03-09-2012, 01:39 PM
LFPress: -
UPDATE: 10:45 -- Day 4 of the Michael Rafferty murder trial has resumed with Det.-Con. Sean Kelly of Woodstock Police the only expected witness of the day.
Kelly was responsible for working with Tori Stafford's family following her disappearance.
Kelly says that on April 12, 4 days after Tori was abducted and following the release of the surveillance video showing the 8-year-old walking off with a woman in a white coat, Tara McDonald called him to say the woman in the video was Terri-Lynne McClintic.
Kelly then took McClintic into custody on an outstanding probation warrant for breach of custody and supervision.
Day 4 of the Michael Rafferty murder trial has been adjourned. The trial will resume Tuesday with Terri-Lynne McClintic on the stand.
Today the jury heard from the veteran police officer who first interviewed Terri-Lynne McClintic. Det. Const. Sean Kelly broke down on the stand Thursday as he described learning Tori Stafford had been killed.
"It went from an abduction to a homicide investigation," Kelly said, his voice breaking and tears filling his eyes, describing the arrests of Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty May 19 2009.
Kelly was the first investigator to interview McClintic.
He obtained several pieces of information about her, including a resume that included experience babysitting.
He also obtained a lock of her hair.
He had interviewed McClintic April 12.
___________________________________________
LFPress: - Just an hour before luring little Tori Stafford to her death, Terri-Lynne McClintic was in a Woodstock job centre looking for work, admitting she had an anger problem and listing babysitting on her resume.
She would turn out to be the last person you would ever want around children.
After pleading guilty in 2010 to the first-degree murder of eight-year-old Tori, McClintic is now safely put away for at least 25 years. On Tuesday, she's set to be the star prosecution witness against Michael Rafferty, her former boyfriend accused of being her partner in Tori's abduction, sexual assault and murder.
But before her testimony, Woodstock Police Det. Const. Sean Kelly was telling the jury how the 18-year-old high school dropout on welfare first appeared on his radar.
Grey suit, grey hair, grey tie, Kelly started out as a typical cop witness: Straightforward, informative, cool. But that would soon change.
It was Easter Sunday 2009, four days after Tori was last seen on surveillance footage being led away from Oliver Stephens Public School by a young woman with long hair and a white coat. A massive police investigation was underway with worried officers working around the clock. Kelly, who had become the liaison officer with Tori's distraught family, was interviewing a possible witness when he got a call from the missing girl's mom, Tara McDonald - she thought the woman in the video could be someone she knew as "Terri".
"She mentioned they had bred puppies together," Kelly explained. "There was a distinct walk from the footage that she recognized."
With a general geographic location from McDonald, he plugged the information into the police database and came up with a possibility: Terri McClintic was wanted for violating her probation. He decided to check her out.
McClintic came to the door and agreed to be interviewed about Tori. Arrested on the outstanding warrant, she was taken to the station and asked to bring along any white jackets she had. She brought a white cloth blazer and a pink ski jacket.
McClintic was doing her clumsy best to avoid being considered a suspect: Not only did she not have a similar white jacket as the mystery woman in the video. but she also told the detective while she'd recently cut her hair - everyone knew the kidnapper had long hair - it was only because she'd got gum in it. She even showed Kelly her shorn locks in the bathroom garbage can, with the gum still attached.
As if she were a five-year-old who couldn't keep gum in her mouth. The alarm bells must have been ringing for him.
McClintic also seemed to be trying to establish an alibi. She told Kelly on the afternoon Tori went missing, she was at Community Employment Services looking for work. Following up on her information, he confirmed she'd signed in there at 2:19 p.m.
But Tori was seen with the white-coated woman one hour and 13 minutes later.
From seized records, the detective learned more about the woman eventually convicted of murder: McClintic had last worked for three weeks in November 2008 as an industrial cleaner at a Toyota plant, but it wasn't clear if she'd been laid off or fired. And her last job before that?
Babysitting.
"I cared for children eight months to five years of age," she wrote on her resume. "Prepared healthy meals and snacks, fulfilled basic everyday needs. Created and participated in appropriate activities."
So Terri-Lynne is testifying Tuesday, I am debating on whether to go, I am sure it will be a packed day at court, so I wonder if I would even make it in to the overflow room....? I am really intrigues to hear her testimony though and find out the why's and how's and what she was thinking, was it her idea, was it Michael Rafferty's.... and since the records at her court appearance when she pled guilty have been sealed, no-one knows how things went down that fateful day for Tori :(
UPDATE: 10:45 -- Day 4 of the Michael Rafferty murder trial has resumed with Det.-Con. Sean Kelly of Woodstock Police the only expected witness of the day.
