Kera Freeland a 20 year old girl who moved to Toronto from Alberta to work at an escort agency (Cachet Ladies) and went missing mid-January has been identified as the woman whose remains were found in a ditch in Caledon last Thursday. Kera was last seen on Sunday, Jan. 16 in the Lake Shore Blvd. W. and Queens Ave. area. In February, Toronto police issued a missing-person alert for her.

Her remains were found on Marvh 17 around 6 p.m. in a ditch on Heart Lake Rd., between Boston Mills Rd. and Olde Base Line Rd by a man out for a walk. Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Constable Peter Leon said a cause of death has yet to be determined. So far, it’s not known whether the death is a homicide, suicide or an accident. “We’re hoping someone might be able to tell us how she got from Toronto to Caledon,” Constable Leon said Monday.

Kera Freeland’s body was found a short distance from where a murdered Orangeville nurse’s body was left last summer, but police are not drawing any links between the two. Sonia Varaschin, 42, was killed in her townhouse in the nearby town of Orangeville last August and found in a woodlout outside town. “At the time, there is no indication linking [Kera Freeland’s] case to any other current OPP investigation,” Constable Leon said.

Kera’s friends suspect she may have been a victim of a “bad date”. Tim Lambrinos, of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada says, “She called her roommate earlier that night and told her she was having a bad date… she said ‘she was going to leave the date’ and was returning home.”

That was the last time her roomie heard from Freeland until finding out of her death the next day.

Police are asking that anyone with information regarding the case, or who was in contact with Kera Freeland prior to her death, contact the OPP at 905-857-3304.

Some additional News articles about Kera Freeland:

• Globe and Mail
• The Star
• Toronto Sun

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.

From the Toronto Star, here is a follow up to the violent murder in Caledon/Bolton, Ontario of Krystina Armstrong by her own son Luke Armstrong.

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Luke Armstrong thought his mother was the devil, “who had to die for mankind.”

On the night of April 30, 2010, the trouble 18-year-old Caledon high school student repeatedly stabbed Krystina to death while driving his Jetta — and then nearly decapitated her afterwards.

He and his mother were on their way to a local Dairy Queen to meet his father George and his younger sister Hailey after watching her perform at a school play.

On Friday, Justice Bruce Durno accepted Armstrong’s plea of being not criminally responsible to second-degree murder because he was suffering from a profound psychotic mental disorder at the time of the vicious and relentless attack.

The teen was kneeling over his 54-year-old mother’s lifeless body, her seat belt still buckled, when OPP Constable James Shay arrived at what initially appeared to be a minor hit-and-run collision around 9:38 p.m. on Simpson Rd. in Bolton. The officer smelled booze on the teen’s breath and was about to charge him with impaired driving.

Armstrong appeared stunned and was covered in blood when he exited the car.

“Is she dead? She’s the devil…,” Armstrong told the officer. “She tried to stab me. I killed the devil.”

Krystina had been stabbed more than 100 times, including 26 wounds to her face, 12 to the back of her neck, 11 to her chest and five to her abdomen. There were also 13 defensive wounds to her right hand.

Armstrong told Shay and another officer that he killed his mother for “mankind” and that his hand was cut when his mother “took the knife from her head” and cut him with it.

At the hospital, he told Cst Dwayne Smith that he knew what he did was a sin. “I was still driving when I stabbed her,” he said. He said a song written by rap musician Eminem told him to “drown his mother” but he decided to stab her instead.

Two days later in hospital, Armstrong asked if he was speaking to television’s Judge Judy when he was remanded by a justice of the peace.

Court heard how Krystina and George separated in 2007 after 13 years of marriage, partly over parenting issues involving their son’s discipline. Krystina had just moved into a new home on the day of the tragedy.

Armstrong had a history of violent outbursts, once breaking his mother’s finger during in a March 2009 in an argument over his lunch while she was driving.

He was diagnosed with ADHD at 14. Had uncontrollable temper outbursts and had set fires.

