Jennifer Teague -- New Photos on Police Web Site

Recently, the Ottawa police posted 24 new photographs of potential witnesses in the Jennifer Teague case. 18-year-old Jennifer Teague disappeared from her home in Barrhaven, Ontario last September. Her body was found about 10 days later and police are still trying to track down her killer.

They have posted new photographs on their web site of people who were in a convenience store on the night that Jennifer disappeared. The police have received 38 calls in response to these new pictures. Let's hope that some new witnesses come forward to shed light on this tragic situation. Her family deserves answers and closure.

If you have ANY info about potential witnesses, please call the Ottawa Police Jennifer Teague tip-line at (613) 236-1222 extension 5477 or contact police by e-mail at infojennifer@ottawapolice.ca.

Sigrid Mac

** Update: By June 1st, 8 of these people have been removed from the list because police have already interviewed them.

Younger Men Pursuing Older Women Online

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Carleton University's newspaper, the Charlatan, reviews D'Amour Road

Lisa Xing, a reporter for Carleton University's newspaper, the Charlatan, wrote this wonderful review of D'Amour Road.

"Sigrid Macdonald makes an astonishing entrance with her sophomore publication, D'amour Road. I've recently found it quite difficult to get through all of my existential philosophy reads and explanations into relativity, so it was refreshing, to say the least, when I picked up the book and couldn't put it down.

Macdonald does an amazing job of setting the background for the action, especially in portraying Tara, a 40 year-old woman going through a mid-life crisis. With no sexual desire for her husband, she channels her frustration to the virile young man working at the local Loeb, Alain.

She feels disconnected from her teenage son and has some serious reservations on her "older woman/motherly" image. Her life is thrown into turmoil when her best friend, Lisa, disappears suddenly.

Tara's internal monologue and first person narration is entirely believable and realistic. Her bleak worries on her age and desire for Alain is hilarious, infused with sarcastic and almost cynical stream of consciousness that helps the reader identify with her. This makes her the perfect 21st century crisis-wreaked heroine.

The story brings us back to the age-old concept of conflict - man vs. nature, man vs. man and man vs. himself. Well, in this case, woman.

With D'amour Road, Macdonald covers all these bases extensively as Tara falls apart following Lisa's disappearance, fighting waning feelings of self-worth, contempt for others and fear of losing someone she loves.

Throughout the ordeal and daily searches for Lisa, Tara fights to stay together, but her situation at home with Mark, her husband of 15 years doesn't help. Tara describes him in an unattractive, contemptuous way.

In turn, she gets increasingly obsessive with Alain that she makes a point to apply makeup and choose attractive outfits when grocery-shopping.Alain joins the search for Lisa. When this happens, I didn't know whether to think that something between them would happen or not.

Although Tara is emotionally unstable throughout the novel, her narration is oddly reliable and gives a solid foundation for the rest of the plot. I was surprised to see what a compelling character she was and after finishing, I actually felt disappointed to know that she was a fictional character.

After reading this book, centered on Lisa's mysterious disappearance and backed up by some sub-plots, I immediately though of the recent Jennifer Teague case. The Barrhaven teenager was leaving work on Jan. 8 when she disappeared. Another similar case also comes to mind - Ardeth Wood, an Ottawa woman who was murdered two years ago. There seem to be eerie similarities in the cases, and the Wood case is even mentioned in the novel.

Macdonald addresses these issues sensitively but also candidly, raising public awareness while creating fiction that is accessible and entertaining."

New tips

Ottawa police have received 85 new tips about the Jennifer Teague case since their press conference on Thursday where they released a composite sketch of a potential suspect. Police are now saying that Jennifer's murder was "sexually motivated." If you have any information about Jennifer Teague -- something that you remember or something that you fear may be unimportant -- or think that you recognize the man in the drawing, please call 236-1222, ext. 5477 or e-mail infojennifer@ottawapolice.ca. The investigators need all of our help.

