Christine Jessop case finally solved

[Mendalla]

I remember this case from the news back in the day (I was just finishing high school). Hadn't realized they had never solved it. Now they know who was the killer. He is deceased himself, having committed suicide in 2015. Click on the image of the first tweet in the Twitter thread to see the whole thing.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1316807867899486208

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

Oh my god, that was a horrible case I had never heard of until now. Did the family continue to know the rapist and killer - but not know he was the one - until his death? It's so awful. I'm glad they closed the case but it must not be any comfort to her family.

 

[Lastpointe]

Such a tragedy. Th article I read said police went to Guy Paul Morin‘s home to let him know. After wrongly convicting him. That was the second tragedy
and what else did this guy do after he killed this little girl. I wonder if they are looking to link cold cases to him

such a sad thing
I remember this so well.

 

[Carolla]

I remember it well too. Such a tragedy. So interesting that it was sorted out 36 years later - gotta give the police some credit for sticking with it. True @Lastpointe - does certainly make one wonder. We just never know sometimes that people nearby can have such dark secrets.

 

[Mendalla]

I was pleased to see that someone has updated Guy Paul Morin's article on Wikipedia to include this new information. I know some people still had suspicions about Morin (sadly) so this must be a relief to him. Perhaps less so to the family, though at least it brings some kind of closure.

I wonder if they are looking to link cold cases to him

I would suspect so. This may not be the last time we hear of Calvin Hoover, unfortunately.

 

[Mendalla]

The Globe & Mail reposted a story they did on the cold case in 2004.

Trail to Christine's killer 20 years old and cold

Ontario girl's high-profile murder case is now confined to 300 boxes filled with yellowing files

www.theglobeandmail.com

 

[Waterfall]

Christines family speaks out.

‘It had to be someone we knew well’: Christine Jessop’s family speaks after 1984 murder solved

Her parents marriage didn't survive the tragedy.....so many people affected

 

[Waterfall]

I was just wondering, did the police dig the killer's body up to test his DNA or was this a man they had taken a swab from at some point? Was it from a sperm sample? How would they get that? If they did take one while he was alive wouldn't they have taken it because DNA matching was available? From the sounds of it the lawyer for Guy Paul Morin and Christines family didn't even know the killer was a suspect at anytime. Completely surprised when told.
I'm confused.....how did this match happen?

 

[Waterfall]

I was just wondering, did the police dig the killer's body up to test his DNA or was this a man they had taken a swab from at some point? Was it from a sperm sample? How would they get that? If they did take one while he was alive wouldn't they have taken it because DNA matching was available? From the sounds of it the lawyer for Guy Paul Morin and Christines family didn't even know the killer was a suspect at anytime. Completely surprised when told.
I'm confused.....how did this match happen?

Okay I found a partial answer, it was from a geneology website and his hair from his autopsy.....but still confused why they went digging for this information from a person who didn't seem to be on anyone's radar.

 

[ChemGal]

Okay I found a partial answer, it was from a geneology website and his hair from his autopsy.....but still confused why they went digging for this information from a person who didn't seem to be on anyone's radar.

With genealogy there's a good chance they didn't go 'digging' - came up with a close relative hit and that's what lead them to look into it.
In general 'libraries' of information are being used to solve quite a few problems and I expect that to only expand.

 

[ChemGal]

Here's an article that helps explain it - A look at genetic genealogy, the science that helped identify Christine Jessop's killer

 

[Waterfall]

With genealogy there's a good chance they didn't go 'digging' - came up with a close relative hit and that's what lead them to look into it.
In general 'libraries' of information are being used to solve quite a few problems and I expect that to only expand.

I get that part but did the funeral home snip his hair for the police back in 2015 and it was put into a geneology website hoping for a hit? It makes me curious that everyone was so surprised by who it was or that there was even a strong suspect after Morin's exoneration. Strong enough of a suspect that they took his hair when he died.....hmm, ah well,
I wonder, do you think there is a potential to set someone up with this technique.....not with this guy because they had his semen well preserved from 30 plus years ago, right?......but say with someone just accused of a robbery or a murder without rape?
She was murdered in 1984 and DNA testing wasn't available until 1986....what is the expiration date for testing semen?

 

[Waterfall]

Here's an article that helps explain it - A look at genetic genealogy, the science that helped identify Christine Jessop's killer

The last paragraph is a bit worrisome.....

 

[Waterfall]

Is this story for real? From 1995 a list of the suspects after Guy Paul Morin was exonerated.
This poor little girl was raped by her step brother Ken and his two friends since she was 4 years old.....and her adopted brother Ken was one of the suspects and there were more.....
Hoover wasn't one of them.

Who murdered Christine Jessop? With Guy Paul Morin cleared, police tackle a fresh probe

In the months following the discovery of Christine Jessop's remains in 1984, police investigated more than 350 potential suspects.

www.thestar.com

 

[Lastpointe]

Waterfall he had an autopsy done at death , likely because a sudden death is a coroners case and the coroner ca;decide to do a autopsy

tissues from autopsy's are retained

they used the dna gene tracing idea that has now netted several killers. The company compared crime scene dna to their profiles and came up with a group of possibles. They police then traced down those possibles and came up with him. Luckily they had dna to make a positive match

what surprises me in this recap of the case is how they missed this guy

brother said dad was in jail, he and mom were going to visit. Christine was too young so was staying home alone after school. Only three people knew that. This mans mother was one of those three. So don’t you think those three people who knew she was alone would have been investigated

instead they thought Morin was strange and focused on him immediately. Scary stuff


this case resulted in the creation of the defense for wrongly imprisoned.

