CANADA Canada - Elizabeth Bain, 22, Scarborough, Ont, 19 June 1990 #2

[sunnyjim]

My notes about the shorts.

Outside the recreation centre RB was seen by a witness at 7:15. RB was wearing the multicoloured plaid dress shorts which I mentioned earlier. This witness, who did not undergo hypnosis, is also the only witness who gives RB an alibi for any of the time between 6:30 and 9:00. RB later claimed in his prison memoir that he was wearing blue jeans and a sweater at this time, yet during the investigation he told police that he could not remember what he was wearing, and finally told police that they could have the swim shorts that he kept at the home of a friend who had a pool. Under oath the witness made it clear that these swim shorts were not the shorts that RB was wearing at 7:15 on the day that EB disappeared. And the witness said the plaid shorts RB wore in a group photo were like the ones RB had worn. They were never found. I believe he had to get rid of them because EB's blood was on them.

 

[sunnyjim]

This is some of what I think happened on the day EB disappeared.

At 5:40 p.m. RB or someone who looks like him was seen by a reliable witness sitting with EB near the U of T Scarborough tennis courts. I don't doubt that it was he.

Soon after as EB walked on the path beside Highland Creek back toward her car which was in the parking lot on Old Kingston Road, I believe RB attacked and killed her and carried her body into the woods on the south side of the path. I think he would have carried the body as close to the parking lot as he could.

At 7:15 he drove his car to the U of T recreation centre and worked out in the weight room, leaving before 8:15. He was seen at around 9:00 while he, in my opinion, pretended to be waiting for EB near her classroom. Then he drove to EB's house at 9:15 and spoke briefly to her mother.

Then I believe he returned to EB's body and moved it into her car in the darkness, drove it east up Old Kingston Road and parked it, maybe in the same place where he would also park it the next morning. It was a short walk back to his car.

He returned to the recreation centre and entered the gym at about 10:05 by my calculation. He stayed there until 10:30.

I believe he went out again after returning home, back to EB's car and drove it northeast to dispose of the body. The car was seen by a reliable witness at 5:30 a.m. or shortly after, parked for less than ten minutes in a lot 35 minutes away from Morrish Road where EB's car would be parked when it was found. The drive from Morrish Road to RB's house at that time of the morning was about 15 minutes. He could have been home by 6:30 a.m.

 

[dotr]

EB is referenced @1:25

Jan 27, 2026
Tracking a Killer: The Cold Case Files returns for a fourth season on February 2nd. City's Madison Fitzpatrick and 680's Fil Martino shine a light on 8 new cold cases. You can listen on the Seekr app or wherever you like to listen.

 

[sunnyjim]

Today I listened to the episode they did about the case in 2021. Mostly they just let RB speak and don't question anything. The worst was a lie about how the witness MP saw a middle-aged woman sitting next to EB at first, not a man. Bah.

 

[sunnyjim]

On the Wednesday morning EB's mother called RB because EB was missing, and he drove to the their house. RB and EB's mother both said that the time of the call was 6:30. I think the crown attorneys weren't concerned about the precise time because their theory made the timing on Friday morning important, not Wednesday. RB's mother suggested that he actually called EB's mother back: "He phoned Mrs Bain. Talked to her on the phone." And EB's mother spoke to her son MB in their kitchen before calling RB, and MB had still been at his girlfriend's place at 6:30, according to the girlfriend. Also EB's mother called 911 after talking to RB and the constable didn't arrive until 7:40. I believe RB wasn't home yet at 6:30, giving him more time than he needed to get home that morning.

 

[sunnyjim]

When soon after EB disappeared the police asked RB what he thought had happened, he said that he thought she had been killed between 7:15 and 9. That is a time for which he thought he had an alibi. He also said he thought the attack took place west of the tennis courts around the principal's residence, directing attention away from the spot where it probably did take place, to the east toward the small parking lot.

It seems surprising that cadaver dogs did not find any of EB's blood on the ground in the valley. That may be because police concentrated the search in the area to which RB had misdirected them, where the dogs did smell something, but an excavation turned up nothing. More importantly a heat wave from June 21 (Thursday) to June 30, 1990 with temperatures as high as 37 degrees Celsius would have made blood odours dissipate more quickly.

 

[SnoopCat]

This is some of what I think happened on the day EB disappeared.

At 5:40 p.m. RB or someone who looks like him was seen by a reliable witness sitting with EB near the U of T Scarborough tennis courts. I don't doubt that it was he.

Soon after as EB walked on the path beside Highland Creek back toward her car which was in the parking lot on Old Kingston Road, I believe RB attacked and killed her and carried her body into the woods on the south side of the path. I think he would have carried the body as close to the parking lot as he could.

