sammcdon
THE MURDER OF LYNNE HARPER
FACTS AND SUPPOSITIONS
FACTS
In the early evening of Tuesday, June 9, 1959, 12-year-old Lynne Harper disappeared near RCAF Station, an air force base just south of Clinton, Ontario. At about 11:20 that evening, Lynne's father reported her missing. She was last seen with Steven Truscott.
Steven Murray Truscott (born January 18, 1945 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian who was sentenced to death in 1959, when he was a 14-year old student, for the murder of classmate Lynne Harper.
Steve Truscott says he was with Harper the night she was killed. He acknowledged being with her and was seen with her on his bicycle after 7 p.m. that evening in close proximity to Lawson’s Bush where her body was found.
Steve says he met Lynne at the school. He says that Lynne asked for a ride to Highway 8 so she could hitch a ride to a pony farm. He pushed his bike and Lynne walked alongside until they got to the County Road. Then Lynne sat on the crossbar of his bicycle and they proceeded from the school northwards along the County Road.
Steve Truscott has maintained since 1959 that he took Lynne Harper to the intersection of the County Road and Highway 8, where he left her unharmed. Truscott maintains that when he arrived at the bridge, he looked back toward the intersection where he had dropped Harper off and observed that a 1959 grey Chevrolet Bel Air had stopped and that she was in the process of entering it. (It should be noted here that the Truscott’s Toronto Star delivery man drives a gray 1959 Chev Bel Air. He was never a suspect.)
When the police asked Truscott whether his schoolmates made any comment to him or whether there was any conversation with them after his return to the school, he replied in the following words: I believe one of them asked me, “What did you do with Harper, feed her to the fish?” and I replied that I had taken her and let her off at Highway No. 8.
Steven Truscott gave the police an account of the events of the day Lynne disappeared from which he was never to waver and which contained no suggestion that he had gone into the woods the previous evening. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
Arnold George, one of Truscott’s closest friends, testified that Steven had put him up to supporting his story when they spoke at Steven's house the day after Lynne’s disappearance but before her body was found. George was to tell the police that he saw Steven and Lynne on his bicycle down at the river around 7:30. At first George lied but when the body was found he told the police the truth, that he had not seen Steven.
Truscott testified that at no time did he ever ask George to lie and tell the police that he had seen him at the bridge.
Two days after Lynne disappeared, in the afternoon of June 11, searchers discovered her partially nude body in a nearby farm woodlot known as Lawson’s Bush. She had been strangled by winding her blouse tightly around her neck and securing it with a knot.
There is no doubt about the place of death. The position of the body, the scuff marks and a footprint at the foot, and the flattening of the vegetation between the legs, indicated that the act of rape or attempted rape took place there.
All of her clothing was in the area where the body lay. Most of her clothing was removed and neatly piled up— near her corpse. Her shoes were neatly placed side by side, her shorts zipped, and her socks rolled up.
There were a number of puncture wounds on her back and shoulders, some of which were caused before death and some after death. Under the wound in her left shoulder, which she suffered before death, was a pool of fluid blood lying on the vegetation. The wounds were consistent with their having been made by twigs scattered around the ground. A small quantity of blood was found on the dandelion leaves at the fork of the body.
Under her left shoulder was a button from her blouse. It appears that this button was ripped from her blouse when it was torn to form the ligature with which she was strangled.
The local coroner said that intercourse took place “while the child was dying, when the heart had stopped or had almost stopped beating”. His reason for this conclusion was that although the injuries to the parts were severe, the bleeding from them was very small.
On June 12, shortly after 7:00 p.m., Truscott was taken into custody. At about 2:30 a.m. on June 13, he was charged with first degree murder under the provisions of the Juvenile Delinquents Act. On June 30, Truscott was ordered to be tried as an adult; an appeal on that order was dismissed September 30, 1959.