Sigrid Mac

Teague reward may be as high as $100,000

At the press conference this afternoon, police introduced a sketch from a witness who they said just came forward a few weeks ago. The sketch portrays a white man, somewhere between age 18 to 30 with a "thin or medium build." He was "wearing a dark ball cap and dark clothing when he was seen along the Moodie Dr. area," the Ottawa Sun reported.

The newspaper also noted that the person who murdered Jennifer Teague probably acted strangely immediately after her disappearance and the large-scale publicity blitz. Hopefully, the sketch combined with the reward incentive will get neighbors, acquaintances, and employees thinking about anyone who may resemble the photo and might have acted peculiarly right after Jennifer disappeared.

Wendy's Canada have informed the public that they will be putting up a generous $50,000 reward. Police Chief Vince Bevan said he will ask the police services board to double the amount to $100,000.

Sigrid Mac

Teague press conference scheduled for Thursday

Police are planning a press conference today with Jennifer Teague's parents and reps from Wendy's in Barrhaven, ON where she worked. Jennifer had finished her late night shift on September the 9th, 2005 and was walking home sometime around 1:30 am when she disappeared. An off-duty Ottawa police office found her body 10 days later on an NCC trail off Moodie Drive.

Apparently, the police now have a composite sketch, which was assembled by talking to a witness who had not previously told his story along with feedback from Jennifer's friends. There was some talk about a "person of interest." But her friends have been quoted as saying that the sketch is vague.

Police found quite a bit of evidence at the scene of the crime, which has been tested at the forensics lab in Toronto. But they're not sure they have all of the items Jennifer Teague had with her that night -- including her Wendy's uniform.

Today's Ottawa Citizen stated: "Police believe she knew the person, or persons, who picked her up as she made her way home along Jockvale Road, although they cannot be certain she went willingly.

"Mr. Teague also thinks his daughter knew her killer.

'I believe someone who knew Jennifer is definitely involved in this,' Mr. Teague said days after his daughter went missing. 'She would never approach a car with strangers.'"

The Ottawa Sun said that they think that Wendy's Canada will offer a reward -- "believed to be $50,000" -- to entice someone to come forth with pertinent information.

Hope we're getting one step closer to solving this tragic mystery. If you have *any* news about the case, please call the Ottawa police at (613) 236-1222.

Thanks. Sigrid Mac

Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky

A grateful Jill Carroll returned to Boston today after leaving Germany on Saturday. She was finally reunited with her parents and her twin sister after spending 82 days in captivity in the hands of Iraqi terrorists.

Carroll strongly denied comments that she had made while being held prisoner and asserted that she had been "repeatedly threatened," according to Glen Johnson of the Associated Press.

Jill Carroll was pleased to see a copy of the Christian Science Monitor on her airplane; the newspaper will be covering her story in greater detail later on but would like to give Jill some time right now to regroup and appreciate her freedom and her family.

Sigrid Mac

Welcome Home to Jill Carroll!

When Elizabeth Smart was discovered after her lengthy disappearance in Utah, it was a miracle. The public was ecstatic. Elizabeth had beat the odds.

That's exactly the way I felt this morning when I discovered that Jill Carroll, the 28-year-old freelance writer on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, had been freed by her captors. Just last night or the night before, I had seen her twin sister on CNN, pleading in a calm tone for her sisters' release. I thought, how terrible and how pointless. She will never return.

But I was wrong! Carroll, who was seized in Baghdad on January the seventh in a violent ambush that killed her translator, was dropped off near the Iraqi Islamic Party Office, according to Yahoo News. She went inside and the people contacted American officials.

"I was treated well, but I don't know why I was kidnapped," Carroll said in a short interview on Iraqi TV. Few details about the kidnapping have been released but we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief that she's back.

Sigrid Mac

P.S. It's important to keep in mind that the most likely kidnap victims in
Iraq are Iraqis "with an average of 10 to 20 taken hostage every day for nearly three years, a U.S. official in Baghdad said Thursday." (source - Associated Press.)

