Update on 52 y.o.ex-cop in Canada recently linked by DNA to 2 1970 nurse rape-murders,cops now say he MAY be serial killer of NINE other ppl between 1975-1991
Joe1orbit
Here is a VERY interesting update on Ronald Glenn West, the 52 year old
ex-cop in Canada who is only NOW, 29 YEARS after he raped & slaughtered two
female nurses 13 days apart, in 1970, being charged with these two killings,
after DNA testing established a POSITIVE link between him and both rape/murder
scenes. I've already posted a couple of long articles on this case, so will
save time and not repeat myself. But I do want everyone to know that police are
EXPANDING their investigation of Ronald being a possible serial killer, and are
now saying that NINE specific additional killings, beyond these two 1970
rape-murders, could very well be the work of Ronald. Details on all nine
killings, including the SIX new cases that my precious posts did not mention,
are given below.
Also, you can view SEVERAL black & white photos of Ronald, including a REALLY
cool one of Ronald wearing his police uniform way back in 1968, just after
becoming a member of the police force, at the following URL:
http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSFeatures9909/01_west.html
There are SIX unsolved murders, and one attempted murder, all of which
occured in the same area of western Ontario, that detectives are trying to link
Ronald to. The killings occured between 1975 and 1987, and UNLIKE the 2 1970
killings, NO type of rape was involved, and in fact all the victims were at
least middle-aged. they include both men and women. I do not see any SOLID
evidence to link Ronald to these six murders at this time, and Ronald is wisely
keeping his mouth completely shut. The "strongest" piece of evidence that cops
have, or at least are willing to reveal to the media, is that: "In 1975, West
was charged with failing to remain at the scene of an accident in Brockville --
a short distance down the road from the murder scenes." Well, that's a VERY
circumstantial piece of evidence, and obviously nowhere near enough to even
think about trying to indict or convict Ronald. Of course he STILL faces trial
for the 2 1970 gal nurse murders, and the DNA evidence there, is quite strong.
That a serial killer WAS at work in the area between 1975 and 1987 appears
almost CERTAIN, the killings, and how the killer tried, quite SUCCESSFULLY at
times, to cover up his murders by setting the houses of his victims on fire,
bear striking modus operandi similarities that peg them as being the work of a
serial killer. The real question at hand is whether Ronald IS this serial
killer, or not. If he is, ya gotta give him a LOT of credit for CHANGING his
killing modus operando after the first two nurse murders, and demonstrating a
lot of tactical skill in avoiding identification as a suspect in the NINE
additional murders he is now suspected of. That would give him ELEVEN
fatalities in all, a pretty LARGE victim count for any serial killer.
Take care, JOE
The following appears courtesy of today's CNews Canadian Press news wire, via
the Sun Media Service:
Wednesday, September 1, 1999
Ex-officer probed in serial killings
By ALAN CAIRNS AND JOE WARMINGTON, Sun Media Newspapers
TORONTO -- A former Toronto cop facing charges in the decades-old murders of
two nurses is now being probed in a string of Ottawa Valley slayings attributed
to a ruthless serial killer.
Ronald Glenn West, 52, is regarded as a possible suspect in the unsolved
slayings of six people in their rural homes in eastern Ontario and the
near-fatal wounding of a man during a gas bar robbery.
The so-called Ottawa Valley Killer preyed on elderly residents of a triangle
bounded by Ottawa, Morrisburg and Cornwall between 1975 and 1987.
"We are interested in West. We're actively looking into old files . . . we're
looking for anything that fits," Deputy Chief Vince Bevan of Ottawa-Carleton
police confirmed last night.
"Any time you have an alleged offender like (West), you have to look closely at
them," said Bevan, the former Niagara detective who headed the massive probe of
sex killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.
OPP detectives who charged West last week with the 1970 murders of nurses Helen
Ferguson and Doreen Moorby at their rural homes northwest of Toronto are "very
interested" in the Ottawa-area killings, a police source says.
Provincial police Insp. Don MacNeill, who was unavailable for comment last
night, is leaving "no stone unturned," the source said.
"We think there is a lot more to this guy than we already know," the source
said.
Of great interest to the OPP is their knowledge that in 1975, West was charged
with failing to remain at the scene of an accident in Brockville -- a short
distance down the road from the murder scenes.
The killings began in September 1975. It was then that the charred remains of
Lillian Toussant, 83, were found in her fire-ravaged cottage in Glen Stewart.
Tests later showed Toussant had been bound by the wrists to a bed.
Two more fire deaths in rural homes between 1981 and 1983 were initially
regarded as accidental, caused by malfunctioning stoves.
But as more killings surfaced, police reversed their stand on the fiery deaths
of Kenneth Murphy, 68, and Archie Collison, 71, and linked them to other
murders.
In 1983, Harold Davidson, 60, was shot three times with a .38-calibre handgun
in Brinston. His body was found next to an overturned stove.
Three months later, Metcalfe gas bar attendant Gordon Hill survived two
gunshots after a bandit robbed him of $1,500.
Analysis linked those bullets to the gun that had killed Davidson.
