CANADA Canada - Toronto Crimes Discussion

[CrimeSolver]

Thanks for posting that case, which is new to me. The DNA will be able to include or exclude any known suspects. I, too, would be frustrated if I were the family; the OPP seems not very interested in solving this.


As an aside, I should have some new summaries up soon.

 

[CrimeSolver]

Here's a touching video about the Caughlin case: Karen's Story from Rocketship Productions on Vimeo.

 

[dotr]

That really is a very well done video,I thought the narrator was particularly good.I do not imagine that there were/are alot of purple cars ,someone must remember seeing one,who knows, it might be sitting in a junk lot or garage somewhere...

 

[AbbeyR]

http://wn.com/Appeal_For_Info-Murders_of_Dylan_Ellis_+_Oliver_Martin_1800222tips
http://www.thestar.com/article/586999
Just before midnight on June 13, 2008, a gunman opened fire on an SUV sitting in front of a Richmond St. W. condominium.

The shooter approached the vehicle on the driver's side and began to fire. Ellis and Martin, both 25, were killed in a matter of seconds. Martin's girlfriend, who was huddled for cover in the backseat, survived.

Police have not been able to find a motive for the slayings, and say tips have dried up.

I remember these guys. I lived nearby and was shocked by this random and senseless crime. I've always hoped that they would find answers... very sad.

 

[dotr]

http://wn.com/Appeal_For_Info-Murders_of_Dylan_Ellis_+_Oliver_Martin_1800222tips
[/B]I just realized that the anniversary of the brutal ambush of those young men is this forthcoming June 13( 2008).I feel very bad for the families, who 3 years on, have no idea who did this or why.When you see the videos (above link) of the boy's Mothers pleading for help in solving this case, truly one's heart could just break..
They say tips have dried up, but surely someone, knows someone- who knows what happened, I hope they speak up or at least pass the message on..

 

[dotr]

http://yongeandroxborough.blogspot.com/
Monday, June 6, 2011
Memorial gathering for Oliver Martin and Dylan Ellis on Sunday
Alan Dudeck writes:
"Oliver Martin and Dylan Ellis were taken from us on the night of June 12/13 in 2008. This year, to remember “the boys” and share a few moments of reflection, music and very few words, a gathering is set for Sunday, June 12 at 11:30 pm in Ramsden Park (across from Rosedale TTC station) by the bench and tree which friends organized and paid for.
"Altho’ a sad event, it will give us all an opportunity to meet again and remember/celebrate the joyous lives of Dylan and Oliver."

 

[dotr]

The picture in this link, shows the young men smiling and having fun minutes before they are murdered.

Initially, police released a description of a young, black male on a bicycle as a person of interest. Residents who looked down upon the scene from their windows saw this person, but detectives do not know how he fits into the narrative.


“Somebody knows and saw something and why they’re not coming forward and how I can reach them, I don’t know,” said Mr. Martin’s mother, Susan.



Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...hoto-of-their-last-moments.aspx#ixzz1OdRCnf8z
Some interesting comments follow article.

 

[CrimeSolver]

^^The girlfriend in the back seat has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Would she not have seen enough of the shooter to draw up a composite, describe him in more detail, or at least confirm that he was the man seen riding the bicycle?

A little over a month after the Ellis/Martin incident, there was a triple-homicide that also remains unsolved, but it has received almost no attention relative to the aforementioned case. Four men, later reported to have been gang members, were in an SUV westbound on the Gardiner Expwy. On the Brown's Line exit ramp, they were shot at from a passing SUV. The driver, though injured, managed to make his way to Lunness Rd., where he pulled over.
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/homicide/case/90
http://www.thestar.com/videozone/463871--police-looking-for-other-shooting-scene

Here's a quick map I threw together:

 

[AbbeyR]

The picture in this link, shows the young men smiling and having fun minutes before they are murdered.

Initially, police released a description of a young, black male on a bicycle as a person of interest. Residents who looked down upon the scene from their windows saw this person, but detectives do not know how he fits into the narrative.


“Somebody knows and saw something and why they’re not coming forward and how I can reach them, I don’t know,” said Mr. Martin’s mother, Susan.



Read more: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/...hoto-of-their-last-moments.aspx#ixzz1OdRCnf8z
Some interesting comments follow article.