After 15 days, the 12-person jury returned a verdict of guilty, with mercy. The jury found that Lynne Harper died where she was found in Lawson’s bush and that she was not picked up at the intersection and subsequently brought back by anyone. Mr. Justice Ferguson, as was then required under the law, sentenced Truscott to be hanged.
January 21, 1960: Truscott's appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal was dismissed.
January 22, 1960: Amid much controversy about the serious sentence, the Conservative government under then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker commuted the penalty to life in prison. Truscott had been on death row for four months.
Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was then sought. At that time, absent a dissent on a point of law in the Court of Appeal, there was no appeal as of right in capital cases. (In 1961, the law was changed to provide for such an appeal as of right.) On February 24, 1960, Truscott was denied leave to appeal his conviction.
In 1966, the Supreme Court decided to hear the case of Steven Truscott - not to determine Truscott's innocence or guilt but simply whether or not he deserved a new trial. The judges found Truscott's testimony confused and vague. Canada’s top judges ruled 8 - 1 against Truscott getting a new trial.
The lone dissenting voice came from Justice Emmett Hall. He said that having considered the case fully, he believes that the conviction should be quashed and a new trial directed. He took the view that the trial was not conducted according to law and that even the guiltiest criminal must be tried according to law. He went on to say that does not mean that I consider Truscott guilty or innocent. The determination of guilt or innocence was a matter for the jury and for the jury alone.
May 7, 1967: Truscott was transferred to the Farm Annex of Collins Bay Penitentiary.
October 21, 1969: Ten years after Steve Truscott was sentenced to hang by the neck, he was released on parole. He had an unblemished institutional record.
April 6, 2006: The body of Lynne Harper was exhumed by order of the Attorney General of Ontario, in order to test for DNA evidence. There was hope that this would bring some closure to the case, but no usable DNA was recovered from the remains.
The Court of Appeal wrote as follows: ". . . certain immutable facts cast some suspicion on Mr. Truscott. He was the last known person to see the victim alive and was with her at a location very close to where she was murdered.”
On July 7, 2008, the government of Ontario awarded Steven Truscott $6.5 million in compensation. Truscott is calling the Ontario government's $6.5 million compensation package for his murder conviction "bittersweet." He says money will never truly pay back the years of his life lost while in prison. It also includes $100,000 to be paid to Truscott's wife Marlene.
SUPPOSITIONS (supported by facts and logic):
Jocelyne Goddette was supposed to meet Steven Truscott (in the same bush where Lynne Harper was found) for a secret date. She, Lynne and Steven were all in the same classroom, Grades 7 & 8, at A.V.M. Hugh Campbell School on the Air Force Base in Clinton. Jocelyne Goddette’s story was that Steven Truscott had arranged to meet her at Lawson’s wood at 6 p.m. to show her a new calf. He told her to keep the meeting quiet because Mr. Lawson did not like people trespassing on his property. She says that he called at her house about 5.50 p.m. and she told him that she could not come out now because of domestic duties and that she would meet him later if possible.
Lynne Harper and Steven Truscott were in the same classroom but were not close friends. Another classmate, Lorraine Wood, testified that at her birthday party on June 5 that year, Lynne Harper asked Steven to dance and they did for a short time.
On the day of her disappearance, at about 6.35 p.m., Lynne Harper went to the school where she assisted a Mrs. Nickerson, who was conducting a meeting of Junior Girl Guides. Mrs. Nickerson confirms the time of her arrival. Mrs. Nickerson said that Steven came along shortly before 7 p.m., stopped nearby and sat on his bike. Lynne went over to him and sat on his front wheel. They were talking. After a few minutes, Mrs. Nickerson saw them leave together in a northerly direction around the west side of the school with Steven pushing his bike and Lynne walking alongside. Mrs. Nickerson puts the time between 7.00 and 7.10 p.m.
