CANADA Canada - Nicole Morin, 8, Toronto, 30 July 1985

[No_Stone_Unturned]

From the post above:

Before leaving the apartment, Nicole had spoken to a friend through the building’s intercom and promised to be right down. The playmate waited about 15 minutes before buzzing the apartment again to find out why Nicole hadn’t arrived. The two girls had arranged to meet in the lobby and go to a supervised swimming pool at the rear of the building.

Nicole seemingly disappeared INSIDE the building.

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

When the playmate buzzed the apartment again, who answered? And what did they say?

 

[JSolt1210]

When the playmate buzzed the apartment again, who answered? And what did they say?

According to Constable Sutton in this article:
________________________________

“The arrangement was made over the phone and the plan was to meet in the lobby at 11 a.m.,” said Const. Nicole Sutton of 22 Division, who’s been investigating the case for the past few years. “Just before 11, Nicole had finished up some food, said goodbye to her mom, who was in the apartment, and was seen walking out the apartment door to head towards the elevator to go down to meet (her) friend.”

But 15 minutes later, Jen buzzed up and told Jeannette that Nicole hadn’t shown up.

“Nicole’s mom had just assumed that maybe they had missed each other and Nicole had gone out either to the pool or was playing with some other kids on the property at the back of the building,” Sutton said. “Nicole’s mom was running an in-home daycare at the time, so she had smaller kids that she was responsible for and therefore she wasn’t able to leave the apartment.”
________________________________

So Nicole's mom answered Jen's second buzz. Even though it's not said explicitly, I assume her words to Jen over the intercom were those bolded above, namely that maybe they missed each other, or that Nicole went ahead to the pool or was playing elsewhere.

In that era, a 15-minute no-show wasn't necessarily cause for alarm or worry. Even though you couldn't reach the person directly, if you made plans to meet someone at a certain spot, you just figured they'd show up.

Jen's friend probably agreed with Nicole's mom, went off to the pool figuring Nicole would catch up to her, and then just lost track of time.

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

Thanks so much for the post above. Looking back, it's amazing how we all take things for granted - like "oh, she's probably at the pool".

 

[AddyFinch]

Just bringing this forward incase anyone missed it. Nicole Morin

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

Just bringing this forward incase anyone missed it. Nicole Morin

Where are we supposed to look, please?

 

[AddyFinch]

Whoops.... sorry Nicole Morin video

 

[dotr]

I know I’ve posted about this before, but Nicole Morin’s abduction shares similarities with the 1990 murder of Andrea Atkinson, a six-year-old who vanished from her Toronto apartment building five years after Nicole. Andrea’s building was less than a 40-minute drive from Nicole’s. Her case, now largely forgotten, was covered extensively by the Toronto Star at the time. I’ll share a clipping below.

Like Nicole, Andrea left her apartment to go to another floor in the building, in order to meet a friend. Searchers ended up finding her body hidden in the boiler room, stuffed under a storage tank. DNA evidence found at the scene gave detectives enough evidence to arrest the building's janitor, John Carlos Terceira, who emerged as a suspect early on.

I think that something similar happened to Nicole, in that a building employee or neighbour saw her alone and acted on the opportunity. The time frame just doesn't allow for much movement other than someone who was riding the elevator with Nicole, or saw her if she got off on another floor, took the stairs, etc. I don't believe John Terceira is responsible for Nicole Morin’s abduction, though, because he would've been only thirteen back in 1985.

I think it's likely that the police have a prime suspect in the case, since the suspect pool was likely pretty small, given the tight time frame. They would never tell the public if that were the case, though. Here in Canada they are extremely tight lipped. Maybe there was a known sex offender who lived in Nicole’s building, or nearby. They likely just didn't have enough evidence to charge him, especially before the advancement of DNA, and with no body. JMO Police have likely been tipped off that the prime suspect has recently gotten divorced, died, is dying, etc.

View attachment 604998

Sep 26 2025

MANDEL: Little Andrea Atkinson's killer denied parole

Next month marks 35 years since six-year-old Andrea Atkinson was raped and murdered by the janitor in her east end apartment building.

torontosun.com

'It was one of the most infamous child murder cases in recent Toronto history and next month will mark 35 years since little Andrea Atkinson was raped and murdered by the janitor in her east end building.'

