CANADA Canada - Cassandra Do ''Tula", 32, sex assaulted/strangled, Toronto(The Village), 25 Aug 2003 *DNA*

[dotr]

Toronto Police Service
October 3, 2003
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/pdfs/4523.pdf
rbbm.
''On Monday August 25th, 2003 at approximately 10:30 PM the lifeless body of Ms. Cassandra Do was located in her apartment at 60 Gloucester Street in Toronto.
As a result of the continuing investigation, forensic information has been received by the investigators.
DNA that had been discovered at the scene of the murder has been linked via the National DNA Databank, to DNA found at a sexual assault case that occurred in Toronto in 1997.
That sexual assault case involved a female sex trade worker. The victim of that occurrence supplied a description of her attacker at the time of the offence.
Based on that description, the investigators wish to advise members of the public, particularly sex trade workers, of the following description;
Male black, 30 to 40 years of age, approximately 6’3”, heavy build, over 230 pounds and may wear glasses.
In 1997 the male was described as having a muscular build and close shaved hair and no facial hair.
The investigators are hoping to speak with any person that may have information on this suspect or any other information that may assist the investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Homicide Squad investigators D/S Craig Sanson at 416-808-7414 or Det. Steve Bell at 416-808-7403.
Information can also be provided anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at (416)222-TIPS (8477''
July 23 2021

Feb, 2016

Sex Worker Strangled – Murder Village

 

[dotr]

August 2021
https://www.cbc.ca/arts/this-podcas...alloura-wells-a-necessary-spotlight-1.6129104
''Cassandra Do and Alloura Wells were two trans women found murdered in Toronto in 2003 and 2017, respectively. Their cases remain unsolved, and awareness of their stories and of the failure of the police bring justice to them has been tragically low, even within the LGBTQ community. But this summer, Justin Ling's CBC-produced podcast Uncover: The Village has gone to great lengths to change that — and it should be required listening for anyone unaware of the narratives surrounding Wells and Do's deaths.''

Oct 17 2021
Cassandra Do was known for being ‘very discerning’ about her sex trade clients. So how did she end up dead in her bathtub?
''Cassandro Do was a sex trade worker with a reputation for being careful.

The 32-year-old didn’t use drugs or work the streets. She carefully screened who got into her downtown lowrise apartment on Gloucester Street near Church, which was decorated in a French classical style.''

 

[dotr]

Aug 5 2022

HUNTER: Trans sex worker's 2003 murder linked to other attacks

The working girls mostly knew her as Tula and that she liked cats. She was private. Very.

torontosun.com

''She was private. Very.

Cassandra “Tula” Do, 32, worked as an escort. Relatives found her dead in her 11th floor Gloucester St. apartment on Aug. 23, 2003. She had been strangled to death.

Do was a pre-operative transgender woman who kept to herself, letting just a handful of people into her life. Nearly two decades later, her slaying remains unsolved

“I didn’t even know her real name,” one sex worker told The Toronto Sun at the time of the murder.

What made the Do homicide more chilling was that DNA linked her murder to other attacks on sex workers in the city.

“She was a vulnerable trans sex trade worker,” said Toronto Police Det. Stella Karras, of the Cold Case Unit. “She was working out of her apartment and was known to be careful and selective with the clients she let in. We have DNA in this case.”

July and August are over-represented in the murder sweepstakes across North America: The weather is hot, booze is guzzled by the gallon, tempers flare and passions escalate.''

 

[dotr]

Dec 4 2022 rbbm
By Jennifer Pagliaro

‘We have the killer’s DNA, we just need a name’: Genetic ‘game changer’ offers hope for near-unsolvable Ontario cold cases

Already successful in tracking down the alleged killers of Christine Jessop, Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice, a new DNA technology is offering hope in dozens of other cold case files.

www.thestar.com

“Genetic genealogy is definitely the game changer,” said Ellen White, a senior investigator at Pulse Private Investigations, which works with families on missing persons, murders and other cases using the podcast Whereabouts Unknown as one way of reaching out to the public for clues.

“In terms of the murders that have happened, when it’s a stranger, this is really the best chance.”

''It’s unclear which cases police have already flagged for genetic testing, but a search of the Toronto police’s cold case website turns up the murders of Lori Marilyn Pinkus, teens Donna Stearne and Wendy Tedford and Cassandra Do as examples of cases with potential.''

And then there is Do’s murder in 2003 on Gloucester Street south of Bloor Street where DNA evidence has been connected to another sexual assault where the victim escaped — but no offenders were identified in police data banks.

The new science is not a simple tool and it still requires old-fashioned policing. The difference is it gives a place for investigators to start, White explained.

What has happened in recent cases is that police take DNA samples to a company like the U.S.’s Othram forensic lab, which can do genome sequencing to get a close match to samples in large voluntary databases like GEDmatch or DNAsolves — enough to perhaps narrow down to an extended family.''