School officials called Armstrong’s father in the day of the tragedy saying he was acting strangely and appeared dishevelled.

During a ride with friends, he said he hated women and mumbled “everyone is in danger and “people are going to die.” He also talked about conspiracies and was acting paranoid.

In the days before the tragedy, Armstrong asked his mother if he had been named after Lucifer and if she knew anything about the Illuminati, a rich and power full group that ruled the world.

In accepting his plea, Justice Durno told the court he hoped Armstrong will received the treatment he needs.

The Ontario Review Board will review case and determined when, if ever, he will be released from hospital, Durno said.

————–

Previous articles:

• Caledon Crash now a Murder Investigation – Update
• Caledon Crash now a Murder Investigation

Sadly Sonia Varaschin who was reported missing after she failed to turn up for work two weeks ago in Orangeville, Ontario was found dead, her remains were found in a wooded area in Caledon near Beech Grove Sideroad and Mountainview Road. Ontario Provincial Police said Tuesday the autopsy on human remains found in southern Ontario Sunday confirmed they were those of a missing nurse.

Homicide investigators have now switched their focus to finding her killer, Ontario Provincial Police told a news conference Wednesday in Orangeville that they are looking for just one person and the suspect is likely a man who wore a Size 10 or 11 work boot.

Mark Pritchard, an OPP detective inspector, said the brand of the boots is either Wind River or Dakota, sold exclusively by Mark’s Work Wearhouse. He asked the public to think back to Aug. 30, when the killer may have come home with unexplained stains on his clothes or boots, adding that he may have thrown out the boots since then.

“We believe that Sonia’s killer is very familiar with Orangeville, with the outskirts of Orangeville, Sonia’s neighbourhood, Sonia’s townhouse — and potentially Sonia herself,” Pritchard said. OPP said earlier they believe the killer used Varaschin’s white Toyota to move her body from her home to the wooded area where it was found.

So far, investigators haven’t revealed the cause of death. Days into the investigation, Varaschin’s family had been told to expect the worst and this weekend their fears were confirmed. The victim’s friends and family are asking for privacy during this time.

Last week, police asked people in rural areas in and around the city to scan their properties for the bloody bed sheets believed to have been used in the crime. Investigators are also asking anyone who saw her white Corolla on Aug. 29 or Aug. 30 to contact them.

If you have an information about the murder of Sonia Varaschin please contact the dedicated tip line at 519-941-2522, ext. 2211. Anonymous calls can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. A $2,000 reward has been offering for tips leading to a conviction.

Some photos of Sonia Varaschin in happier times, a memorial group has also been setup on Facebook.

Orangeville Police are looking for Sonia Varaschin, 42, whose car was found bloody and abandoned in the downtown area Monday morning. Blood was also found at the woman’s Spring Street home, confirms police chief Joseph Tomei.

“We’re hopeful the search comes to a good fruition for us, but it is suspicious,” he said, stating the incident appears random, but it’s “too early” to say with certainty.

At the moment there are no suspects and the search continues.

“There’s a lot of police officers here, both Orangeville and the OPP,” Tomei said, adding there’s no reason for the public to be concerned for their safety.

Family members reported Varaschin missing Monday; she had not been seen since Sunday evening. After canvassing the area and speaking to Varaschin’s neighbours on Tuesday morning, it was clear local residents were a little unsettled by the incident. Kim Fievet, 27, has been living beside the missing woman since April.

“I just hope she shows up and that is it,” Fievet said. “She is a very nice person. She was good to me and my son.”

Another one of Varaschin’s neighbours, Laura Barens, was in “disbelief” as the quiet little housing subdivision isn’t accustomed to incidents like this.

“This is a really quiet area, so we’re just kind of in shock,” Barens said, adding residents in the neighbourhood rarely lock their doors. However, Barens will “absolutely” be locking her doors now.