John Terceira will be eligible for a faint hope application on his life sentence in December after serving 15 years in prison for the first-degree murder of Andrea Atkinson. Terceira was convicted in 1993 for the 6-year-old’s rape and killing.

''Terceira still poses an “average risk” of committing further sex crimes and until he completes programming – he refused until 2018, claiming he was innocent – the psychologist said he can’t be considered for any release or transfer to a lower security prison.''

 

[AddyFinch]

What a sad story, and I'll confess, I had completely forgotten this little gal, until now.
He could have been transferred and put up for early parole if he had agreed to take the reprogramming, but held out all those years. He probably knew within himself he will recommit. Canada needs an overhaul of the whole system.

 

[RobertCatesby]

I'm sure this has been brought up before but has Paul Bernardo been looked into as a possibility in this case before? Around the same location and time he was active.

 

[Errrr]

I'm sure this has been brought up before but has Paul Bernardo been looked into as a possibility in this case before? Around the same location and time he was active.

Bernardo was in Scarborough at the time and he was into teenagers, not prepubescents

 

[Danaya]

I watched the new Crime Beat episode on Nicole Morin this afternoon. It's available on Amazon Prime here in Canada.

I've said in the past that I think the investigators probably had a prime suspect they couldn't arrest due to lack of evidence. I don't feel that way anymore after watching this program. It didn't sound like they had an strong suspects at all.

I still think it was a maintenance worker or a person who lived in Nicole's apartment. It was a really big building with lots of tenants. Nicole was last seen wearing her bathing suit and standing in the lobby by one of the building's janitors. She was presumably waiting for her playmate to come down to meet her. He then got a call to go to another floor and left. I believe this was the last sighting of Nicole.

They showed an interview where the janitor describes the sighting. They interviewed the current lead investigator at length, as well as one of the initial investigators on the case. They also showed Art Morin, Nicole's Dad. He still keeps Nicole's photograph in his wallet. It was so sad.

Another thing that was interesting, is there was a crimestoppers tip in the weeks or months (can't recall) after Nicole's dissapearance. It was from a woman who lived somewhere rural not far from where Nicole was last seen. She claimed to have heard a girl screaming in the woods by her home, pleading, "Please let me go, I won't tell!" the same day that Nicole disappeared. The woman called the police again in 2014 and they were able to corroborate with another person who lived nearby her at the time that the screaming was heard by that person as well.

They took cadaver dogs out to the area but nothing was found. Personally, I think it's unlikely that it was Nicole, but they said that they wanted to exhaust all leads. She also noted that they consider Calvin Hoover -- the man who abducted and murdered Christine Jessop -- a potential suspect. He committed suicide in 2015. She said that Hoover lived in Toronto at the time and "worked a trade" that may have allowed him to be in Nicole’s apartment building.

An independent investigator was also interviewed. He had received a message online from a woman who claimed to have seen Calvin Hoover with Nicole Morin at a park nearby on the day of Nicole’s disappearance. The woman said that she had asked Calvin Hoover what he was doing with the little girl and he responded, "Go home!" There was a search conducted at this park but nothing was found. This wasn’t reported until decades after Nicole’s disappearance, though, so take that with a grain of salt IMO.

The overall feeling I had from watching was that investigators never really had any good suspects that they were able to focus in on. That’s why I think it happened very quickly and that Nicole was never taken out of the building except to dispose of her body. I would suggest the tenants at the time be reinterviewed and investigated but I think it’s likely that many have passed away. If it were a neighbour who did this then I wonder if they moved away soon after.

 

[Danaya]

I wish police had immediately locked down the entire building and entered every suite. I understand that wasn’t realistically possible, but I have a sick feeling that Nicole may have still been in the building for hours, or even days, after her disappearance.

One of the cases mentioned in the Crime Beat episode was the murder of nine-year-old Sharin Morningstar Keenan, abducted by her alleged killer, Dennis Melvyn Howe, from Sibelius Park in Toronto in January 1983. Howe stored her body in a freezer until it was discovered over a week later, and I think her abduction was likely opportunistic, followed by panic and going on the run.

