possible that LE is refraining from circulating the images, and asking the family to hold back as well, to give the suspect the impression he's in the clear? In hopes that he may return to the area, and possible sightings may occur?

 

[Jackeee]

I tracked her down on Facebook. I'm not sure what the relevance is, but it's true.

I’m not sure of the relevance either. I just wondered why it was brought up.

 

[Eikon1990]

I’m not sure of the relevance either. I just wondered why it was brought up.

You dont think the fact that the SUSPECT was picking up girls in the Church and Wellesley area outside a drag bar and that Tess was in the company of a transgender person MIGHT be relevant in identifying the profile/habits/preferences of the SUSPECT? Did I miss something?

 

[Grey-St]

You dont think the fact that the SUSPECT was picking up girls in the Church and Wellesley area outside a drag bar and that Tess was in the company of a transgender person MIGHT be relevant in identifying the profile/habits/preferences of the SUSPECT? Did I miss something?

I understand the significance of the area where he may have been targeting folks.
But Tess Richey was killed, not her friend.

 

[Eikon1990]

Is it possible that LE is refraining from circulating the images, and asking the family to hold back as well, to give the suspect the impression he's in the clear? In hopes that he may return to the area, and possible sightings may occur?

In their press conference, the police all but told the suspect that they had him on camera committing the act.* And then released a face pic.* Unless the suspect happens to be mentally retarded he doesn’t feel he’s “in the clear”.

But the fact not enough people are seeing the pic IS distressing. CP24 should have this guys pic on loop every hour until he is caught. And more footage showing how the suspect walks and holds himself should also be released.

And Tess’s family should consider Crowdfunding for a reward on this guys head and an improved social media campaign.* Have volunteers and minimum-wage staff go to every trendy bar, university campus and mall in the GTA and tell the story to anyone who will listen and convince people to re-post this guys image on their social media on the spot right-then and there. And commit them to convince at least one other person they know to do the same. The exponential effect of that would kick in pretty quickly. Im not sure how much $ you would need to raise for something like that. But it’s stupid that in 2017 that we have a suspects face pic linked to a horrific crime and there are a lot of people in the city that haven’t seen it or even heard about the case at all.

 

[LushGerbil]

It's so disappointing that no one has identified this guy yet. (at least as far as we know)

We need more publicity around his photo/image!

I hang around twitter and check news headlines but hadn't seen these images. I'm admittedly not in Toronto, but everyone in southern Ontario should have seen this by now.

I agree. I've been trying to post a full write-up with the images in GTA city subreddits. So far I've posted it in Brampton and Mississauga.

If anybody has suggestions for where I should post it next, please let me know and I'll try to hit up as many as I can.

I've also posted it to the U of T subreddit and got it pinned as an announcement on the Ryerson subreddit, as it seems likely to me that this guy would have been interacting with students in the area if he's approached multiple people.

 

[lcid]

Maybe I can shed some light on the relevance here of the location he chose. It is no secret that queer-friendly spaces, especially drag bars, bring out the straight or bisexual women in crowds who have come to hang out with and support their friends, sometimes even perform, just have a drink and, you know, relax and enjoy their community. Over the years in MANY different queer spaces in multiple countries I have noticed a phenomenon - straight men picking up on the fact that there will be a number of women around who are "available" to straight men (whether bi or straight themselves) and coming into these spaces with the express purpose of picking up women where there is less perceived competition. I spoke to my ex girlfriend who still spends a lot of time in the Village and she says that there is a rule amongst her group of friends - if a man approaches and he is not known to anyone in their group, he is to be avoided. Period. This is because this behaviour from men who have no business being in the area or at these bars and clubs has been noted as annoying and predatory.

I don't know whether it matters that Tess' friend is trans, but I think it matters that he may have been seen again the following week, alone, trying to interact with random women he didn't know, after a fun night out. I think that if he were going after trans women, he would have gone after Tess' friend. I think that what we have here instead is a case of a man realizing the feeling of safety many young women feel they have in queer spaces that is actually a little bit naive. I'll say I had that feeling myself as a younger woman and I grew up to realize that it is not the case - and it's not even just predatory straight men who are responsible for this... we have to remember that Toronto is a major city and there are bad people in every nook and cranny of it.