Truscott’s story is that Lynne was proposing to go to a place where there were a few ponies. He told the police that Lynn rode on his crossbar to the highway where he dropped her off and headed back home on his bike. He stopped once at the bridge to look back towards the highway to see if she'd found a ride. He saw Lynne get in and the car speed away. He estimated this to be near 7:45 p.m.
Steve Truscott was the last person to see Lynne that evening before she disappeared.
The bridge is 1,300 feet from the highway intersection. He said he saw a gray 1959 Bel Air Chevrolet with yellow license plates stop, and he watched Lynne get into the car and saw it drive away, down the highway. Later, with police and his family watching, Steve could not identify plates from that distance.
The pony farm was about 500 yards east of the intersection of County Road and Highway 8. According to Steven she was still at the intersection when he had returned to the bridge 1,300 feet to the south. He saw her getting into a car even though she was only going 500 yards. If what Steven says is true, then whoever picked her up or some other person would have had to bring her back to Lawson’s bush, either dead or alive, unnoticed by anyone. If dead, he would have had to place her body in the bush and create the appearance that she had been murdered at that spot.
The time of death of Lynne Harper was established as roughly 7:30 – 8:30 based upon the digestion of stomach contents. Harper’s parents said she ate at 5:30 and the coroner estimated that it could be 15 minutes to either side.
Now let’s take Truscott’s story as true. If true, a random violent pedophile happened to be driving along the country road after Steven dropped Lynne off. If this pedophile drove on down the road and then decided to rape and kill her, why not just dump the body miles away from where he may have been seen when giving her a lift. Instead the pedophile turns the car around, drives back to where she was picked up, walks back towards the school along the pathway which goes near Lawson’s Bush where he decides to rape and strangle her and neatly lays out her shoes, socks, and shorts. By now it is very dark and a stranger would have a difficult time in those woods. (Coincidently, this is the same wooded area that five kids saw Truscott earlier, some of them further saying that Steven was there with Lynne.)
A convertible was seen near Lawson’s bush about 10 p.m. the night of Lynn’s disappearance. A man and maybe a girl were inside. It was very dark. Is it possible that the man who picked her up earlier and drove away from the area had now brought her back so that the blame for her murder would be put on someone else? But how would he know what went on earlier that day or who was last seen with her? This scenario, like any other involving a stranger, does not follow a logical path.
The day after Lynne’s disappearance Truscott told his own friend, Tom Gillette, that he was in Lawson’s Bush looking for a calf the previous day. Another student, George Archibald overheard Truscott tell Butch George the very same thing. If you’re counting, two kids give statements to the police that Truscott was in Lawson’s Bush the night Harper was killed. It does not end there. Paul Desjardine said that Truscott told him that he was in Lawson’s Bush with Lynne Harper the night she was killed.
Three more schoolmates give testimony that Truscott was in or near Lawson’s Bush. If we include Gauddett and George there would be five.
If every kid is a horrible liar, they each directly or indirectly have made up stories putting Truscott at the scene of the crime where Harper’s body is coincidently found. Two of them state that Truscott admitted to being with Harper at the scene of the crime. Steven Truscott has maintained that nearly every person who saw him or said they had a conversation with him was either lying or mistaken.
Truscott writes in his own book "Had I intended to rape and murder Lynne Harper, would I not, rather have been stupid beyond belief, to drive my victim, minutes prior to killing her, past innumerable witnesses? This fact occurred to no one, not even my counsel."
He has always maintained that he was with Lynne, but claims they split up and he saw her getting into a car as he was riding away. It should be noted here that not one person has reported seeing Steve or Lynne at County Road & Highway 8. Not even the boy who rode by that intersection on his way home at 7:15 p.m.