Kelly was responsible for working with Tori Stafford's family following her disappearance.
Kelly says that on April 12, 4 days after Tori was abducted and following the release of the surveillance video showing the 8-year-old walking off with a woman in a white coat, Tara McDonald called him to say the woman in the video was Terri-Lynne McClintic.
Kelly then took McClintic into custody on an outstanding probation warrant for breach of custody and supervision.
Day 4 of the Michael Rafferty murder trial has been adjourned. The trial will resume Tuesday with Terri-Lynne McClintic on the stand.
Today the jury heard from the veteran police officer who first interviewed Terri-Lynne McClintic. Det. Const. Sean Kelly broke down on the stand Thursday as he described learning Tori Stafford had been killed.
"It went from an abduction to a homicide investigation," Kelly said, his voice breaking and tears filling his eyes, describing the arrests of Terri-Lynne McClintic and Michael Rafferty May 19 2009.
Kelly was the first investigator to interview McClintic.
He obtained several pieces of information about her, including a resume that included experience babysitting.
He also obtained a lock of her hair.
He had interviewed McClintic April 12.
___________________________________________
LFPress: - Just an hour before luring little Tori Stafford to her death, Terri-Lynne McClintic was in a Woodstock job centre looking for work, admitting she had an anger problem and listing babysitting on her resume.
She would turn out to be the last person you would ever want around children.
After pleading guilty in 2010 to the first-degree murder of eight-year-old Tori, McClintic is now safely put away for at least 25 years. On Tuesday, she's set to be the star prosecution witness against Michael Rafferty, her former boyfriend accused of being her partner in Tori's abduction, sexual assault and murder.
But before her testimony, Woodstock Police Det. Const. Sean Kelly was telling the jury how the 18-year-old high school dropout on welfare first appeared on his radar.
Grey suit, grey hair, grey tie, Kelly started out as a typical cop witness: Straightforward, informative, cool. But that would soon change.
It was Easter Sunday 2009, four days after Tori was last seen on surveillance footage being led away from Oliver Stephens Public School by a young woman with long hair and a white coat. A massive police investigation was underway with worried officers working around the clock. Kelly, who had become the liaison officer with Tori's distraught family, was interviewing a possible witness when he got a call from the missing girl's mom, Tara McDonald - she thought the woman in the video could be someone she knew as "Terri".
"She mentioned they had bred puppies together," Kelly explained. "There was a distinct walk from the footage that she recognized."
With a general geographic location from McDonald, he plugged the information into the police database and came up with a possibility: Terri McClintic was wanted for violating her probation. He decided to check her out.
McClintic came to the door and agreed to be interviewed about Tori. Arrested on the outstanding warrant, she was taken to the station and asked to bring along any white jackets she had. She brought a white cloth blazer and a pink ski jacket.
McClintic was doing her clumsy best to avoid being considered a suspect: Not only did she not have a similar white jacket as the mystery woman in the video. but she also told the detective while she'd recently cut her hair - everyone knew the kidnapper had long hair - it was only because she'd got gum in it. She even showed Kelly her shorn locks in the bathroom garbage can, with the gum still attached.
As if she were a five-year-old who couldn't keep gum in her mouth. The alarm bells must have been ringing for him.
McClintic also seemed to be trying to establish an alibi. She told Kelly on the afternoon Tori went missing, she was at Community Employment Services looking for work. Following up on her information, he confirmed she'd signed in there at 2:19 p.m.
But Tori was seen with the white-coated woman one hour and 13 minutes later.
From seized records, the detective learned more about the woman eventually convicted of murder: McClintic had last worked for three weeks in November 2008 as an industrial cleaner at a Toyota plant, but it wasn't clear if she'd been laid off or fired. And her last job before that?
Babysitting.
"I cared for children eight months to five years of age," she wrote on her resume. "Prepared healthy meals and snacks, fulfilled basic everyday needs. Created and participated in appropriate activities."
So Terri-Lynne is testifying Tuesday, I am debating on whether to go, I am sure it will be a packed day at court, so I wonder if I would even make it in to the overflow room....? I am really intrigues to hear her testimony though and find out the why's and how's and what she was thinking, was it her idea, was it Michael Rafferty's.... and since the records at her court appearance when she pled guilty have been sealed, no-one knows how things went down that fateful day for Tori :(
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.