Just my two cents. I have a lot of feelings about the behaviour of straight men in queer spaces. I have seen them ruin safe havens in their pursuit of women - but usually not for something this sinister. This is the perspective from which I've been viewing this.

 

[LushGerbil]

Maybe I can shed some light on the relevance here of the location he chose. It is no secret that queer-friendly spaces, especially drag bars, bring out the straight or bisexual women in crowds who have come to hang out with and support their friends, sometimes even perform, just have a drink and, you know, relax and enjoy their community. Over the years in MANY different queer spaces in multiple countries I have noticed a phenomenon - straight men picking up on the fact that there will be a number of women around who are "available" to straight men (whether bi or straight themselves) and coming into these spaces with the express purpose of picking up women where there is less perceived competition. I spoke to my ex girlfriend who still spends a lot of time in the Village and she says that there is a rule amongst her group of friends - if a man approaches and he is not known to anyone in their group, he is to be avoided. Period. This is because this behaviour from men who have no business being in the area or at these bars and clubs has been noted as annoying and predatory.

I don't know whether it matters that Tess' friend is trans, but I think it matters that he may have been seen again the following week, alone, trying to interact with random women he didn't know, after a fun night out. I think that if he were going after trans women, he would have gone after Tess' friend. I think that what we have here instead is a case of a man realizing the feeling of safety many young women feel they have in queer spaces that is actually a little bit naive. I'll say I had that feeling myself as a younger woman and I grew up to realize that it is not the case - and it's not even just predatory straight men who are responsible for this... we have to remember that Toronto is a major city and there are bad people in every nook and cranny of it.

Just my two cents. I have a lot of feelings about the behaviour of straight men in queer spaces. I have seen them ruin safe havens in their pursuit of women - but usually not for something this sinister. This is the perspective from which I've been viewing this.

This was my take on it too. It's a place where straight/bisexual women would be together, drinking, with their guards down, and potentially going home/breaking off alone at some point without male accompaniment.

My girlfriend (I'm a cishet dude whereas she's a queer woman, so I get a lot of my perspective on this from her) has talked about being creeped on by straight dudes in the Village more and more in the past several years. So I agree that if that was what this guy's modus operandi was, it's just a more sinister extreme of a common thing.

I wonder whether Tess is the first woman this guy tried this on or just the first success. It seems like there should be other people, from past nights out in the area, who'd remember being approached if he was doing this, but it's also possible the experience is so common and that he's so unremarkable that you wouldn't register it as notable or connect him to this.

Since we're on a new page, I'm going to post the suspect images again in order to keep them accessible if anyone new is visiting these pages for information.

 

[LushGerbil]

If you're in the Village community, there's apparently a vigil and fundraiser tonight at Buddies for both Tess Richey and Alloura Wells:

https://twitter.com/Xtra_TO/status/946779595260305408

 

[Wendy101]

maybe he is an illegal immigrant? Still someone should be able recognize him ..

 

[Eikon1990]

<modsnip> Canada doesnt have a huge illegal immigrant problem. In a population of over 35 million there's an estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants. 0.28% of the population. In a case like that this im sure police play the probabilities. Im sure they use homicide statistics just like insurance companies use actuarial tables. While he could be from out of town its more probable he is local. And given the length of time he was talking to the other 3 people in the company of Tess that night - im sure something would be remembered from the conversation that would point one way or the other. lcid and LushGerbil are right that this guy is most probably straight and was looking to pick up straight girls in the village. Its possible he is into trans females or is bisexual, but probability wise we're looking for a straight local white male - maybe age 20-35? (Im terrible at estimating ages) The longer he goes unidentified, maybe you start to suspect he wasnt local for very long and hadnt built up a large social network. But the straight local white male age 20--35 is way more probable, then the possibilities that this guy was an illegal immigrant, came off a boat, drove into Toronto just for the weekend ect. Their all possibilities just less probable.