By contrast, I believe Nicole’s abduction may have been planned, which could help explain why her body was never found. Nicole and other children in the building regularly met downstairs to go swimming, making it easy for a predator to observe routines and single her out over time.

I think the offender likely had access to a vehicle and lived alone, possibly on a lower floor, allowing him to move her discreetly via the stairs or avoid stopping on other floors if using the elevator. Either this was carried out methodically, or he was extremely lucky to avoid witnesses in such a large building. I wonder what the tenants in this building were like. If it consisted of mostly working professionals, for instance, then 11 AM on a Tuesday may not have been as busy as one might think. A lot of people are taking a summer vacation somewhere in late July.

In most child abductions, the offender is known to the victim in some way. That raises the possibility that Nicole’s killer had gradually gained her trust through brief interactions over time or by small gestures such as giving out candy.

In my opinion, the original tenant list from the building should be revisited and fully examined: who moved out shortly afterward, who later committed sex offences, who died by suicide in the months or years following her disappearance, and so on. Even if some individuals are now deceased, family or friends may still be able to provide information.

It’s also possible the offender appeared completely normal in the weeks and months afterward and may not have offended again, at least in any known or detected way, blending back into everyday life without drawing suspicion.

 

[LisMarit]

I read the entire thread and didn't see this question being asked, but I might have missed it.

Apparently, cameras were being installed on the day she disappeared. When did they start working? If it was just a few days later, maybe they captured suspicious activity? Perhaps the person was already planning to do something with Nicole and, upon seeing that cameras were being installed, realized they wouldn't have another chance to do something and get away with it, so they maybe decided on impulse to do it that same day.

 

[branmuffin]

I wish police had immediately locked down the entire building and entered every suite. I understand that wasn’t realistically possible, but I have a sick feeling that Nicole may have still been in the building for hours, or even days, after her disappearance.

One of the cases mentioned in the Crime Beat episode was the murder of nine-year-old Sharin Morningstar Keenan, abducted by her alleged killer, Dennis Melvyn Howe, from Sibelius Park in Toronto in January 1983. Howe stored her body in a freezer until it was discovered over a week later, and I think her abduction was likely opportunistic, followed by panic and going on the run.

By contrast, I believe Nicole’s abduction may have been planned, which could help explain why her body was never found. Nicole and other children in the building regularly met downstairs to go swimming, making it easy for a predator to observe routines and single her out over time.

I think the offender likely had access to a vehicle and lived alone, possibly on a lower floor, allowing him to move her discreetly via the stairs or avoid stopping on other floors if using the elevator. Either this was carried out methodically, or he was extremely lucky to avoid witnesses in such a large building. I wonder what the tenants in this building were like. If it consisted of mostly working professionals, for instance, then 11 AM on a Tuesday may not have been as busy as one might think. A lot of people are taking a summer vacation somewhere in late July.

In most child abductions, the offender is known to the victim in some way. That raises the possibility that Nicole’s killer had gradually gained her trust through brief interactions over time or by small gestures such as giving out candy.

In my opinion, the original tenant list from the building should be revisited and fully examined: who moved out shortly afterward, who later committed sex offences, who died by suicide in the months or years following her disappearance, and so on. Even if some individuals are now deceased, family or friends may still be able to provide information.

It’s also possible the offender appeared completely normal in the weeks and months afterward and may not have offended again, at least in any known or detected way, blending back into everyday life without drawing suspicion.

This crime was a crime of opportunity. A confluence of events that created a perfect scenario to abduct and kill Nicole; a young child wearing nothing but a bathing suit going from the 21st floor down to the lobby. That's 21 floors where a potential killer could have entered the elevator. No cameras at the time although they were in the process of being installed on the day she was abducted. Which adds another element of possible suspects.

It's possible Nicole had interacted with the person in the past even if it was just to say hello in the elevator. In such an enormous building I don't believe LE had the opportunity to scope out every unit and talk to every tenant in the building in a timely manner. If no one answered a door they wouldn't be able to enter at will. It was the height of summer, people going on vacation with lots of luggage with their units locked. Other tenants possibly moving in or out of the building because it was the end of the month. If movers were in the building carrying in boxes and covering things with those padded blankets it would be easy to spirit out a tiny girl from the building during the normal course of business.