Lydia Cornell

Please visit my latest link to the official web site of Lydia Cornell. Lydia is an award-winning comedian, writer and actress. She starred as Sara, Ted Knight's daughter and the granddaughter of Audrey Meadows, in Too Close For Comfort , a top rated ABC series that has been in worldwide syndication for years. She performs her own material in theaters and did a one-woman show at Century City Playhouse with a feminist bent. She has also written Venus Conspiracy for theatrical release in 2004. Other projects include Clash of the Wills, Falling Up and Recovering Blonde.

Moreover, Lydia is a dedicated political activist. She runs a fascinating and controversial blog where she is not afraid to state unpopular opinions about the war in Iraq and American foreign policy. Check her out in my link section right below Laci Peterson.

Sigrid Mac

Speech at Carleton University

On November 16, 2005 I was part of a panel speaking at Carleton University on Violence Against Women. My speech was about missing women and I focused in on the missing and murdered sex trade workers in Vancouver and Edmonton.

I've made several attempts to upload the speech here on the blog but whenever I do, it knocks out my entire link section. So, if you'd like to read the article, Bekkie of Seen Me Lately has kindly posted it on her web site about sex trade workers.

http://www.seenmelately.ca/sextradeworkers.html

As usual, I've stated some controversial views. Those who know me and read this blog regularly know that I welcome disagreement and debate. If you have any thoughts after you read it, please come back and make comments here on the blog or in my guestbook.

Thanks :-)
Sigrid

Reward offered for information on Jennifer Teague

Earl McRae of the Ottawa Sun reported that an anonymous donor has stepped forward to offer a "substantial" amount of money -- possibly as much as $50,000 -- as a reward for anyone who has information on the death and disappearance of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague of Barrhaven, which is part of Metropolitan Ottawa.

McRae also noted that many readers were curious as to why the police had not released any details about the cause of death. He posited some explanations: sometimes people who are unstable or just wish to cause trouble may falsely confess to a crime. If police withhold specific information, it makes it much easier to rule out those false confessions. Moreover, all of the forensics are not in. It's possible that the police still are uncertain of the exact cause of death.

Apparently, 10 investigators have been working diligently on the Teague case and will continue to do so until they find her killer. To quote the end of McRae's column today:

"If you have information, no matter how minor it seems, that might help find the killer of Jennifer Teague, the police want and need to hear from you -- confidentiality guaranteed. E-mail: infojennifer@ottawapolice.ca -- phone (613) 236-1222, ext. 5477."

Sigrid Mac

The Rules by Ellen Fein & Sherrie Schneider - Book Review

Reading The Rules was like sitting in the dental chair - it was painful! I forced myself to read the book because last year I read He's Just Not That into You. I expected to hate that book, too, but I didn't. It was just so laugh-out-loud funny that I couldn't help but like it. Also, the message was clear, albeit simplistic; if a man isn't calling you, he's just not interested.

The Rules is definitely retro. I've heard it described as a book that advocates women going back to the fifties. True enough, but not the 1950s -- the 1850s! I could easily imagine Jane Austen writing this book and young women waiting for their gentleman callers in their mother's parlor.

For those who are not familiar with the material, The Rules are a set of guidelines for women to follow that are designed to prevent them from enduring heartbreak and rejection in love. They consist of the following suggestions:

-- Don't speak to a man first in a social setting. Don't ask him to dance, don't stare at him and definitely, don't call him on the phone! A Rules girl needs to play hard to get.

-- After a man calls you up, don't accept a date unless he's given you ample notice. And don't return his phone call if he happens to get your voicemail. You don't want to seem too eager.

-- Clearly, having sex is not an option. You must wait several months, meanwhile seeing the man no more than two to three times a week. And you will be certified as a suicide relationship bomber if you initiate sex! Don't pay for the date, don't meet him halfway and -- get this -- don't talk on the phone for more than 10 minutes every time he calls you. Pretend to have something else to do so that you seem busy.

-- If you want a man to marry you, don't live with him. Hold out for that ring.

Now, before you dismiss all of this as preposterous, as I was tempted to do, keep in mind that the purpose of the book is to prevent women from suffering. The authors argue that men and women are biologically different and as a result, men need to pursue women. If men don't initiate, they will lose interest. If women don't play hard to get, they will never instill a sense of chronic longing in their man. Moreover, The Rules encourages women to be busy and independent, so that they won't view their man as the center of their existence.