At 7:15 he drove his car to the U of T recreation centre and worked out in the weight room, leaving before 8:15. He was seen at around 9:00 while he, in my opinion, pretended to be waiting for EB near her classroom. Then he drove to EB's house at 9:15 and spoke briefly to her mother.

Then I believe he returned to EB's body and moved it into her car in the darkness, drove it east up Old Kingston Road and parked it, maybe in the same place where he would also park it the next morning. It was a short walk back to his car.

He returned to the recreation centre and entered the gym at about 10:05 by my calculation. He stayed there until 10:30.

I believe he went out again after returning home, back to EB's car and drove it northeast to dispose of the body. The car was seen by a reliable witness at 5:30 a.m. or shortly after, parked for less than ten minutes in a lot 35 minutes away from Morrish Road where EB's car would be parked when it was found. The drive from Morrish Road to RB's house at that time of the morning was about 15 minutes. He could have been home by 6:30 a

This is some of what I think happened on the day EB disappeared.

At 5:40 p.m. RB or someone who looks like him was seen by a reliable witness sitting with EB near the U of T Scarborough tennis courts. I don't doubt that it was he.

Soon after as EB walked on the path beside Highland Creek back toward her car which was in the parking lot on Old Kingston Road, I believe RB attacked and killed her and carried her body into the woods on the south side of the path. I think he would have carried the body as close to the parking lot as he could.

At 7:15 he drove his car to the U of T recreation centre and worked out in the weight room, leaving before 8:15. He was seen at around 9:00 while he, in my opinion, pretended to be waiting for EB near her classroom. Then he drove to EB's house at 9:15 and spoke briefly to her mother.

Then I believe he returned to EB's body and moved it into her car in the darkness, drove it east up Old Kingston Road and parked it, maybe in the same place where he would also park it the next morning. It was a short walk back to his car.

He returned to the recreation centre and entered the gym at about 10:05 by my calculation. He stayed there until 10:30.

I believe he went out again after returning home, back to EB's car and drove it northeast to dispose of the body. The car was seen by a reliable witness at 5:30 a.m. or shortly after, parked for less than ten minutes in a lot 35 minutes away from Morrish Road where EB's car would be parked when it was found. The drive from Morrish Road to RB's house at that time of the morning was about 15 minutes. He could have been home by 6:30 a.m.

I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but it's quite brazen to assault/murder her in broad daylight, in a public place, place her body for "safe keeping" somewhere nearby, until later at night, risk being seen in her car even if it was after dark. If it did happen this way I don't think it was premeditated .

 

[sunnyjim]

I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but it's quite brazen to assault/murder her in broad daylight, in a public place, place her body for "safe keeping" somewhere nearby, until later at night, risk being seen in her car even if it was after dark. If it did happen this way I don't think it was premeditated .

Right I don't think it was premeditated. It was risky and RB was lucky only one person saw him that afternoon. I don't think anyone was around where the attack happened. There would have been some traffic on the road going by the parking lot though. I think his focus afterwards was to go and make an alibi.

 

[sunnyjim]

I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but it's quite brazen to assault/murder her in broad daylight, in a public place, place her body for "safe keeping" somewhere nearby, until later at night, risk being seen in her car even if it was after dark. If it did happen this way I don't think it was premeditated .

 

[sunnyjim]

In his address to the jury RB's lawyer mentions a witness David Singh who claimed he saw EB the day after she went missing, but that name does not appear in the list of witnesses in the trial transcript.

Does anyone know what happened to the testimony?

 

[SnoopCat]

In his address to the jury RB's lawyer mentions a witness David Singh who claimed he saw EB the day after she went missing, but that name does not appear in the list of witnesses in the trial transcript.

Does anyone know what happened to the testimony?

I was unable to locate any information on a David Singh, pertaining to this case, anywhere online.

 

[sunnyjim]

I was unable to locate any information on a David Singh, pertaining to this case, anywhere online.

It's a mystery. I'm going to read the judge's instructions to the jury - I didn't want to - and see if the witness was disqualified or something like that.

 

[dotr]

By Fil Martino, February 23, 2026

'Tracking a Killer: The Cold Case Files:' Elizabeth Bain

University of Toronto student Elizabeth Bain disappeared from Scarborough in 1990. Her boyfriend, Robert Baltovich, spent nearly a decade behind bars for her murder before being found not guilty in a retrial in 2008. Baltovich says they had the wrong guy and he wants to set the record straight...

toronto.citynews.ca

''Baltovich says they had the wrong guy and he wants to set the record straight. He has assembled an investigative team. A class at the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto has also been looking at the case with the assistance of a former police officer.

“I want to be able to prove my innocence beyond any shadow of a doubt, but part of it too is because I now believe I know what happened and who is responsible. I want to ensure that this individual is held accountable and is brought to justice,” said Baltovich.