This may be what the original jury was thinking when they found Steven Truscott guilty of Lynne Harper’s murder: Steve Truscott did not take Lynne to Highway 8. Instead they left the County Road before reaching the bridge over the Bayfield River. That is what most witnesses have maintained all along. Steve and Lynne walked to a wooded area beside the County Road, known as Lawson's Bush, where they did what many young boys and girls do in the woods and bushes. Lynne may have taken off her shoes, socks and blue shorts and laid them out neatly as they later would be found. She may have teased too much and gone too far; then tried to get Steve to stop. Now Truscott was too passionate and in no mood to stop. She may have said she would tell on him for trying to rape her. This and his frustration about his penetration may have caused him to strangle her, which he did so with her blouse.
If it were not for the murder, the incident would mean no more than this: that Steve had a tentative date arranged with Jocelyne Goddette. He wanted a date with a girl that night and he took Lynne Harper when Jocelyne was not available.
Mr. Steven Truscott is a calm, cool, gutsy guy. There may be those who think this 14 years old boy could not have killed his 12 year old classmate and still be calm and collected about it. Then consider this: Anyone who can convince authorities and the public to reduce his sentence from hanging until dead to ten years and probation, and then rally tax-payers to give him 6.5 million dollars for a crime he committed and found guilty is capable of killing and raping a little 12 year old girl. O Canada has been duped, hoodwinked, and swindled by a smart, gutsy guy.
What kind of person can act normally within hours after killing someone—a person who can kill one hour and party normally with friends the next. The answer is: A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse and who is unable to feel guilt for such acts. In one word a psychopath.
Mr. Steven Truscott missed his calling. He should have been a politician.
The original trial jury received more facts and relevant information about this case than any other people anywhere in Canada, then or now.
Steve Truscott has never denied killing Lynn Harper.
Lynn Harper’s sacrifice: The real victim in this case is the beautiful 12-year old girl in the Harper household. She lost her life but may have saved other innocent girls from losing their lives. Perhaps while in prison Truscott got himself together and learned to control his psychopathic tendencies. He probably never killed again and instead set his goal to convince everyone that he was not the killer. The gullible public did him one better—awarded him 6.5 million dollars for his crime.
The Clue Master S.D.M.
FACTS AND SUPPOSITIONS
FACTS
In the early evening of Tuesday, June 9, 1959, 12-year-old Lynne Harper disappeared near RCAF Station, an air force base just south of Clinton, Ontario. At about 11:20 that evening, Lynne's father reported her missing. She was last seen with Steven Truscott.
Steven Murray Truscott (born January 18, 1945 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian who was sentenced to death in 1959, when he was a 14-year old student, for the murder of classmate Lynne Harper.
Steve Truscott says he was with Harper the night she was killed. He acknowledged being with her and was seen with her on his bicycle after 7 p.m. that evening in close proximity to Lawson’s Bush where her body was found.
Steve says he met Lynne at the school. He says that Lynne asked for a ride to Highway 8 so she could hitch a ride to a pony farm. He pushed his bike and Lynne walked alongside until they got to the County Road. Then Lynne sat on the crossbar of his bicycle and they proceeded from the school northwards along the County Road.
Steve Truscott has maintained since 1959 that he took Lynne Harper to the intersection of the County Road and Highway 8, where he left her unharmed. Truscott maintains that when he arrived at the bridge, he looked back toward the intersection where he had dropped Harper off and observed that a 1959 grey Chevrolet Bel Air had stopped and that she was in the process of entering it. (It should be noted here that the Truscott’s Toronto Star delivery man drives a gray 1959 Chev Bel Air. He was never a suspect.)
When the police asked Truscott whether his schoolmates made any comment to him or whether there was any conversation with them after his return to the school, he replied in the following words: I believe one of them asked me, “What did you do with Harper, feed her to the fish?” and I replied that I had taken her and let her off at Highway No. 8.
Steven Truscott gave the police an account of the events of the day Lynne disappeared from which he was never to waver and which contained no suggestion that he had gone into the woods the previous evening. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
Arnold George, one of Truscott’s closest friends, testified that Steven had put him up to supporting his story when they spoke at Steven's house the day after Lynne’s disappearance but before her body was found. George was to tell the police that he saw Steven and Lynne on his bicycle down at the river around 7:30. At first George lied but when the body was found he told the police the truth, that he had not seen Steven.
