Stories of Murder in Toronto's Gay Village
On Monday, December 16, 1996, employees at an industrial complex on McLevin Avenue in Scarborough noticed that someone had apparently set a fire in one of the dumpsters, the Globe and Mail reported. The Toronto Star described a smouldering dumpster in the Sheppard Avenue East and Markham Road area. The body inside was burned beyond … Read more
Thirty-one-year-old Deanna (Thomas) Wilkinson was the last victim of spree killer Marcello Palma, who killed three prostitutes within just a few hours on Victoria Day weekend, May 20, 1996. Wilkinson was also a songstress who had performed at various venues, and was a poetess and short story writer. The Sex Workers Alliance of Toronto held … Read more
Shawn Keegan was just 19 years old when they was murdered by Toronto spree killer Marcello Palma. Keegan, described as a “transvestite prostitute”, was killed with the same gun as “female prostitute” Brenda Ludgate, 25, and “transsexual prostitute” Deanna (Thomas) Wilkinson, 31, within about three hours, on May 20, 1996. Keegan had lived for some … Read more
On Monday, January 29, 1996, Les Aykler went to check on the superintendent of his family’s apartment building at College Street and Roxton Road, just east of Ossington Avenue. Tenants had last seen Clayton Russell on Saturday. Aykler had spoken to him that day too. Now neither the residents nor the realty firm could reach … Read more
At about 8:30 on the morning of Tuesday, September 12, 1995, the superintendent of an apartment building on Cosburn Avenue, near Pape Avenue in East York, let a Metro police officer into a third-floor apartment. A friend had asked police to check on the tenant after no one heard from him over the weekend, the … Read more
Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms used to state that every individual is to be considered equal regardless of religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, sex, age or physical or mental disability. It did not explicitly include sexual orientation. Activist Jim Egan took the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada … Read more
At 1:30 p.m. on Friday, October 28, 1994, a woman’s body was found behind the Palais Royale dance hall on Lake Shore Boulevard West. The Toronto Star reported two days later that she had been strangled. She was Virginia Lee Coote, 33, known to her friends as Flex. The Star said the body had washed … Read more
At about noon on Saturday, November 19, 1994, a man walking his dog found a body in a heavily wooded part of a Rosedale ravine. The Toronto Star reported that it was badly decomposed. An autopsy found that the man had died of head injuries from a severe beating. Police counted the death as Metro … Read more
On Monday, September 19, 1994, at about 5 p.m., an ambulance crew climbed to a 14th-floor apartment on Sherbourne St. A friend had gone there looking for Harry Ronald Isaac, 50, who had not turned up for work at a hotel on Lombard St. The friend found him dead. The Toronto Star reported the next … Read more
Prostitute Julieanne Middleton, 23, was working the Parkdale neighbourhood when she was murdered. Police suspect she is a victim of serial killer Peter Dale MacDonald. She was found July 7, 1994 in Lake Ontario, just a few minutes’ walk from the Palais Royale at 1601 Lake Shore Blvd West, along Toronto’s western waterfront. Middleton was … Read more
On May 7, 1994, John Beverly “Bev” Wilson, 60, a well-known stage manager who once worked with the National Ballet of Canada, was found dead in the laundry room of his Eglinton Avenue West and Avenue Road apartment building. He was found in a large pool of blood, dead from a single stab wound. Wilson, … Read more
At about 5:30 on the morning of Saturday, February 26, 1994, Dr. Stephen Kirby left an after-hours club on St. Joseph Street in downtown Toronto. Just before, he had been involved in a minor confrontation with another man inside the club, Metro police said. Outside, he was knocked to the ground and kicked in the … Read more
Shortly after 6:30 on the morning of Tuesday, August 3, 1993, a long-time friend found Jack Bell dead in his house on Collier Street. The Toronto Star reported that Bell was on the second floor. The Globe and Mail reported that he was face down. The friend told police there were signs of a break-in. … Read more
Just before midnight on July 30, 1993, a trail of blood led tenants of an 80 Charles St. East apartment building to the viciously beaten body of Norman Bernard Rasky, 62, a retired dentist. Residents followed the blood trail from the lobby of one building to the underground locker room of another, adjoining building. He … Read more
The Toronto Sun reported on December 27, 1992 that Grayce Baxter had sent her parents plane tickets so they could spend Christmas with her in Toronto. They flew in from Clearwater, B.C. Their daughter was not there. Her concierge told the Sun he noticed she was missing before anyone else did. Friends came by and … Read more