Retired Toronto Police officer John Irwin is a professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Guelph – Humber. He says he was part of the investigative team that was looking into Elizabeth’s disappearance back in 1990.

“Rob has been, since 1990 potentially, the only person who is still trying to find out what happened to Elizabeth Bain,” said Irwin.''

 

[sunnyjim]

The professor who was interviewed said the police obviously got the identity of the killer wrong. Does anyone agree with that? If you do please explain to me what makes it obvious.

 

[sunnyjim]

If you think that RB is not guilty then you must be able to explain many things but especially these two.

We have RB wearing distinctive shorts on the day EB is, according to police, murdered, shorts described clearly by a witness. RB was photographed earlier wearing shorts that look the same. But RB denies he was wearing shorts. They are never seen again.

We also have a witness who puts RB sitting close beside EB before she was murdered. Even if the identification by the witness is questionable, there is still a man with short dark hair like RB, wearing shorts, with her on the campus at a time when she knew, because (according to him) he told her, that he would probably be coming there to work out. That seems to only make sense if that man is RB.

 

[FactFinder01]

I can demonstrate in one minute or less that Baltovich did kill his girlfriend. Everything I relate during this minute can be verified. At 7:20 on the evening of Elizabeth's murder, he happened to arrive at the campus recreation centre at the same time as a friend of his brother, who later testified under oath that Baltovich was wearing multicoloured plaid dress shorts. Baltovich changed at his locker into workout clothes and worked out. He left the weight room before 8:15. He said he took a shower. He was seen at 9 o'clock outside Elizabeth's classroom. At 9:30, that time is according to Baltovich, he walked into the gym in the recreation centre wearing blue jeans. He left the gym at 10:30. The multicoloured plaid dress shorts were never seen again. The police asked him for them. They got a warrant and searched his house and car. If he had turned the shorts over and if police forensics found none of Elizabeth's blood on them, he might have stayed out of prison. But the shorts had got her blood on them when he killed her or when he moved the body later, so he had had to get rid of them. My minute is up.

Are you aware that the Crown's theory has always been that Elizabeth Bain was killed between 5:40 and 7:00 PM? This is set out in the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision (copy attached here). It seems that you are making several assumptions in your above statement.

This is some of what I think happened on the day EB disappeared.

At 5:40 p.m. RB or someone who looks like him was seen by a reliable witness sitting with EB near the U of T Scarborough tennis courts. I don't doubt that it was he.

Soon after as EB walked on the path beside Highland Creek back toward her car which was in the parking lot on Old Kingston Road, I believe RB attacked and killed her and carried her body into the woods on the south side of the path. I think he would have carried the body as close to the parking lot as he could.

At 7:15 he drove his car to the U of T recreation centre and worked out in the weight room, leaving before 8:15. He was seen at around 9:00 while he, in my opinion, pretended to be waiting for EB near her classroom. Then he drove to EB's house at 9:15 and spoke briefly to her mother.

Then I believe he returned to EB's body and moved it into her car in the darkness, drove it east up Old Kingston Road and parked it, maybe in the same place where he would also park it the next morning. It was a short walk back to his car.

He returned to the recreation centre and entered the gym at about 10:05 by my calculation. He stayed there until 10:30.

I believe he went out again after returning home, back to EB's car and drove it northeast to dispose of the body. The car was seen by a reliable witness at 5:30 a.m. or shortly after, parked for less than ten minutes in a lot 35 minutes away from Morrish Road where EB's car would be parked when it was found. The drive from Morrish Road to RB's house at that time of the morning was about 15 minutes. He could have been home by 6:30 a.m.

There are so many assumptions being made here without solid factual basis.

MP is the witness who testified that she reportedly "saw" Elizabeth Bain sitting near the tennis courts with "a man" around 5:40 PM. This is contradicted by multiple other witnesses who were also present at the tennis courts on June 19 between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. (some of whom knew both Rob and EB), and told police that they did not see either EB or Baltovich near the tennis courts that day. MP was hypnotized in order to enhance her testimony and she had seen a photograph of Baltovich in the Toronto Sun just prior to being shown a photo line up containing his photo, which she "picked" Baltovich out of.
What makes you say this is a "reliable" witness?

Your theory suggests that Baltovich murdered EB and disposed of her body within 30 minutes and somehow managed to go completely unseen and unnoticed by everyone else in Colonel Danforth Park that day in the middle of June. It suggests that Baltovich was somehow able to murder EB and hide her body without getting any blood or dirt on his person or that he was able to change clothes and shower to remove evidence prior to attending the rec centre for a workout, going to EB's class, and then going to her parent's home and to appear relatively calm and normal to everyone around him. This is absolute nonsense.