Truscott testified that at no time did he ever ask George to lie and tell the police that he had seen him at the bridge.
Two days after Lynne disappeared, in the afternoon of June 11, searchers discovered her partially nude body in a nearby farm woodlot known as Lawson’s Bush. She had been strangled by winding her blouse tightly around her neck and securing it with a knot.
There is no doubt about the place of death. The position of the body, the scuff marks and a footprint at the foot, and the flattening of the vegetation between the legs, indicated that the act of rape or attempted rape took place there.
All of her clothing was in the area where the body lay. Most of her clothing was removed and neatly piled up— near her corpse. Her shoes were neatly placed side by side, her shorts zipped, and her socks rolled up.
There were a number of puncture wounds on her back and shoulders, some of which were caused before death and some after death. Under the wound in her left shoulder, which she suffered before death, was a pool of fluid blood lying on the vegetation. The wounds were consistent with their having been made by twigs scattered around the ground. A small quantity of blood was found on the dandelion leaves at the fork of the body.
Under her left shoulder was a button from her blouse. It appears that this button was ripped from her blouse when it was torn to form the ligature with which she was strangled.
The local coroner said that intercourse took place “while the child was dying, when the heart had stopped or had almost stopped beating”. His reason for this conclusion was that although the injuries to the parts were severe, the bleeding from them was very small.
On June 12, shortly after 7:00 p.m., Truscott was taken into custody. At about 2:30 a.m. on June 13, he was charged with first degree murder under the provisions of the Juvenile Delinquents Act. On June 30, Truscott was ordered to be tried as an adult; an appeal on that order was dismissed September 30, 1959.
After 15 days, the 12-person jury returned a verdict of guilty, with mercy. The jury found that Lynne Harper died where she was found in Lawson’s bush and that she was not picked up at the intersection and subsequently brought back by anyone. Mr. Justice Ferguson, as was then required under the law, sentenced Truscott to be hanged.
January 21, 1960: Truscott's appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal was dismissed.
January 22, 1960: Amid much controversy about the serious sentence, the Conservative government under then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker commuted the penalty to life in prison. Truscott had been on death row for four months.
Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was then sought. At that time, absent a dissent on a point of law in the Court of Appeal, there was no appeal as of right in capital cases. (In 1961, the law was changed to provide for such an appeal as of right.) On February 24, 1960, Truscott was denied leave to appeal his conviction.
In 1966, the Supreme Court decided to hear the case of Steven Truscott - not to determine Truscott's innocence or guilt but simply whether or not he deserved a new trial. The judges found Truscott's testimony confused and vague. Canada’s top judges ruled 8 - 1 against Truscott getting a new trial.
The lone dissenting voice came from Justice Emmett Hall. He said that having considered the case fully, he believes that the conviction should be quashed and a new trial directed. He took the view that the trial was not conducted according to law and that even the guiltiest criminal must be tried according to law. He went on to say that does not mean that I consider Truscott guilty or innocent. The determination of guilt or innocence was a matter for the jury and for the jury alone.
May 7, 1967: Truscott was transferred to the Farm Annex of Collins Bay Penitentiary.
October 21, 1969: Ten years after Steve Truscott was sentenced to hang by the neck, he was released on parole. He had an unblemished institutional record.
April 6, 2006: The body of Lynne Harper was exhumed by order of the Attorney General of Ontario, in order to test for DNA evidence. There was hope that this would bring some closure to the case, but no usable DNA was recovered from the remains.
The Court of Appeal wrote as follows: ". . . certain immutable facts cast some suspicion on Mr. Truscott. He was the last known person to see the victim alive and was with her at a location very close to where she was murdered.”