As a longtime feminist who has broken all of the rules all of my life, I must concede that some of them may have merit. Whether it's biological or sociocultural, men are different from women. There is still a double standard in society. If a guy goes after a woman for a year and she shows no interest in him, he is simply persistent. If a woman does the same thing, she's desperate. There's no term for a man who "chases" women because that's what a guy is supposed to do (I'm not talking about a womanizer or a stalker. I'm talking about an ordinary guy going after an ordinary girl/woman.) Why is the word "chase" always used in reference to women, kind of like the words "loose" or "easy?" (Heard of any men who were called sluts recently? I rest my case.)

Now, I think that the double standard is completely wrong and that's why I've always violated it. However, the end result has often been that I have pursued men who were not interested in me, or who have ended up being quite passive later on in the relationship.

In my book, D'Amour Road, my main character has an unrequited crush on a younger man. That scenario resulted directly from my interest in this topic of women pursuing men. Theoretically, it's a good thing. The sexes should be equal. In all of my interactions with men, I always try to treat them the same way that I treat females. But the sad fact is that they're not females, especially when it comes to sex and romance.

If The Rules sound antiquated, they are. But that doesn't mean that they may not be effective. I can't imagine following them all religiously, particularly the one about not returning a man's phone call, which seems incredibly rude. But I can see embracing a modified version of The Rules for self-protection and to simplify my life.

Let's face it. If a guy is interested in me or in you, he can pick up the phone. How hard is that? If we as women keep making the first move -- which should be our right -- how will we know if the man was interested beforehand? Is he just responding to our friendliness? Fein also cautions against revealing too much about yourself during the first month or two. Sounds Stepfordish but if you think about it, why do we need to tell anyone who is brand-new in our life all about the baggage that we carry around day in and day out? That's true of new female friends, new male friends or budding relationships.

Yes, The Rules are at least 150 years out of date and they are extremely irritating and disheartening to anyone with a feminist or postmodern perspective, but I found them to have *some* redeeming value. And I'm going to test them out, just for the hell of it.

Sigrid Mac

Tribute to Jennifer Teague

36-year-old Todd Sterling from Elliot Lake is a songwriter, who was deeply moved by the tragic disappearance and death of 18-year-old Jennifer Teague from Barrhaven, Ontario. So moved, in fact, that Sterling wrote a song about her called "Jennifer's Song."

Earl McRae of the Ottawa Sun described the process that Sterling went through when he took his song down to Nashville and sold it to professionals under the name "September's Child." Despite the name change, Todd Sterling maintained that the song was for Jennifer, and he gave a copy of it to her father, Ed Teague, who was deeply moved.

You can listen to Jennifer's Song at www.soundclick.com/toddsterling.

Right on, Todd. How beautiful of you.

Sigrid Mac

P. S. Still no arrests or suspects in the case.

Update on Jennifer Teague

The police sound more optimistic about locating Jennifer Teague's killer, according to her father, Ed, who was quoted in the Ottawa Sun newspaper. Earl McRae reported that there are three field investigators and 18 other people working on Jennifer's case. That's comforting.

I know that when Louise Ellis went missing in Ottawa in 1995, I was part of the search team that looked for her. She was "gone" for three months and to me, it seemed as though the police were doing nothing during that time. Ha! Was I mistaken. All along, they were diligently gathering information which eventually implicated her partner.

It's hard to say if there is a suspect in the Teague case right now because police are being quiet about it. "I have a feeling they (police) have more than they're prepared to disclose," Ed Teague was quoted as saying. Let's hope that that's not just a desire on his part to hear good news but rather an intuitive sense that he is receiving from the police.

OTOH, I can't help but feeling that the arrest of Chris Myers in the Ardeth Wood case had more to do with luck than skill.

Sigrid Mac

Redefining friendship

How do we define friendship? That used to be an easy question for me. Friends were people who I saw regularly, trusted and confided in. There were my close friends and my less intimate friends. Some were separated by geographic distance but not by devotion; I had many friends who lived in other provinces or states. We may not have talked for months or even years but when we did connect, an "instant karma" kind of rapport was present.

