Unsolved: The Murder of Leah Sousa

$50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Leah’s killer
Call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS)

Leah was about to enter high school after the Labour Day long weekend when she was viciously sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

Map of Cumberland Beach

On Sept. 1, 1990, 13-year-old Leah Sousa, her 9-month-old brother, Michael, and mother Lora, 36, returned to their Cumberland Beach, Ontario, home from an extended vacation. Exhausted from their trip, they all fell asleep, Lora in the bedroom with the baby and Leah on the living room couch.

Sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m., an intruder(s) broke the glass of the back door, entered the home and beat Lora into unconsciousness. She was found on the living room floor with a smashed portable phone nearby. Michael was left unharmed in the bedroom.

The assailant(s) then sexually assaulted Leah, dragged her into the backyard where she was brutally beaten to death with a blunt object, possibly a crowbar or tire iron.

Her body was found around 10:30 a.m.by a school friend.

Although Lora survived, she suffered memory loss from the attack, making it difficult to identify a suspect(s) and the only evidence left at the scene was a bloody footprint made by a man’s size 9 or 10 all-leather Nike court or tennis shoe.

Here is what police think:

The assailant(s) either lived in the area or were very familiar with the Cumberland Beach
The assailant(s) targeted the Sousas knowing they were vulnerable; a single-mother with a baby and teenage daughter
The murder weapon has never been recovered
The assailant(s) would have been covered in blood after the assault, so someone would have noticed or he/they changed clothes and washed up directly afterwards
The attack occurred during the long-weekend and Cumberland Beach is located near tourist areas along Lake Couchiching

Help bring Leah’s killer to justice!!

Cumberland Beach is a small community about an hour’s drive north of Toronto. It is situated on Lake Couchiching in Simcoe County. The closest large city is Orillia.

The Sousa’s cottage (3421 Beachview Ave.) was situated about halfway between Cumberland Rd.and Lakeside Dr. on the north-east side of the street. The neighbours are both sides are very close to the home, but the backyard is shaded by a thicket of trees that leads to an empty lot on Coronation Ave. The nighttime and trees would cover the killer as he approached the back door.

The lot the house sits on is about 132×50 feet.

Highway 11, which connects Cumberland Beach to Orillia and Severn, is about 350 metres from the Sousa’s front door, while Bayou Beach (a public beach) is just over 400 metres. On either side of Bayou Beach are plenty of cottages with private docks.

The Sousa home as it looked in 1990

Possible Suspects

The OPP conducted over 1,800 interviews and followed-up on all tips, but no one has ever been arrested for the murder of Leah Sousa.

Investigators describe Leah’s killing as one of Ontario’s most brutal homicides ever, yet the was very little forensic evidence left behind. They believe that someone still living in Cumberland has information that could help them crack the case.

Following are some official and some completely speculative persons of interest.

Brian Timothy Elson

Brian Elson was interviewed multiple times by investigators after Leah’s murder. Police believe he was in Cumberland Beach on Sept. 1, 1990, and his grandmother lived on Beachfront Dr., down the street from the Sousas, at the time.

A mere four months after Leah’s death, Elson stabbed 17-year-old Sandra Bannister to death at a party. He was convicted of manslaughter and spent six years in prison. He was considered such a threat to society that police monitored his movements for three years after his release.

Larry Talbot (pseudonym)

In his book, “A Viable Suspect:The Story of Multiple Murders and How a Police Force’s Reach Proved Too Short for Canada’s Most Notorious Cold Case”, retired OPP officer Barry Ruhl believes a serial killer he calls Larry Talbot could be responsible for the death of Leah Sousa, as well as many other girls and women in southwestern Ontario.

In 1971, Talbot broke into Ruhl’s Sauble Beach cottage and attacked his fiancée. Luckily, Ruhl interrupted the assault and arrested Talbot at the scene.

Later, he attended a community policing meeting about Leah Sousa’s murder where he learned that the intruder gained entrance to the home by smashing out the back door window. This was also how Talbot broke into Ruhl’s cottage 21 years earlier.

A traveling salesman, Talbot frequented the highways of southwestern Ontario and a “rape kit” was found in his car, but he died before he was thoroughly investigated for any unsolved murders, including:

Lynne Harper, 12, from Vanastra. Her 1959 murder saw Steven Truscott wrongly convicted.
Lynda White, 19, went missing from London in 1968. Her remains were found in Norfolk County in 1973.
Jacqueline English, 15, went missing from London in 1969. Her body was found near Tilsonburg.
Pauline Ivy Dudley, 17, from Oakville, was killed in 1973. Halton Regional Police informed Ruhl that Talbot was the prime suspect in her case.
Christine Prince, from Toronto, was killed in 1982. Her body was found floating in Toronto’s Rouge River.
Delia Adriano, 25, from Oakville, was killed in 1982. Her body was found in rural Oakville west of Campbellville.
Valerie Stevens, 19, from Toronto, murdered in 1992. Her body was found in Burford.
Cindy Hallaway, 17, last seen in Midland, was murdered in 1992. Her body was found near Phelpston.

Possible Drug Vendetta

In her book, “Poetic Justice: The Search for Leah’s Killers”, Leah’s mother Lora reveals that her brother was a drug dealer who was living with them at the time of the murder. She says it is possible that the assault was drug-related and that the killers were actually looking for him.

Michael Wayne Mcgray

A Sept. 23, 2012, a user named Chrisdiane posted the following on unsolvedcanada.ca:

“I was in prison with a serial killer named Mike Wayne Mcgray. He described in great detail to me this murder….maybe because I am an ex-con or there is a 50 thousand dollar reward my credibility is questioned. Noone seems to take me seriously but I am telling you I interviewed the devil. I was a career criminal who thought I was a bad person until I met Wayne. I have never reoffended since my release from prison and I have turned my life around. I truly believe with all my heart this man did this crime which he described in great detail to me. I am ashamed to admitt I befriended him while in prison but sometimes you keep your enemies closer than your friends as the saying goes. I grew up on a small town on Vancouver Island and had no wayof ever knowingabout this crime. I dont care about the reward money allthough I would not refuse it. I have looked into this crime and i think the family deserves closure…..Mcgray told me if he was ever questioned about this crime he would not deny his guilt. Please someone hear this”