 

[Mendalla]

instead they thought Morin was strange and focused on him immediately.

Sadly, that's how law enforcement and prosecutors tend to operate even now at times. Go for the low hanging fruit or easy conviction rather than actually put in the effort. And, of course, do everything in your power, including cheating, to get that easy conviction. Morin, Truscott, Marshall, on and on the list goes.

Apparently it can be even worse in some US constituencies. Years ago, the crime fiction writer and criminal lawyer Andrew Vachss actually started a PAC to fight against the practice of some prosecutors to accept guilty pleas of misdemeanor incest from fathers who had sexually abused their children rather than pushing a sexual interference case to trial. Still went on their record as a conviction even though the guy basically got off with a slap on the wrist and stayed off the sex crime register. Vachss' practice was representing the victims in child abuse cases so it was something he was sadly familiar with. Didn't make him much money (he was basically a public defender) but his writing made up for that.

 

[Waterfall]

Waterfall he had an autopsy done at death , likely because a sudden death is a coroners case and the coroner ca;decide to do a autopsy

tissues from autopsy's are retained

they used the dna gene tracing idea that has now netted several killers. The company compared crime scene dna to their profiles and came up with a group of possibles. They police then traced down those possibles and came up with him. Luckily they had dna to make a positive match

what surprises me in this recap of the case is how they missed this guy

brother said dad was in jail, he and mom were going to visit. Christine was too young so was staying home alone after school. Only three people knew that. This mans mother was one of those three. So don’t you think those three people who knew she was alone would have been investigated

instead they thought Morin was strange and focused on him immediately. Scary stuff


this case resulted in the creation of the defense for wrongly imprisoned.

Thanks, now I'm trying to figure out if the story I posted from The Star is real. Does anyone know? If so, why wasn't her brother and his friends charged also with sexual assault when he admitted it? Why when some suspects (eg. her brother and his friends)were asked for DNA samples and they just said no, the police didn't pursue it further? Are you allowed to just say no after admitting they had sexual intercourse with a nine year old and that is that? Are you allowed to admit sexual interference even if the victim is deceased and allowed to go free with possible further sexual interference with others?

Also I'm still wondering how long semen is viable for DNA testing? Can it be confirmed after 2 years after the crime which is when DNA testing started?
Were the police even familiar with how to store the semen sample when it wasn't even a fully understood science at the time? Or was her underwear just thrown into a plastic bag and then into the familiar cardboard box with other evidence?
From what I'm reading semen samples on underwear are only viable for one year and this does not correlate with this killers sample of a later testing.
Even in this day and age, samples are still mishandled and we are familiar.......how can a police force from before the advent of DNA testing, possibly know how to handle these samples?
I really don't see how there can be a high level of accuracy and the fact that none of this is challenged because the accused is dead, will never expose any of the possible flaws that may exist. Why do I care? A killer could still be out there?

 

[Mendalla]

Also I'm still wondering how long semen is viable for DNA testing? Can it be confirmed after 2 years after the crime which is when DNA testing started?
Were the police even familiar with how to store the semen sample when it wasn't even a fully understood science at the time? Or was her underwear just thrown into a plastic bag and then into the familiar cardboard box with other evidence?
From what I'm reading semen samples on underwear are only viable for one year and this does not correlate with this killers sample of a later testing.
Even in this day and age, samples are still mishandled and we are familiar.......how can a police force from before the advent of DNA testing, possibly know how to handle these samples?

The DNA samples were analyzed in least 1995, maybe earlier, as they are what cleared Morin. Once they have been sequenced, the sequence is stored digitally and they would not need to pull out the actual samples again unless there was a question or concern about that analysis. So it is not like they just pulled out samples from 1984 this year and analyzed them recently. They are comparing to the results of the previous analysis, not a new one.

Evidence like semen-stained underwear (I cringe even typing that) could be analyzed in various ways even in 1984 so there were evidence handling procedures even back then, even if possibly less rigorous than now.

 

[Waterfall]

Sadly, that's how law enforcement and prosecutors tend to operate even now at times. Go for the low hanging fruit or easy conviction rather than actually put in the effort. And, of course, do everything in your power, including cheating, to get that easy conviction. Morin, Truscott, Marshall, on and on the list goes.

Apparently it can be even worse in some US constituencies. Years ago, the crime fiction writer and criminal lawyer Andrew Vachss actually started a PAC to fight against the practice of some prosecutors to accept guilty pleas of misdemeanor incest from fathers who had sexually abused their children rather than pushing a sexual interference case to trial. Still went on their record as a conviction even though the guy basically got off with a slap on the wrist and stayed off the sex crime register. Vachss' practice was representing the victims in child abuse cases so it was something he was sadly familiar with. Didn't make him much money (he was basically a public defender) but his writing made up for that.

And a dead guy with no defense is a good scapegoat for more funding given to police for this largely unused technology for long ago cases in Canadian courts too.
I'm curious what the Hoover children and his wife think of this "conviction".

 

[Waterfall]

The DNA samples were analyzed in least 1995, maybe earlier, as they are what cleared Morin. Once they have been sequenced, the sequence is stored digitally and they would not need to pull out the actual samples again unless there was a question or concern about that analysis. So it is not like they just pulled out samples from 1984 this year and analyzed them recently. They are comparing to the results of the previous analysis, not a new one.

Evidence like semen-stained underwear (I cringe even typing that) could be analyzed in various ways even in 1984 so there were evidence handling procedures even back then, even if possibly less rigorous than now.

But the samples could only be from 1984.....when the technology was not even used or known until 1986. Sequencing was unheard of. How would the police know how to store it? A plastic bag creates bacteria.

1995 is still nine years later.