On July 7, 2008, the government of Ontario awarded Steven Truscott $6.5 million in compensation. Truscott is calling the Ontario government's $6.5 million compensation package for his murder conviction "bittersweet." He says money will never truly pay back the years of his life lost while in prison. It also includes $100,000 to be paid to Truscott's wife Marlene.
SUPPOSITIONS (supported by facts and logic):
Jocelyne Goddette was supposed to meet Steven Truscott (in the same bush where Lynne Harper was found) for a secret date. She, Lynne and Steven were all in the same classroom, Grades 7 & 8, at A.V.M. Hugh Campbell School on the Air Force Base in Clinton. Jocelyne Goddette’s story was that Steven Truscott had arranged to meet her at Lawson’s wood at 6 p.m. to show her a new calf. He told her to keep the meeting quiet because Mr. Lawson did not like people trespassing on his property. She says that he called at her house about 5.50 p.m. and she told him that she could not come out now because of domestic duties and that she would meet him later if possible.
Lynne Harper and Steven Truscott were in the same classroom but were not close friends. Another classmate, Lorraine Wood, testified that at her birthday party on June 5 that year, Lynne Harper asked Steven to dance and they did for a short time.
On the day of her disappearance, at about 6.35 p.m., Lynne Harper went to the school where she assisted a Mrs. Nickerson, who was conducting a meeting of Junior Girl Guides. Mrs. Nickerson confirms the time of her arrival. Mrs. Nickerson said that Steven came along shortly before 7 p.m., stopped nearby and sat on his bike. Lynne went over to him and sat on his front wheel. They were talking. After a few minutes, Mrs. Nickerson saw them leave together in a northerly direction around the west side of the school with Steven pushing his bike and Lynne walking alongside. Mrs. Nickerson puts the time between 7.00 and 7.10 p.m.
Truscott’s story is that Lynne was proposing to go to a place where there were a few ponies. He told the police that Lynn rode on his crossbar to the highway where he dropped her off and headed back home on his bike. He stopped once at the bridge to look back towards the highway to see if she'd found a ride. He saw Lynne get in and the car speed away. He estimated this to be near 7:45 p.m.
Steve Truscott was the last person to see Lynne that evening before she disappeared.
The bridge is 1,300 feet from the highway intersection. He said he saw a gray 1959 Bel Air Chevrolet with yellow license plates stop, and he watched Lynne get into the car and saw it drive away, down the highway. Later, with police and his family watching, Steve could not identify plates from that distance.
The pony farm was about 500 yards east of the intersection of County Road and Highway 8. According to Steven she was still at the intersection when he had returned to the bridge 1,300 feet to the south. He saw her getting into a car even though she was only going 500 yards. If what Steven says is true, then whoever picked her up or some other person would have had to bring her back to Lawson’s bush, either dead or alive, unnoticed by anyone. If dead, he would have had to place her body in the bush and create the appearance that she had been murdered at that spot.
The time of death of Lynne Harper was established as roughly 7:30 – 8:30 based upon the digestion of stomach contents. Harper’s parents said she ate at 5:30 and the coroner estimated that it could be 15 minutes to either side.
Now let’s take Truscott’s story as true. If true, a random violent pedophile happened to be driving along the country road after Steven dropped Lynne off. If this pedophile drove on down the road and then decided to rape and kill her, why not just dump the body miles away from where he may have been seen when giving her a lift. Instead the pedophile turns the car around, drives back to where she was picked up, walks back towards the school along the pathway which goes near Lawson’s Bush where he decides to rape and strangle her and neatly lays out her shoes, socks, and shorts. By now it is very dark and a stranger would have a difficult time in those woods. (Coincidently, this is the same wooded area that five kids saw Truscott earlier, some of them further saying that Steven was there with Lynne.)
