Inside Caledon, Ontario

In an effort to try to solve the brutal killing of Sonia Varaschin in Orangeville, Ontario from earlier this summer a group of top criminal profilers and investigators gathered to pore over the details and create a working profile of the potential killer who murdered her, similar to the show Criminal Minds on TV. In fact it was the same unit for which the TV show is based on, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Virginia-based behavioural analysis unit which is assisting the Ontario Provincial Police, the RCMP as well as other senior homicide investigators from several forces including York Region, Toronto and Ottawa.

The killer attacked Sonia Varaschin in her home in Orangeville, either late on Aug. 29 or early on Aug. 30, when her blood-smeared white Toyota Corolla was found, doors open, in an alleyway in downtown Orangeville. “Anybody who enters somebody’s house where you should be safe and kills you, in my view is cold-blooded,” Ontario Provincial Police Det.-Insp. Mark Pritchard said.

He said the killer not only entered Varaschin’s Spring Street home, he moved her body into her vehicle, despite “the close confines of the townhouse complex.” After dumping her body, he then recklessly drove back near the scene of the murder and into town with blood that would have been “clearly visible on the outside of the car.” A week later, on Sept. 5, somebody walking a dog discovered Varaschin’s remains on a rual road in Caledon near Beech Grove Sideroad and Mountainview Road about 12 kilometres from her home.

Police have released few details about how Varaschin died and even refuse to reveal the weapon used. At the news conference nearly four months after her death, very little new fresh evidence was presented. Pritchard defended the investigation, “It’s not a TV show,” he said. “These things take a long time.”

Lead investigators did release a general profile that they created of Varaschin’s killer, hoping it might help them “zero in” on the killer by sparking further tips. In the days after Varaschin’s death or the discovery of her body on Sept. 5, police say the killer may have:

• Increased alcohol or drug use.
• Seemed irritable, agitated or anxious.
• Moved from the area.
• Limited social interactions to avoid detection.
• Had unexplained absences from work, school or missed appointments.
• Displayed other unusual behavior.

The suspect  police say is likely very familiar with the Orangeville area and the gravel Beech Grove Sideroad, near Mountainview Road in Caledon, where Varaschin’s body was dumped. He may know it because of “recreation, occupation or illegal activities.”

Police and investigators have received 460 tips to date on the Varaschin case and conducted more than 500 interviews but say they are still looking for a tidbit that might lead them to the killer. “There’s no tip that isn’t worth the police looking into,” Pritchard said. “And I think the message I’m trying to get out is that no matter how insignificant a suspicion or information is, we want them to come forward and talk to us.”

If you have any information that may help solve this case please call Orangeville Police Service Tip Line at (519) 941-2522, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.