A young baby horse with his watchful mother, he was born this weekend at the Hockley Hills School of Horsemanship which is just north of Orangeville. According to Melanie Chin Head Coach and General Manager the Mare’s name is Daylight Dreamer and it was her first baby, she’s a thoroughbred from Kentucky with a dark bay and her colt is a very tall dark bay with 3 white socks and a strip and snip.

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.

Here is a beautiful hawk standing guard, photo taken on highway 10 in Caledon near Orangeville, Ontario. Click on the photo above for a larger picture, this hawk was patient enough and stuck around long enough to be captured by my fiance using the Olympus 70-300mm zoom lens. To see some more hawk photos in Caledon click here.

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.

A follow-up to the story, Orangeville Mazda Overprices Car $25,000 to Intellectually Disabled Woman; the dealership was quickly terminated by Mazda Canada which resulted in the Mazda logo and signs being covered up immediately (pictured above). Mazda Canada said it ended the franchise with Mazda of Orangeville because it breached the company’s business standards under a sales and service agreement in the transaction and other incidents.

However it now appears that Orangeville Mazda dealer has now re-opened under a new name Motion Mazda and under new ownership. Brampton Auto Mall Inc. which already owns nine other dealerships, confirmed earlier this month that it has bought the land and buildings of Mazda of Orangeville from previous owner Sunny Baines; reached a franchise agreement with the Mazda Canada to reopen the dealership as Motion Mazda.

Glen Alizadeh, head of the Brampton dealership group, said there is some skepticism and concern among consumers about the reopening but they are generally happy with the change. “We’re starting from scratch,” said Alizadeh, who would not disclose financial terms of the deal. “It’s an exciting challenge.” Alizadeh said he retained eight of the previous dealership’s 26 employees and hired new staff from other stores in his network.

Charges are still pending for the former owner and sales person who sold the overpriced car to Madeline Leonard. Luckily Mazda Canada gave Leonard the car without further cost or obligation.

Interesting Story being reported by The Star and City TV News, Madeline Leonard who is intellectually disabled arrived at the Orangeville Mazda dealership last December to replace her tires. She drove away the unexpected owner of a car whose price had been massively overinflated.

Leonard, 56, said she had never intended to buy a car or trade in her other Mazda, but the Mazda salesman talked fast, confusing her with numbers and she signed a deal.

A few days later, after doing some homework, she complained to the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, which regulates new and used car dealers.

“I felt manipulated and cheated,” she said.

The regulator’s investigation revealed that Leonard actually paid a whopping $66,000 for the 2010 Mazda6 G6 sedan, including taxes and the value of a trade-in vehicle. The car should have cost $41,000 or less. Bains promises to reimburse Leonard $8,000 the dealership paid for her trade-in once Leonard returns the car.

Investigator Carrey Smith said the dealership had actually sold Leonard a “demonstrator” model, which dealers use for test driving. As well, add-on items had been sold three times what they should cost.

The dealership had also saddled her with an eight-year loan and heavy financing costs (7.8%). Leonard, who is unemployed and lives on a disability pension in a subsidized apartment, should have never qualified for the loan, Smith said.

“It’s killing me financially, it’s bi-weekly payments, $319 every two weeks,” she stresses. Leonard is on disability and says she has an income of just over $1800/month.

Last week, the regulator charged the dealership, business manager Kien Trung and sales manager Mohammed “Moe” Shaikh with “engaging in unfair practice by making an unconscionable representation” contrary to the provincial Consumer Protection Act.

In an interview on Thursday, Trung said he didn’t do anything wrong and “made a little bit of money on the deal.”

Bains said he could not discuss the reasons for the abrupt dismissals of the salesmen because the case is before the courts. The defendants are to appear in court next week.

“In my opinion, everyone thinks we did something wrong,” Bains said. “Therefore, I’m going to fix the situation. I do apologize for what she went through and suffered.’’

If found guilty, the dealership could face a maximum penalty of $250,000. The salesmen could receive fines of $100,000 each and/or two years less a day in jail. The regulator could also revoke their registrations to sell vehicles.

The Better Business Bureau of Mid-Western and Central Ontario has issued a D+ rating for the dealership, on a scale of A to F, after receiving complaints.

See the City TV news report below:

Firefighters battled a blaze at a barn in northern Caledon near Orangeville on Tuesday April 27, 2010. A barn containing fireworks and antiques caught fire near on Tuesday evening.

The barn, a business called Lazy Days Antiques, is located at Highway 9 and Coolihans Sideroad. It caught fire at about 5 p.m. and burned until after 7 p.m.

Firefighters worked to cool down a large propane tank at the back of the barn, fearing a large explosion if it caught on fire. At the height of the blaze, eight fire trucks were at the scene with 50 firefighters. Luckily no one was injured. Firefighters on the scene say the building is likely a complete loss.

Traffic on Highway 9 was redirected to Concession Road 2 while firefighters tackled the blaze. An investigation into the blaze has now started.

Google Canada today revealed more than 130 Canadian cities to be viewed in the 3D environment of Google street view mode. Among those cities are Bolton, Orangeville and surprisingly many parts of Caledon, Ontario. Even the smaller the towns of Caledon Village, Caledon East, Alton & Mono Mills are mapped as well as many of the main roads through all of Caledon. Mapping by the famous google camera car was done this past summer, I actually saw it in person in Orangeville one weekend.

Street View is a free feature in Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Maps for mobile. It was first launched in 2007 and it now includes imagery from 18 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. To start exploring, simply visit maps.google.ca and zoom in to the lowest level or drag the orange “Pegman” icon from the left side of the map onto a blue-lined street.

Google Street View has also become a great tool for real estate, it provides people an easy way to show what is around the house that is for sale in the neighbourhood, gives people a better idea of a property and area instead of just blindly showing up. However on the other side of things Google has come under fire for privacy concerns surrounding the service and has addressed those issues by blurring out the faces of people in the photos, as well as licence plates on vehicles.

If you see anything of interest in the Caledon area on Google Maps Street View please leave a comment here.

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.