“It is a shock. It is a quiet, quiet area,” she said. “Doors are unlocked all the time, kids are outside playing.”

Her car, a white Toyota, was found in an alley behind a downtown Orangeville business Monday morning. Police taped off an area around Varashin’s car, as well as Alexandra Park. While the Toyota has been removed, access to the area remains blocked.

Anyone with information about Varaschin’s whereabouts or details of her disappearance are asked to contact Orangeville Police Service at 519-941-2522 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-87477.

As first reported here, Caledon OPP now say a woman found dead after a minor collision in Caledon was a homicide and the man charged with second-degree murder in her death are mother and son.

Krystina Armstrong 45 years old, was found dead in the passenger side of one of the vehicles involved in the two-car collision on Friday is a victim of homicide and did not die as a result of the crash, police said. The Ontario Provincial Police identified the man behind the wheel of that vehicle as Luke Armstrong, the victim’s 18-year-old son. He was arrested at the scene Friday and remanded into custody on Sunday. He is set to appear in an Orangeville court on Thursday for the continuation of his bail hearing, said Caledon OPP Constable Jonathan Beckett.

“This case is very complex and this investigation will be ongoing for some time to cover off all the details of what happened before, during and after the event,” Constable Beckett said, declining to share specifics since the matter is before the courts.

Police were called to the scene of the minor crash on Simpson Road, at 9:40 p.m. Friday night, he said. “Once our officers arrived on scene, it quickly became apparent we were dealing with a much more serious incident. Quite often when police officers are dispatched to calls for service, sometimes the initial details we’re given do not turn out to be what we end up investigating.”

Josh Stevenson, who knows Mr. Armstrong from high school, was surprised by news of the young man’s arrest. He remembered him as a “pretty good kid,” but also troubled.

And Mr. Armstrong’s relationship with his mother was strained, he said.

“I know was his parents were divorced and that he didn’t see his mom,” Mr. Stevenson, 18, said.

Marital problems had torn apart the family. Krystina Armstrong a former travel agent had been split from her husband, George, for more than a year and had found a home on Rolling Hills Lane in Bolton’s south end, a few kilometres away from her old life.

Luke was to continue living with his father on Old King Rd. His younger sister, Hayley, was moving in with her mother.

Mr. Armstrong began his high school career at Robert F. Hall Secondary School in Caledon, Ont., before transferring to Humberview Secondary School in Bolton where his father, George, lives.

Luke’s Facebook page which was still active as of Monday night.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Det.-Const. Matt Noble at 519-927-3041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

The Caledon resident was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a “minor collision” on Simpson Rd. on Friday evening, Ontario Provincial Police said in a statement released Sunday night.

Const. Jonathan Beckett would not identify the woman or comment on how she died, except to say it was not as a result of the collision.

Nor would he release the name of the 18-year-old driver who was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder, citing the need to notify the victim’s next-of-kin before any names could be released.

However, a family friend said the victim was Krystina Armstrong and the young man charged with murder as her son, Luke.

Armstrong was legally separated from Luke’s father, George, and was in the process of divorce. She moved into her new home on Station Rd. in Bolton the day she was killed, according to the friend.

Luke, a student at Humberview Secondary School in Bolton, lived with his father, said the friend.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Det.-Const. Matt Noble at 519-927-3041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer has been much in the news the past several months for drunk driving and possession of cocaine charges yet receiving basically a slap on the wrist for the events that occurred that late Sept. 10 night last year. The Toronto Star has an excellent article in Thursday’s paper detailing the events of the night and how he eventually ended up getting busted by Caledon OPP during a routine ride check. The above photo is the spot where Rahim Jaffer was busted in Palgrave.

An excerpt of the article:

Constable Kim Stapleton was going off shift and left her fellow officers at the RIDE program in Palgrave at 12:45 am. A diligent officer, she activated her mobile radar detector as she drove south through Palgrave on Highway 50. The speed limit in the small town was 50 kph. The detector beeped and clocked the approaching Ford Escape SUV at 93 kph.