Then there were my acquaintances, usually people who I worked with or knew from various clubs or political organizations. Maybe I'd gone to high school or college ("university" to you Canadians!) with them and we didn't socialize on a regular basis, but I knew them fairly well. Or perhaps I did see those people frequently but we didn't have a lot in common, hence, I didn't call them "friends."

But the world has changed, largely as a result of high-tech innovations and the democratization of communication via the Internet. I've been reading a lot about globalization lately because someone I know turned me on to the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig. I read that and another by Lessig -- both highly recommended -- and am currently reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman.

One point that all of these books makes is that the world is getting smaller and nation borders have become less important. As a result of chatting with so many folks via e-mail, discussion boards, my blogs, and instant messaging, I have slowly noticed a change in the way that I define friendship. There are some people on About.com thyroid that I've been talking to for five or six years. I consider them to be my friends. Likewise with people who I've met on my blogs, who post comments or talk to me every week. Admittedly, they're not my best friends but I would be hard-pressed to dismiss some of them as mere acquaintances.

I've encountered a number of wonderful women on a spiritually oriented web site called Boomer Women Speak where I participate in discussions on their writers' forum. I think nothing of signing my private messages to these people (or to my sister's New Age friends whom I have never met), "Love, Sigrid." And I routinely use the sign off "YF," which means "your friend." Sometimes, I use it as a statement and other times I use it as a question -- i.e. "Wanna be friends?"

This has all made me rethink my relationship with Louise Ellis, the woman who disappeared in Ottawa in 1995 and was murdered by her partner. The woman who inspired my book, D'Amour Road, and to whom it is dedicated. The woman who was a member of my David Milgaard Support Group and who I have called "my acquaintance" in almost all of my references to her.

Were Louise and I really acquaintances or were we friends? If our relationship had taken place on the Internet instead of the phone, would we have been in touch more often? Is frequency a determining factor in defining friendship or is it the nature of our feelings towards the person? Because I love Louise Ellis.

When she was alive, I liked her very much but since her life was cut short, I have been unable to stop thinking about her, so my feelings have grown. I've developed a preoccupation with missing women. I lie awake at night wondering what kind of a person Louise was. Did she have a sense of humor? How did she pass her free time? What did she value most? And what kind of a person would she have been today if she lived until age 56? I wish that I had known her better or made some social overtures in her direction when I had the chance because now it's too late.

I miss her. I care about her. And I have remorse about the fact that we never met in person because our relationship took place on the telephone; we talked regularly over a two-year period. I would have wanted to be her friend.

This morning, a woman who I know fairly well but have not yet classified as either a friend or an acquaintance, invited me to do something that I'm not particularly keen on doing. But I like this woman and it would be great to see more of her, so I accepted her invitation. I don't want to live with guilt about things that I didn't do and people that I didn't cultivate well enough when they were here and I had the opportunity. What's a little sacrifice compared to a lifetime of regret?

Sigrid Mac

More Police Errors in the Ardeth Wood Case

A 76-year-old former RCMP Officer saw Ardeth Wood on the day that she disappeared. She was on the bike path and he had been cycling. He said to her that it seemed awfully hot out and she agreed. Then she continued on with her biking and the former officer, Al Dzikowski, noticed a younger man on a bike who followed Ardeth. He thought nothing of it at the time but after he read about Ardeth's disappearance, he called the police right away and left a message on their answering machine.

What did they do? They ignored him. This did not deter Dzikowski, who contacted the Wood family directly. In turn, they called the police but police still did not meet with the former RCMP man or request that he look at a lineup of suspects or mug shots.

In fact, it took the police more than two years to contact Dzikowski, who now believes that Chris Myers was the man on the trail. When the police finally did call Dzikowski in September of this year, they conscientiously took down his name, address and phone number. Only problem is that they took down the phone number incorrectly, so they never called him back! Sounds like a Monty Python skit except that it's not funny.