Yes, that Chicago case does sound very similar (the link in the comment no longer works but if you google the cited text articles come up). Since the police seem to have investigated Dylan and Oliver and not found any reason why anyone would target them, it sounds possible that it could have been something totally random like a gang initiation. Only, you don't hear very much about violent gangs in Toronto, other than the odd drug related shooting (which is rarely downtown).

Crimesolver, thanks for that info. I had never heard about that case. My guess about the girlfriend is that she may not have seen the man approaching the window and then once the gunshot went off she likely ducked down and hid during the second shooting? It is odd that he came so close to the car though.

 

[dotr]

I don't recall hearing about the shooting of 3 young men in a SUV, luckily the 4th man survived - which might just be one reason that this case is 'low key," as his life might still be in danger. Gang or not, it is very scary to think that someone could coldbloodedly kill 3 people and just go about living as if that was normal, who knows.. maybe someone pays these people to do these things making it seem justifiable.
By the way Crimesolver, your "quick" map-making skills are awesome!

 

[CrimeSolver]

My guess about the girlfriend is that she may not have seen the man approaching the window and then once the gunshot went off she likely ducked down and hid during the second shooting?

That's true. The event seems to have happened very quickly. A couple of words exchanged, then "bang bang".

I don't recall hearing about the shooting of 3 young men in a SUV, luckily the 4th man survived - which might just be one reason that this case is 'low key," as his life might still be in danger. Gang or not, it is very scary to think that someone could coldbloodedly kill 3 people and just go about living as if that was normal, who knows.. maybe someone pays these people to do these things making it seem justifiable.

Amazes and maddens me, too.:furious: Someone who blew away three human beings is walking the streets a free man...unless he's now behind bars for other crimes.

By the way Crimesolver, your "quick" map-making skills are awesome!

Thanks, but it's really nothing more than Google Maps and MS Paint. Nothing special. Maps and locations fascinate me, especially in relation to crimes. I like to know as much detail as possible.
By the way, my map is a little inaccurate. The driver turned east (left) onto Valermo Dr. and then turned south onto Lunness Rd. and stopped. My map erroneously has him going one street farther south.
I do distinctly remember hearing/reading that the victims were shot on the Browns Line off-ramp and that bullet casings were found at that location, contrary to what it says at the TPS website. This probably occurred a little to the east of the southbound cloverleaf.

 

[dotr]

A followup to previous posts about this case. This was in today's paper.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/a...ill-lacking-motive-suspects-three-years-later
Ellis, who was starting out as a photographer, was the grandson of the late Mariano Antonio Elia, a renowned Toronto philanthropist. Martin had just landed a job in the financial district with Russell Investments.

What makes this case so hard to solve is that detectives are still without a motive for what appeared to be a random killing.

With no motive, police “don’t know what type of person we are dealing with,” Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux said. “The motive is unclear, which is what makes this unique. There was no angry exchange.”

A possible theory is that Ellis may have clipped a cyclist and not known it. In a picture shot from the rear of the SUV by Martin’s girlfriend, both victims are seen laughing a few minutes before the shooting.

 

[dotr]

This just in.
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/pdfs/21209.pdf
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., in the media gallery at headquarters, Detective Ali
Ansari from the Sex Crimes Unit will announce a $50,000 reward for evidence leading to the
identification of a man responsible for two separate sexual assaults in the early 1990s.


Update, includes sketch of suspect.
http://www.680news.com/news/local/a...fered-to-help-solve-two-sex-assaults-from-90s

 

[dotr]

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110614/110614_sexual_assaults/20110614/?hub=CP24Home
" The first sexual assault occurred on Poulette Street, near Dundas Street East and Parliament Street, in November 1993.

A 19-year-old woman was attacked, police said.

In July 1994, a 46-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in a second-floor apartment in the Queen Street West and Bathurst Street area, police said."

"At the time of the attacks, the suspect was described as a white or biracial man who was 18 to 20 years old, had small hands, bushy brown hair, short dreadlocks, a moustache and beard, Ansari said."

He was wearing a multi-coloured kangaroo-style jacket and running shoes, Ansari said.