In May 1987, Wallace Johnston, 48, of Monkland, was shot in the head through a
ground-floor window. His killer also tried to set fire to his house.
Two months later, John King, 59, of Morewood, was shot in the head and his
house was set ablaze.
West is four years into an eight-year prison sentence for a string of home and
store robberies in the Sault Ste. Marie area in 1995.
He is also a potential suspect in the 1991 slayings of Jackie McAllister, 49,
and Brian Major, 29, at a highway rest area a few kilometres from West's home
in Blind River, between the Soo and Sudbury.
McAllister and her husband, Gord, of Lindsay, were shot by a robber posing as a
police officer. Gord McAllister survived.
Major was slain in his car when he happened upon the scene.
Bevan said Ottawa-Carleton detectives are poised to ask the OPP to share
information.
A Sun Media Newspapers probe has learned that West, who joined Metro Toronto
Police in 1968 and worked as a constable in midtown 53 Division until he quit
in 1972, moved to western Canada and lived there for three years.
He did several short jail terms for a rash of medical office break-ins. He was
also convicted for possessing handguns and a throwing knife.
He returned to Ontario in 1975 and some time that year was charged by police
with failing to remain at the scene of an accident near Brockville.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The following three news articles all appear courtesy of the 9/1/99 online
edition of The Toronto Sun newspaper:
Wednesday, September 1, 1999
West eyed in serial murders
NURSE-MURDER SUSPECT PROBED IN OTTAWA VALLEY KILLING SPREE
THE COLD CASE KILLINGS: INVESTIGATION WIDENS
By ALAN CAIRNS AND JOE WARMINGTON, TORONTO SUN
A former Toronto cop facing charges in the decades-old murders of two nurses
is now being probed in a string of Ottawa Valley slayings attributed to a
ruthless serial killer.
Ronald Glenn West, 52, is regarded as a possible suspect in the unsolved
slayings of six people in their rural homes in Eastern Ontario and the
near-fatal wounding of a man during a gas bar robbery.
The so-called Ottawa Valley Killer preyed on elderly residents of a triangle
bounded by Ottawa, Morrisburg and Cornwall between 1975 and 1987.
"We are interested in West. We're actively looking into old files ... we're
looking for anything that fits," Deputy Chief Vince Bevan of Ottawa-Carleton
Police confirmed last night.
"Any time you have an alleged offender like (West) you have to look closely at
them," said Bevan, the former Niagara detective who headed the massive probe of
sex killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.
OPP detectives who charged West last week with the 1970 "cold case" murders of
nurses Helen Ferguson and Doreen Moorby at their rural homes northwest of
Toronto are "very interested" in the Ottawa-area killings, a police source
says.
Provincial police Insp. Don MacNeill, who was unavailable for comment last
night, is leaving "no stone unturned," the source said.
"We think there is a lot more to this guy than we already know," the source
said.
Of great interest to the OPP is their knowledge that in 1975 West was charged
with failing to remain at the scene of an accident in Brockville -- a short
distance down the road from the murder scenes.
The killings began in September 1975. It was then that the charred remains of
Lillian Toussant, 83, were found in her fire-ravaged cottage in Glen Stewart.
Tests later showed Toussant had been bound by the wrists to a bed.
Two more fire deaths in rural homes between 1981 and 1983 were initially
regarded as accidental, caused by malfunctioning stoves.
But as more killings surfaced, police reversed their stand on the fiery deaths
of Kenneth Murphy, 68, and Archie Collison, 71, and linked them to other
murders.
In 1983, Harold Davidson, 60, was shot three times with a .38-calibre handgun
in Brinston. His body was found next to an overturned stove.
Three months later, Metcalfe gas bar attendant Gordon Hill survived two
gunshots after a bandit robbed him of $1,500.
Analysis linked those bullets to the gun that had killed Davidson.
In May 1987, Wallace Johnston, 48, of Monkland, was shot in the head through a
ground-floor window. His killer also tried to set fire to his house.
Two months later, John King, 59, of Morewood, was shot in the head and his
house was set ablaze.
For years detectives probing the valley murders regarded mechanic Jim Wise, of
Chesterville, as the prime suspect.
Wise, 56, charged in November 1987 with sabotaging a Bell Canada microwave
tower after police watched him for five months, was never charged in the
killings.
No evidence was ever found linking him to the murder scenes.
Wise launched a lawsuit against the OPP, which handled the Ottawa Valley case
prior to the area's amalgamation as part of the Ottawa-Carlton Region.
Moorby was killed at her rural Gormley home May 6, 1970, while she was home
alone with her 21-month-old son. She was shot five times in the head and twice
in the back with a .22-calibre gun. Her son was unharmed.
Thirteen days later, Helen Ferguson was shot once in the head and twice in the
back at her Palgrave home after she answered the door to a man. Her
nine-year-old son was unharmed in his bedroom.
West is currently four years into an eight-year prison sentence for a string of
home and store robberies in the Sault Ste. Marie area in 1995.
He is also a potential suspect in the 1991 slayings of Jackie McAllister, 49,
and Brian Major, 29, at a highway rest area a few kilometres from West's home
in Blind River, between the Soo and Sudbury.