As if it wasn't bad enough to extradite Myers from Arnprior to North Bay without realizing that he bore a resemblance to the composite sketch, Ottawa Police have managed to compound their error by incompetently handling a tip from a man who actually spoke to Ardeth Wood on the NCC path!

What I have said previously about eyewitness testimony being unreliable notwithstanding, things are looking bad for Chris Myers. The original description of the suspect in the Wood case was a man in his mid to late twenties but Dzikowski always maintained that the person he saw looked much younger -- somewhere between 18 to 23. That would fit in with Myers' profile since Ardeth Wood was murdered in 2003 and Chris Myers is 25 right now.

Police Chief Bevan has a lot of explaining to do.

Sigrid Mac

Chris Myers suspected in Sudbury murder

25-year-old Chris Myers of Ottawa, who was arrested the other day and charged with the murder of Ardeth Wood, is now a suspect in the death of Laurentian University student, Renee Sweeney. 23-year-old Sweeney was a history major who was stabbed to death one night on January 27, 1998 when she was working alone in a video store. The store was robbed of less than $200, the Ottawa Citizen reported, and evidence was discovered at the scene of the crime including footprints in the snow, a pair of gardening gloves, a bloodstained jacket and DNA.

But Sweeney's father is dubious about this possibility. He reminded Sudbury police that Chris Myers would only have been 16 years old at the time and he lived in Ottawa not Sudbury.

Once again, Myers is being suspected of involvement in this case based on the composite sketch. I find that to be somewhat unnerving. To begin with, when I looked at the composite sketch in the newspaper and compared it to the picture of Chris Myers, I didn't see a resemblance. Secondly, when Ardeth Wood was killed back in 2003, I clearly remember the police were looking for a suspect who was tall with sandy colored hair and had an eagle tattoo. Chris Myers has dark hair and no tattoo. He also does not appear to wear glasses whereas the composite sketch from Sudbury had a guy wearing glasses; and that man looked considerably older than 16 or 17 years of age!

I'm not saying that Myers had nothing to do with the tragic death of Renee Sweeney. I know nothing about that case except what I read today. What I am saying is that it's dangerous for people to base their reactions around a composite sketch, which may now be having a snowballing effect (e.g. Sudbury police read that North Bay police think that Myers matches the picture of the Ottawa sketch, therefore, Sudbury suspects him in their own unsolved murder).

Recently, I read that about 40% of all of the Death Row cases that have been overturned were convictions that were originally based on eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable! The only thing that might be more unreliable than eyewitness testimony is a composite sketch!@! We have to be damn careful about jumping conclusions here.

This is in no way meant to be any kind of defense of Chris Myers, who appears to be a serial rapist and may indeed be involved with the murder of Ardeth Wood. But before I reach that conclusion, I would like to see some evidence.

Sigrid Mac

Seen Me Lately?

Sex trade workers keep disappearing in droves. First Vancouver. Then Edmonton. Now Calgary. Where will it end?

A group of concerned women have started an innovative project called Seen Me Lately. They're getting the phone numbers or contact info for women on the street and making sure that each person checks in with somebody else everyday. That way, if an individual goes missing, it won't take months for other people to figure it out.

For example, on September 13, a 40-year-old woman in Edmonton disappeared off the radar. Her friends and cohorts could not find her so Seen Me Lately put out an SOS. 10 days later they discovered that she was in the hospital. What a relief! Meanwhile, the group posts details about the people that they're concerned about on their web site. They have a live chat, a group discussion forum, and lots of cool links to aboriginal women's sites, sex trade workers of Canada and sites that are devoted to missing people and children. Check them out at http://www.punkrockprincess.ca/.

Sigrid Mac

25-year-old man arrested in the Ardeth Wood case

This morning, my mother said to me, "They've got Ardeth Wood's killer!"

"Really?" I asked. I was excited. After 26 months, I thought that the police had finally discovered the brute that sexually assaulted and murdered 27-year-old university student, Ardeth Wood. But when I queried my mother in more detail, I realized that the police had arrested a suspect. As those of us who work in the field of wrongful convictions know, that is not the same as "finding the killer."