“I’ve got a high miler here,” Stapleton said into her radio, turning on her lights. She told Sgt. Mike Garant back at the RIDE program that she was pulling over an SUV.

Walking up to the car, the female officer shone her flashlight in at the driver. Rahim Jaffer looked back. Stapleton smelled alcohol and asked Jaffer several questions.

“I smell alcohol, I am doing an alc test,” Stapleton radioed to Garant.

Pulling a roadside breathalyzer unit from her cruiser she administered the test, which showed positive for alcohol. Stapleton radioed for a male officer to join her because she was arresting Jaffer. Stapleton called for a tow truck to take away the Ford.

Sgt. Garant sent an officer down to Stapleton’s position. The officer searched Jaffer and found a bag in his pocket, which turned out to be cocaine.

The police officers looked inside Jaffer’s car and found a stack of Helena Guergis’ business cards. They drove Jaffer to the Caledon East OPP detachment and administered a blood alcohol test, which showed a level above the legal .08 level (police have not released the level or amount of cocaine). In Ontario, the penalty for being found guilty of driving above the legal level is a one year licence suspension, a $1,000 fine and a requirement to install an ignition lock that prevents a vehicle from starting unless the driver provides a sober breath sample.

Officers at the OPP detachment conducted a strip search of Jaffer, which police say is standard protocol when drugs are found on a person.

Stapleton charged Jaffer, 38, with driving over the legal blood alcohol limit, speeding 93 kph in a 50 kph zone; and possession of cocaine. He was released from the station around 6 am on Friday, Sept. 11.

Caledon OPP has released the results from Operation Impact which ran from Friday Oct. 9 to 12 Thanksgiving weekend. During the long weekend crackdown, Caledon officers handed out three licence suspensions for having alcohol levels in the warn range, 7 charges for failing to yield, 3 careless driving charges, 349 speeding tickets, 3 stunt driving charges, 16 seatbelt charges, and 42 charges for other hazardous moving violations. The OPP also conducted 8 hours of RIDE spot checks stopping 819 vehicles.

Since I reported on this blog on the tragic murder-suicide in Orangeville/Mono some new information has come to light about this very sad story.

The young son Connor, 14 of Heidi & Hugh Ferguson has disputed some of the published accounts of what happened that fateful day defending his father.

“My father was a wonderful man and was not the crazy man that shot at cops during the event as you stated,” wrote the couple’s son in an e-mail.

“You would never understand the full story behind the … situation between my mother and father,” he stated.

Connor wrote the e-mail to Sun Media objecting to a published account from a neighbour who told a reporter the man shot the tires of an Ontario Provincial Police van. Police have now confirmed that no shots were fired at police and said the van had driven over a spike belt police laid out on a roadway.

The full details of what initially sparked the tragic chain of events may never be known but according to OPP Constable Peter Leon the police received an initial call about an hour before the shooting involving a domestic dispute at the Orangeville address. There was no weapon involved in the initial incident, but police wouldn’t say if Heidi Ferguson was threatened or assaulted. Orangeville police were “actively investigating the original call and they were called back to the residence,” Leon said.

The whole incident has shocked many friends, neighbours and the community.

“It was such an amicable breakup,” said Bridget Wilson, a neighbour who knew the Fergusons for 19 years. “I never heard a bitter or a nasty word from either of them. I get a headache thinking what could have gone so horribly wrong.”

“Everything was fine,” said Wilson, who recalls they hosted a party two weeks ago for the lacrosse team their teenaged son, Connor, plays for. Their daughter, Courtney, is 19.

“This is completely out of character,” Penny Bogner (Heidi Ferguson’s mother) says of the allegations against Hugh Ferguson. “They were really remarkable people. They were friendly even though they separated.”

Todd, a teen who worked with Courtney at Boston Pizza, said he remembers her saying a few months ago: “My parents are still good friends – thank God for that.”

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit continues the investigation.