A Canadian Atrocity
Guy Paul Morin lived next door to nine-year-old Christine Jessop's family in Queensville, Ontario. The year was 1984. Guy Paul, who worked for a furniture manufacturer, lived with his parents in this quiet town in southern Ontario. He was twenty-three. He played clarinet and saxophone. He was generally happy and looked forward to a bright future. Little did he know what the future held in store.
Christine Jessop's school bus dropped her off at her home on October 3, 1984. Her parents weren't home. (Why a nine-year-old was left by herself is beyond me.) When they arrived at approximately 4:30pm, they found her backpack on the kitchen counter. The mail and flyers had been brought into the house. Though they knew she had arrived home safely, there was no sign of her. They searched the neighbourhood to no avail. Christine had vanished.
Christine's mother, Janet, telephoned police between 7 and 8 pm. York Regional Police responded immediately. Emergency vehicles and seventeen police officers, including a police dog and its handlers were dispatched to the Jessop home over the next seven hours.
During that time, Constable McGowan went next door to ask the Morin's if they had seen Christine after she'd arrived home from school. He talked to Mrs. Morin and noted that while Guy Paul was present he sat silently and "stared straight ahead." McGowan felt this was suspicious behavior. He noted it in his report.
A team of police dogs arrived at the Morin property about the time that McGowan was at the house. Constable Robertson, handler of canine officer, Ryder, reported that the dog sniffed around Morin's beige Honda. Ryder put his front paws on the passenger side window and acted, "in a pronounced way."
York Regional Police continued to investigate the case as a missing person until December 31, 1984, when a body was found along Ravenshoe Road in Durham Region, 56 kilometers (33.2 miles) from the Jessop home. On January 1, 1985, dental records identified the body as that of Christine.
The case instantly changed to a homicide. An autopsy was conducted. The coroner at that time concluded that Christine had been dead for three to four months. It was not known if she'd been sexually assaulted.
An entry in the notebook of Inspector John Shephard, dated February 20, 1985, mentioned "suspect Morin." It later came to light that Morin hadn't been questioned about Christine's death until February 22, 1985. How then, could Shephard have known that Morin was a "suspect?"
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