Chris Myers of Ottawa was arrested yesterday and appeared in court today after a North Bay detective was led to believe that Myers was involved in Wood's death. Police will not reveal the evidence against Myers except to say that he has also been charged with four other sexual assaults in Ottawa -- three of which occurred after Ardeth's death -- and another assault in Gatineau.

North Bay Detective Constable Noel Coulas recognized Myers from a composite sketch that was devised and circulated throughout the country in the aftermath of the Wood murder. Coulas encountered Myers when he investigated him in May as a suspect in a sexual assault in North Bay. Ironically, Myers was sent to North Bay by the Ottawa police, who picked him up in Arnprior, and thought that he might have been involved in the attack in North Bay.

Why didn't it occur to the Ottawa police that Myers may have been involved in Ardeth Wood's death? If Coulas noticed a resemblance between Myers and the composite sketch, why didn't the Ottawa police see that same similarity? Surely, they must have the composite sketch plastered on the walls of their offices. In addition, Myers was one of the 1700 people who were interviewed in the Wood case, and he has been charged with five or six sexual assaults in at least three locations, including Ottawa, Gatineau and North Bay.

Coulas was very modest about his role in identifying Myers in the sketch. Ottawa Police Chief Vince Bevan said that often "hard work and luck" paid off. Bevan has never recovered his reputation after bungling the Paul Bernardo case. (It took the police almost two years to analyze Bernardo's DNA; meanwhile, he was out murdering schoolgirls.)

Bevan and the Ottawa people could have been a lot more proactive here. Essentially, they found a man who was on their list of suspects -- sorry, "persons of interest" -- in the Ardeth Wood case AND they handed him over to North Bay! Moreover, this took place in May and we are now almost at the end of October. What transpired during those five months? Why did it take so long to pick Myers up? A lot of questions remain unanswered.

Chris Myers maintains his innocence. You can read more about this breaking news at http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=a296cc8c-7407-4947-ae7d-f9e7689b7bc8.

Apparently, Ardeth Wood's brutal murder and the search for her killer has been one of Ottawa's most costly investigations; so far, it has cost approximately $675,000. That is just the financial toll, which doesn't include the horrific pain and suffering of the Wood family.

Since I've been working in the field of wrongful convictions for approximately 13 years, I urge you to reserve judgment on this arrest until we hear the actual evidence. I would like to jump for joy by concluding that perhaps we have the real killer after all this time, when it had been looking so hopeless. But without a confession or a statement from the police as to the nature of the exact evidence against Myers, I will try to maintain a neutral position. All I can conclude at the moment is that it definitely sounds as though this man is a serial rapist. He rides a bike, he was seen on 24 separate occasions on the bike path that Ardeth Wood traveled on, and he left the Ottawa area several weeks after her murder. He could be our man but we'll have to wait and see.

Sigrid Mac

Should We Legalize Prostitution?

Linda Slobodian of the Calgary Herald wrote a fantastic article on Sunday called "Taking Prostitutes off the Streets." It describes the current debate in Canada's Parliament over whether or not to legalize or decriminalize prostitution. In earlier posts, I have advocated legalizing the sex trade industry but there were certain things that I was not taking into account that Slobodian pointed out.

Firstly, other countries such as Australia, Holland and New Zealand have legalized their red light districts, but instead of making the occupation safer for women, the result was that organized crime took over. In addition, many of the brothels took a large part of the salaries of the workers.

Secondly, former policeman Ross McInnis asked what would happen to prostitutes who were underage, addicted to drugs or who had STDs. Would their work be decriminalized? Of course not. Consequently, we would continue to have a black market composed of the youngest and most vulnerable members of the sex trade while those who do massage or work at escort services are protected.

New Democratic Party MP Libby Davie believes that sex trade workers should have the right to work out of their homes. But reports from the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women in Australia suggest that legalization would further exploit women and encourage the sale and slavery of children.

This issue is nowhere near as simple or straightforward as I had once imagined. I can understand arguments on both sides of the debate. It will be interesting to see how Parliament resolves the dilemma. Many thanks to Slobodian for her extensive research and thought-provoking article.


Sigrid Mac