A convertible was seen near Lawson’s bush about 10 p.m. the night of Lynn’s disappearance. A man and maybe a girl were inside. It was very dark. Is it possible that the man who picked her up earlier and drove away from the area had now brought her back so that the blame for her murder would be put on someone else? But how would he know what went on earlier that day or who was last seen with her? This scenario, like any other involving a stranger, does not follow a logical path.
The day after Lynne’s disappearance Truscott told his own friend, Tom Gillette, that he was in Lawson’s Bush looking for a calf the previous day. Another student, George Archibald overheard Truscott tell Butch George the very same thing. If you’re counting, two kids give statements to the police that Truscott was in Lawson’s Bush the night Harper was killed. It does not end there. Paul Desjardine said that Truscott told him that he was in Lawson’s Bush with Lynne Harper the night she was killed.
Three more schoolmates give testimony that Truscott was in or near Lawson’s Bush. If we include Gauddett and George there would be five.
If every kid is a horrible liar, they each directly or indirectly have made up stories putting Truscott at the scene of the crime where Harper’s body is coincidently found. Two of them state that Truscott admitted to being with Harper at the scene of the crime. Steven Truscott has maintained that nearly every person who saw him or said they had a conversation with him was either lying or mistaken.
Truscott writes in his own book "Had I intended to rape and murder Lynne Harper, would I not, rather have been stupid beyond belief, to drive my victim, minutes prior to killing her, past innumerable witnesses? This fact occurred to no one, not even my counsel."
He has always maintained that he was with Lynne, but claims they split up and he saw her getting into a car as he was riding away. It should be noted here that not one person has reported seeing Steve or Lynne at County Road & Highway 8. Not even the boy who rode by that intersection on his way home at 7:15 p.m.
This may be what the original jury was thinking when they found Steven Truscott guilty of Lynne Harper’s murder: Steve Truscott did not take Lynne to Highway 8. Instead they left the County Road before reaching the bridge over the Bayfield River. That is what most witnesses have maintained all along. Steve and Lynne walked to a wooded area beside the County Road, known as Lawson's Bush, where they did what many young boys and girls do in the woods and bushes. Lynne may have taken off her shoes, socks and blue shorts and laid them out neatly as they later would be found. She may have teased too much and gone too far; then tried to get Steve to stop. Now Truscott was too passionate and in no mood to stop. She may have said she would tell on him for trying to rape her. This and his frustration about his penetration may have caused him to strangle her, which he did so with her blouse.
If it were not for the murder, the incident would mean no more than this: that Steve had a tentative date arranged with Jocelyne Goddette. He wanted a date with a girl that night and he took Lynne Harper when Jocelyne was not available.
Mr. Steven Truscott is a calm, cool, gutsy guy. There may be those who think this 14 years old boy could not have killed his 12 year old classmate and still be calm and collected about it. Then consider this: Anyone who can convince authorities and the public to reduce his sentence from hanging until dead to ten years and probation, and then rally tax-payers to give him 6.5 million dollars for a crime he committed and found guilty is capable of killing and raping a little 12 year old girl. O Canada has been duped, hoodwinked, and swindled by a smart, gutsy guy.
What kind of person can act normally within hours after killing someone—a person who can kill one hour and party normally with friends the next. The answer is: A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse and who is unable to feel guilt for such acts. In one word a psychopath.
Mr. Steven Truscott missed his calling. He should have been a politician.
The original trial jury received more facts and relevant information about this case than any other people anywhere in Canada, then or now.
Steve Truscott has never denied killing Lynn Harper.
Lynn Harper’s sacrifice: The real victim in this case is the beautiful 12-year old girl in the Harper household. She lost her life but may have saved other innocent girls from losing their lives. Perhaps while in prison Truscott got himself together and learned to control his psychopathic tendencies. He probably never killed again and instead set his goal to convince everyone that he was not the killer. The gullible public did him one better—awarded him 6.5 million dollars for his crime.
The Clue Master S.D.M.