McAllister and her husband, Gord, of Lindsay, were shot by a robber posing as a
police officer. Gord McAllister survived.
Major was slain in his car when he happened upon the scene.
Bevan said Ottawa-Carleton detectives are poised to ask the OPP to share
information.
A Toronto Sun probe has learned that West, who joined Metro Toronto Police in
1968 and worked as a constable in midtown 53 Division until he quit in 1972,
moved to western Canada and lived there for three years.
He did several short jail terms for a rash of medical office break-ins. He was
also convicted for possessing handguns and a throwing knife.
He returned to Ontario in 1975 and some time that year was charged by police
with failing to remain at the scene of an accident near Brockville.
Sources say it was a minor accident, and West told police he was on a "fishing
trip."
The Sun has learned that West lived in Northern Ontario with his first wife.
His two children, now adults, recently told their foster parents that West left
their mother when they were about five or six years old and he then moved them
across Canada.
West arrived in Blind River in 1988 and moved into an apartment.
He met and soon married Rena Lacroix at a rushed ceremony in Nashville.
In two of the Sault cases, West gained access to one home under the guise of
wanting to buy a hospital bed and into another home on the ruse of viewing a
rental apartment.
Two men were disabled with blows to the head. One was tied hands and feet to a
bed. On three occasions, West walked into stores and robbed and bound female
employees.
West was charged with first-degree murder in the Moorby and Ferguson homicides
after scientists compared DNA specimens from evidence at the scene with blood
samples taken from West at Joyceville prison.
The Orillia-based OPP team is establishing a timeline and geographic portrait
of West and comparing it to other unsolved slayings across Ontario, sources
say.
Their task is difficult because West didn't use credit cards, never took out
loans and paid for gas and meals with cash.
Ontario deputy coroner Dr. Jim Cairns said yesterday that last year
Ottawa-Carleton Police asked his office for its files on the Ottawa Valley
deaths.
Bevan said the files were ordered as part of the Ottawa-Carleton force's
attempt to solve "cold case" files with the help of new science, specifically
DNA analysis.
----------------------------------------------------------
12-year trail of terror
Toronto Sun
Unsolved crimes in the Ottawa Valley include:
• Sept. 24, 1975: Lillian Toussant, 83, of Glen Stewart, was found dead after
her clapboard house caught fire about 4 a.m.
Police determined later Toussant's hands had been bound with rope and her body
placed face down on her bed.
• Jan. 8, 1981: Kenneth Murphy, 68, dies in a fire that razed his Finch Twp.
home.
Only a few charred remains of the body were found. Until 1987, police thought
an over-heated stove caused the blaze.
• Nov. 18, 1983: Archie Collison, 71, of Oxford Mills, dies in an early morning
fire in his log cabin.
Officials thought initially the fire was started by a malfunctioning oil
stove.
• Nov. 24, 1983: Harold Davidson, 60, of Brinston, is shot to death and his
body found next to an overturned stove. He was shot three times with a
.38-calibre handgun.
• Feb. 12, 1984: Gordon Hill, of Metcalfe, is shot twice during a gas bar
robbery with the same gun that killed Davidson. Hill survives.
• May 18, 1987: Wallace Johnston, 48, of Monkland, is shot in the head through
a ground-floor window. There's evidence his killer also tried to set the house
on fire.
• July 14, 1987: John King, 59, of Morewood, is shot once through the head
before his house is set ablaze.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, September 1, 1999
Survivor keen to talk
Hopes police catch shooter ... THE COLD CASE KILLINGS: INVESTIGATION WIDENS
By JOE WARMINGTON AND ALAN CAIRNS, TORONTO SUN
It's the kind of news Gordon Hill has been waiting to hear for a long time.
But even though police have indicated they're looking into links between six
Ottawa Valley murders and the whereabouts at the time of Ronald West, Hill has
not yet been contacted by investigators.
As the only survivor of what has been dubbed the Ottawa Valley Killer, the
33-year-old Ottawa-area mechanic said he's always hoped someday they would
catch the man who shot him twice.
"I hate the thought of somebody still walking around out there," he said last
night.
The Toronto Sun has learned Ronald Glenn West, in custody and charged with the
murders of two nurses north of Toronto, is now being probed in a series of
Ottawa Valley murders between 1975 and 1987.
With the help of forensics, police determined the gun that was used to kill
several of the six was also used to shoot Hill.
Hill, who was working at a Mr. Gas station, was shot during a robbery in
February 1984 at the Regional Rd. 6 location near the town of Metcalfe.
Never seeing the perpetrator, Hill was hit in the arm and neck while getting
into his car with the evening's receipts. He said he always wished he could
have had a chance to chase after the shooter and attempt to tackle him.
"To be honest the thought has crossed my mind," he said. "There was no warning
or nothing. He just fired a gun."
The news that police are now looking into West's travel patterns during that
time "surprised" the now-married father of one. But if police do contact him,
he said, he'll offer whatever assistance he can.
"I would certainly talk with them," he said. "But I never saw a thing."
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