I dont know what other probable judgments you can make about the guy? Job wise would it be fair to say he is unlikely to be interacting with the public and if he was he may have quit? And if he is a student we might see poor attendance or drop-out? We should be most interested in what the guys next probable steps would be. What are the probable behaviours/actions of someone being sought for murder when their face pic is circulating in the media?

Also I know toronto police are overworked. Someone earlier in the thread posted a article about how overstretched they are. And i know they dont have all the technology you see in the movies available to them. And its super unfair to assume they have access to infinite resources. I just wish that IBM's Watson could be brought in lol. Or some kind of Big Data technology paired with some really good facial recognition software. If you look at some demographics of toronto there are 2.8 million people total, roughly 20% males between 20-35, and roughly 47% white. So thats a list of roughly 230,000 names. I bet if you gave Watson the drivers licence/health card pics of those people along with the suspects face pic Watson would spit out like a list of a few hundred possible matches that could be further refined/filtered and you could get down to a manageable list of potentials pretty quickly. Again I know thats fantasy land and the movies make it look easy but i do think there is technology available capable of that.

 

[LushGerbil]

He looks pretty young to me. I wouldn't say over 30. It's definitely possible he could have been a student or something who'd just moved to the area for school in September. In that case, he may have few existing social connections here. He could also be living off either OSAP or a parent's largesse rather than working, further limiting how much he interacted with people.

If your theory about him living in Little Italy near El Convento Rico were correct, that would make a lot of sense as a place for a student of U of T or even Ryerson to live. But in general, The Village is a haunt for a lot of students on weekends.

IF this all were the case, I imagine his next move might be to stop going to class, make some changes to his appearance (grow out facial hair? shave head? start wearing glasses?) and pull a Christmas drop-out, returning to wherever he originally came from.

 

[Eikon1990]

No matter how drunk Tess’s friend and the other 2 people in the group were they would have been able to pick up on whether the suspect had a foreign accent or not.* Especially a Chechen accent. It’s not exactly subtle. It would almost be easier if the suspect was a foreigner.* It would take all of 2 minutes to rule out those 22 Chechens by looking at their passport photos.* And the number of foreigners here visiting or on a working visa would be a known number.* A way more manageable number than every young white Canadian male.* And their passport photos would all be available.*

 

[dotr]

No matter how drunk Tess&#8217;s friend and the other 2 people in the group were they would have been able to pick up on whether the suspect had a foreign accent or not.* Especially a Chechen accent. It&#8217;s not exactly subtle. It would almost be easier if the suspect was a foreigner.* It would take all of 2 minutes to rule out those 22 Chechens by looking at their passport photos.* And the number of foreigners here visiting or on a working visa would be a known number.* A way more manageable number than every young white Canadian male.* And their passport photos would all be available.*

Just to clarify, not suggesting any of those Chechens were involved with this, just posted that link to support a poster's assertion that asylum seekers might visit the area.

 

[dotr]

Dec 30 2017
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/violent-crime-down-for-2017-1.4467992

The year-end stats accompany a barrage of high-profile unsolved deaths in the city in recent months, including the murder of Tess Richey and the suspicious deaths of Barry and Honey Sherman

.

Last month, the body of 22-year-old Tess Richey was found in the Church-Wellesley neighbourhood. Her family says her body was discovered by her mother just steps from where she was last seen.
Richey had been out with an old high school friend who last saw her early Saturday morning. She was found dead one day before what would have been her 23rd birthday.

Police say they believe Richey was in the company of an "unknown" male when her friend left the area. Investigators are still looking to identify the male

.

Richey's death echoed a number of other chilling incidents to hit the area in 2017, including the discovery of Alloura Wells's body, found in a nearby park in August, and a number of people reported missing.
Toronto's most recent suspicious death case involving billionaire couple Barry and Honey Sherman, who were found dead by strangulation in their home, still has investigators stumped.

"These crimes are solved by community. They're not solved by police," he said, pointing to the reliance of investigators on witnesses willing to take an oath and give statements.
"We can bang on doors all day but you get a lot more done when people are willing to come to you."

 

[Tricia]

Please keep on topic!

NO MORE POLITICAL POSTS!

It's the new year please be kind to the moderators.

Thank you,
Tricia