Baltovich's lawyers uncovered a note in the police files after his appeal that had been previously suppressed by the prosecution. The note contained a summary of discussions between the lead homicide detective, Brian Raybould, and the forensic pathologist, John Hillsdon-Smith, at the Centre of Forensic Sciences on November 22, 1990, that specifically indicated that the blood found in Bain's vehicle had no odour or decomposition and was still bright red (appearing to indicate that it was fresh as opposed to liquid blood). Further, witnesses testified that the blood found in the vehicle when it was discovered on Friday, June 22, was still in liquid form (also suggesting that the blood had been freshly deposited as opposed to being days old). How could this be the case if Rob killed EB on Tuesday, hid her body, and then used her vehicle to transport her remains? There would have been insects present on the corpse within hours of the death. None were found in EB's vehicle, whatsoever.

I have never heard of the "reliable" witness you mention who says that EB's car was allegedly seen at 5:30 a.m. or just after parked for less than 10 minutes in a lot 35 minutes away from Morrish. Please provide your source for this information.

 

[FactFinder01]

Are you aware that the Crown's theory has always been that Elizabeth Bain was killed between 5:40 and 7:00 PM? This is set out in the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision (copy attached here). It seems that you are making several assumptions in your above statement.

There are so many assumptions being made here without solid factual basis.

MP is the witness who testified that she reportedly "saw" Elizabeth Bain sitting near the tennis courts with "a man" around 5:40 PM. This is contradicted by multiple other witnesses who were also present at the tennis courts on June 19 between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. (some of whom knew both Rob and EB), and told police that they did not see either EB or Baltovich near the tennis courts that day. MP was hypnotized in order to enhance her testimony and she had seen a photograph of Baltovich in the Toronto Sun just prior to being shown a photo line up containing his photo, which she "picked" Baltovich out of.
What makes you say this is a "reliable" witness?

Your theory suggests that Baltovich murdered EB and disposed of her body within 30 minutes and somehow managed to go completely unseen and unnoticed by everyone else in Colonel Danforth Park that day in the middle of June. It suggests that Baltovich was somehow able to murder EB and hide her body without getting any blood or dirt on his person or that he was able to change clothes and shower to remove evidence prior to attending the rec centre for a workout, going to EB's class, and then going to her parent's home and to appear relatively calm and normal to everyone around him. This is absolute nonsense.

Baltovich's lawyers uncovered a note in the police files after his appeal that had been previously suppressed by the prosecution. The note contained a summary of discussions between the lead homicide detective, Brian Raybould, and the forensic pathologist, John Hillsdon-Smith, at the Centre of Forensic Sciences on November 22, 1990, that specifically indicated that the blood found in Bain's vehicle had no odour or decomposition and was still bright red (appearing to indicate that it was fresh as opposed to liquid blood). Further, witnesses testified that the blood found in the vehicle when it was discovered on Friday, June 22, was still in liquid form (also suggesting that the blood had been freshly deposited as opposed to being days old). How could this be the case if Rob killed EB on Tuesday, hid her body, and then used her vehicle to transport her remains? There would have been insects present on the corpse within hours of the death. None were found in EB's vehicle, whatsoever.

I have never heard of the "reliable" witness you mention who says that EB's car was allegedly seen at 5:30 a.m. or just after parked for less than 10 minutes in a lot 35 minutes away from Morrish. Please provide your source for this information.

The Ontario Court of Appeal notes at paragraphs 37-38 of their decision that MP testified that she saw Elizabeth Bain sitting with a female sometime between 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. The Court also outlined the progression of MP's statements in paragraphs 37-53, which is partially why her testimony was considered inadmissible at Baltovich's second trial, coupled with the fact that her statement had been changed or "enhanced" by hypnosis, which the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2007 is presumptively inadmissible because the investigative technique is not scientifically reliable or legally valid in criminal court proceedings, similar to a polygraph test. IMO, this tends to make MP a less reliable witness along with the fact that other witnesses present that evening, again some of whom knew EB and RB, state that they did not see EB or Baltovich at the tennis courts that evening.

At paragraph 7 of the ONCA decision, you'll note that the Crown's theory is that EB was killed between 5:40 and 7:00 p.m. If that is true, then where exactly was her body hidden? Why didn't police and cadaver dogs find evidence of her blood, insect infestation, the murder weapon, etc.? What was the police's theory of the murder weapon by the way? What was the stated cause of death? Did a forensic pathologist testify about the quantity of blood, its expected viscosity after 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours? Don't you find it strange that Baltovich was convicted in a trial in which the prosecution had no body, the barest of circumstantial cases, and no DNA or other physical evidence linking Baltovich to the crime scene? Do you think it's strange that Elizabeth Bain's body has never been found after all this time? Ask yourself if that's the work of a 25-year old university student with no criminal history... Let's use our common sense here.

R. v. Baltovich, 2004 CanLII 45031 (ON CA)​

2004 CanLII 45031 (ONCA) Web Link​