Unsolved: The Murder of Christine Price
Any information, call Toronto Homicide at 416-808-7400 or homicide@torontopolice.on.ca, Case File #24/1982
Call anonymously to Crime Stoppers 416-222-TIPS (8477)
In the early hours of Monday, June 21, 1982, 25-year-old Christine Prince was abducted from downtown Toronto, taken to a hidden lane along the Rouge River in Scarborough, where she was sexually assaulted and murdered.
Here is what police think:
- Christine was cautious and would never had accepted a ride from a stranger.
- Christine was abducted from the east sidewalk outside of 18 Pinewood Ave. where her umbrella was found.
- It is likely there was more than one assailant because the abduction was so quick and noiseless, and to subdue Christine for the 30 km drive to Rouge River.
- The assailants were very familiar with the back roads along the Rouge River
- Christine’s missing jewelery could have been given as a gift to wife, mother or girlfriend of the assailant.
- Tire tracks belonging to a four-wheel drive Toyota were found near the crime scene that may or may not be connected to Christine’s murder.
- Police do have DNA evidence collected from the scene.
Help bring Christine’s killer to justice!!
On Sunday, June 20, 1982, Christine Prince met up with her friend, Gloria Betts, to watch a movie at the Yonge- Bloor cinema. Both women had traveled from their homeland of Wales to work as live-in nannies for families in Toronto.
After the movie, they walked to the Four Seasons Hotel to meet up with Christine’s boyfriend, David Curtis-Smith, who was finishing work as a chef at the hotel. The three then went to a cafe nearby for donuts before heading home.
Between 1-1:30 a.m., Monday, June 21, 1982, Christine and Gloria got on the Bloor St. subway heading north to St. Clair St., while David traveled east. Exiting the subway at the St. Clair station, the women caught the westbound St. Clair streetcar. Gloria got off at Bathurst St. leaving Christine to travel two stops to Wychwood Ave., where she got off the streetcar, walked a very short distance to Pinewood Ave. and headed north towards the Kruzick residence.
Her distinctive umbrella was found at 6 a.m. by a woman walking south on Pinewood past Humewood park. Noticing the umbrella was in good condition, she picked it up and hung it on the doorknob of a shop located at St. Clair Ave. W. and Christie St.
The Kruzicks became worried when Christine had not returned by 7:30 a.m. and contacted the police.
Around 9 a.m., Dominic Dodds, a city worker cutting the grass beside HWY 401 near Meadowvale Rd., found Christine’s wallet.
On the morning of Tuesday, June 22, 1982, people walking to work along Sewell’s Rd. spotted Christine’s nude body floating face down in the Rouge River. She had been sexually assaulted and murdered.
Investigators identified the crime scene along a hidden lane that runs beside the Rouge River, about 200 metres upstream from where Christine’s body came to rest. There, they found her clothing and purse, which was missing her wallet and an instant camera, and rope believed to tie her wrists. Two pieces of jewelery that Christine always wore – a gold ring with two joined hearts and a gold watch – were missing and have never been found.
Although she had been badly beaten, Christine’s cause of death was drowning, either by the assailant holding her under water or she was unable to save herself due to her injuries.
Places & Routes in Christine Prince Case
The Christine Prince Case
Possible Suspects
FBI Profile of Christine’s Killers
The FBI profilers were contacted by Toronto police in 1985. The following is their thoughts on Christine’s assailants.
- She was kidnapped by two men, and her wrists were immediately bound
- Her assailants were familiar with the back road near the Rouge River where she was taken
- One assailant (the leader) raped and murdered Christine while the other (the follower) stood by
The Slim Black Man
On May 30, 1982, a woman was attacked in an attempted rape as she walked south on Humewood Ave. at 7:30 a.m. She bit her attacker’s hand and ran into the street waving down a passing vehicle. She described the assailant as a slim, 6′ black man. Investigators made a tentative link to Christine’s case.
William Brett Henson
Through DNA, Henson was convicted of the murder of 19-year-old Jenny Isford 15 years after her death in 1982. Jenny was attacked walking home after exited a public bus in North York.
Danny Wood
Danny Wood was a drifter who had already murdered a woman in Calgary, Alberta, before he located to the Timmons/North Bay area of Ontario in the early 1980s. There he raped and murdered women along the Highway 11 corridor. Police think he may be responsible for up to 15 murders in Canada.
Paul Bernardo
Although Bernardo is not known to have committed any murders before the 1990s, he was active as the Scarborough Rapist in the late 80s. He would have been 18-years-old at the time Christine was murdered.
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 Christine Prince, 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.
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.
- Delia Adriano, 25, from Oakville, was killed in 1982. Her body was found in rural Oakville west of Campbellville.
- Leah Sousa, 13, from Cumberland Beach, was killed in 1982. Her body was found in her backyard.
- 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.
Sources
Mellor, Lee. Cold North Killers: Canadian Serial Murder, 1982