 

[dotr]

http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110716/110716_Charges_Dropped/20110716/?hub=CP24Home
Sat Jul. 16 2011 2:30:06 PM | The Canadian Press

Murder charges dropped against convicted killer
The bodies of Julianne Middleton, 23, Virginia Coote, 33 and Darlene MacNeill, 35, were found near Toronto's Sunnyside Beach between 1994 and 1997.

The Crown withdrew the charges "because there is no longer any reasonable prospect of conviction," Brendan Crawley, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, wrote in an email.

"I understand the police investigation into the murders is ongoing."

Breese Davies, who has been defending MacDonald in the case, said the Crown's decision shows police never should have charged him in the first place.

 

[dotr]

http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/pdfs/21493.pdf
On Friday, July 15, 2011, the Cold Case Section of the Toronto Police Service Sex Crimes
Unit arrested a man in connection with a series of sexual assaults and other crimes in
Scarborough in June 1993.
In 2003, a joint investigation by the Sex Crimes Unit and Peel Regional Police Service
identified a suspect. Since 2003, attempts to extradite the suspect, incarcerated in the United
States, had been made. In May 2011, an order of extradition was granted.
On Friday, July 15, 2011, Alexander Winston Sylvester, 55, of no fixed address, was charged
with:
1) two counts of Sexual assault with a weapon,
2) Kidnapping,
3) Wearing a disguise with intent,
4) three counts of Forcible confinement,
5) three counts of Robbery,
6) four counts of Threatening death.

 

[CanManEh]

I was watching the news over the weekend and they had arrested someone for basically a B&E but the reason iam mentioning this is i had never heard the charge untill this past weekend of wearing a disguise and then i just seen it again in your last post is this new ,is it just something they throw in to add more charges on top i just found it odd i had never heard of this charge before now iam seeing it alot..

 

[dotr]

Wow, glad our local LE really pushed to get this guy back to Canada to face charges- this is a detailed link, with photo.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/07/18/18436846.html
TORONTO — A man with a criminal record spanning decades is back in Canada awaiting trial for a number of historical sex assault cases, Toronto Police said Monday.
The suspect's alleged Canadian crime spree began in Toronto in 1980 after he arrived as a visitor from Jamaica.

 

[Kimberly B]

Back in 1999, you wrote about Sarah Jean Carlin, details below. Sarah Carlin is my Grandmother and I remember this horrible day like it was yesterday. They have never found her killer and have long since stopped looking for him. (although in my heart, we know who it was beyond a shadow of a doubt). I'm wondering where you found this information as I have not found any other reference to her murder on the net, not even in the York Police Cold Case files. Any details you can provide me for points of reference on this would be appreciated as all I have is the original Toronto Star notice with the sketch of the "person of interest". Thanks in advance. For the record, she did not have a considerable amount of money in her home, it was in fact less than $2,000.00 and was not taken by her murder. The money was in an envelope, in plain site, in her room. Her killer for some reason, did not find this envelope, despite slashing her furniture and literally tearing her house apart.

●Sarah Jean Carlin, 78, was found beaten and strangled in her apartment in a seniors' highrise complex in Newmarket, 50 km north of Toronto, on Saturday, August 14th, 1976. She may have lain semiconscious for several hours before dying of a heart attack due to a blow to the head. The elderly woman, who was hard of hearing and had limited mobility, was found lying on her bedroom floor with her mattress and bed on top of her. She was last seen Friday afternoon at 5:30 by neighbours. Her apartment had been ransacked. She was known to be distrustful of banks, and may have had a considerable amount of money stashed in her abode. Additional info on this murder is very hard to come by.

 

[dotr]

DNA stored in police fridge for 21 years credited with cracking case
http://www.thestar.com/news/article...idge-for-21-years-credited-with-cracking-case
"Peel Const. David Emberlin sent the evidence from the 1981 rape to the Centre of Forensic Sciences for analysis. Science had improved since then and he was curious about what might be found.

Peel police crime analyst Hayley Giles was able to connect the same DNA to a 1982 rape in Peel that Sylvester was convicted of committing.

Giles then sifted through a raft of offenders’ addresses, descriptions and crime patterns until Sylvester surfaced as a “person of interest.”

Had (Emberlin) not done that, we could not have gotten that link with Toronto (sex assaults) from 1993,” Fitzpatrick said.

The connection Giles made was enough for Toronto police to obtain a warrant to take a sample of Sylvester’s DNA while he was in prison in Pennsylvania."