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Heather

Jan 27, 06 - 4:46 PM

Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Police probing murders of five women

By ALISON LANGLEY Review Staff Writer

Friday, January 27, 2006 - 02:00

Local News - NIAGARA FALLS Less than a day after a body found in the city’s north end was identified as Cassey Cichocki, police have launched a team to investigate the unsolved murders of several women police say were involved in “high risk behaviour.”

The 22-year-old Niagara Falls resident is the fifth young woman to turn up dead in Niagara since 1995.

Niagara Regional Police announced Thursday the service would direct additional resources to the major crime unit to look into Cichocki’s death and the unsolved murders of four other women.

“I hesitate to call it a task force at this time,” said Insp. Brian Eckhardt.

Eckhardt said the investigation will look into whether there are any similarities to Cichocki’s death and the unsolved murders of Dawn Stewart, Nadine Gurczenski, Diane Dimitri and Margaret Jeannette Jugaru.

“Obviously, there has been some connection the press has made already as the victims are women who were involved in a high risk lifestyle,” he said.

At a press conference at the headquarters in St. Catharines, Chief Wendy Southall warned media to be mindful of the victims’ families.

“Not only is public notification important, but so is sensitivity to the victims,” she said.

Police have previously said three of the women had been involved in drugs and prostitution. A fourth worked as an exotic dancer.

“At this point the answer is it is no,” Southall said when asked if there was a serial killer in Niagara preying on women engaged in similar behaviour.

“But we are providing resources to investigate the current and the past to determine whether or not there is. What we’re trying not to do is raise all kinds of concern when in fact there may not be something there. When we’re aware, trust me, you’ll be aware,” the chief told reporters.

Southall said she has notified officials from other law enforcement agencies of the investigation, including Hamilton police.

Hamilton and Halton police launched a task force known as Project Advocate in the spring of 2003 following a spate of violent attacks on prostitutes.

The task force also looked into two suspicious disappearances and one homicide involving sex trade workers in the Hamilton and Burlington areas dating back to January 2001. Those cases remain unsolved.

Meanwhile, the site where Cichocki’s body was found Tuesday remains under police guard.

“We will hold the scene as long as it needs to be held. There is no rush. It’s not a house or a business we’re disturbing, so if we have to keep that street shut down we will,” Eckhardt said.

Whirlpool Road from the Niagara Parkway and Stanley Avenue is closed to traffic, as well as traffic from Churches Lane onto Whirlpool Road.

Police have not released the cause of death, but confirm Cichocki died as the result of physical trauma to her body and her death likely occurred some time ago.

The cause of deaths of the other women has never been released.

Cichocki, who turned to the streets to fuel a drug addiction, was last seen in the early morning hours of Dec. 4 at the corner of Queen Street and St. Lawrence Avenue.

Earlier this month, her step-mother Wilma Kyle told The Review Cichocki was taking steps to overcome her habit and get her life back on track.

“She fell on hard times and that drove her to where she is, but I want people to know that Cassey is a daughter and a sister and we all love her,” Kyle said.

Kyle said her step-daughter faced many hardships. Her father died when she was seven and she lost her three-month-old baby to sudden infant death syndrome. She also lost a brother to suicide.

On Thursday, Southall offered condolences to the Cichocki family.

“I want to say on behalf of the entire Niagara Regional Police organization, and I’m certain all the members of the community as well, to provide our condolences to most recently the Cichocki family and as well provide condolences and recognition of the families of the previous victims.”

Wendy

Jan 27th, 2006 - 8:13 PM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

I heard about this today. Why do police ONLY investigate the murders of sex workers when they think a serial killer is involved? Why aren't the indiviual murders of sex workers looked into at all?

Wendy

Jan 28th, 2006 - 11:05 AM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Canadian sex workers say it's about time the police did something about the unsolved murders of five young women in Niagara Falls, Ont., which may be the work of a serial killer.
"Everyone knows about it," said Valerie Scott, executive director of Sex Professionals of Canada, a Toronto-based sex workers' rights organization. "Everyone's known about it for a long time, except, it seems, the Niagara Regional Police."

On Thursday, Niagara Regional Police announced formation of a task force to investigate whether the five deaths were connected.

The team comprises 12 police officers and is headed by Acting Staff Sgt. Cliff Sexton, a Major Crime Unit investigator. The five Falls victims were all somehow connected to the sex trade - either stripping and prostitution - and two were known to be involved with drug activity.

The body of the latest victim, Cassey Cichoki, 22, an exotic dancer who police said was known to use drugs, was found Tuesday in a remote area off Whirlpool Road.

She was reported missing Dec. 10 and last seen in downtown Niagara Falls, Ont., either late Dec. 4 or early Dec. 5. A passer-by found her body wrapped in a sheet, according to a report in the Hamilton Spectator. Police would not comment on the body's discovery.

The first homicide dates back 11 years. Dawn Stewart, a pregnant 32-year-old mother of two who worked in the sex trade, disappeared in September 1995. The skeletal remains of Stewart and her fetus were found in March 1996, the Spectator reported.

Sex workers such as Scott are particularly sensitive about the Falls homicides, following the 2002 arrest of a serial killer in British Columbia after the disappearances of dozens of Vancouver prostitutes over seven years.

Robert William Pickton, 52, faces 27 counts of first-degree murder in those slayings. Police made the arrest after they said they found human remains at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia.

"The Vancouver police had a task force, too," Scott pointed out. "We knew about that pig farm before they did."

She said it took the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to solve that case, and she hopes they will work with Niagara Regional Police in the Falls cases.

Sex workers believe their deaths are rarely treated seriously by law enforcement, Scott said. "They say, "They're just street girls. They're drug addicts. They're asking for it. We don't really have to investigate this too heavily.' "

But Babcock believes it's also dangerous to assume that the killings are the work of one person. "When they're faced with a lot of sex workers' bodies, they jump to the conclusion that it's a serial killer," she said. "That to me is a bit insulting."

However, if the Falls women were killed by one person, she said, "Why didn't you catch this guy after he killed the first woman?' "

More likely than not, crime experts say, there isn't a serial killer on the prowl in Niagara Falls. Serial killers are "the exception, rather than the rule," said Gregg McCrary, a former FBI profiler and author of "The Unknown Darkness: Profiling the Predators Among Us."

"But," he warned, "you can't discount the possibility. Overall, it's more likely that cases such as this - murders of prostitutes - is idiosyncratic, more individual cases, rather than linked. But you don't know if you don't check."

McCrary pointed to the Vancouver cases as well. "Police have been criticized in western Canada where they refused to believe there could be a serial killer because it's unlikely. And lo and behold, it was a serial killer."

Prostitutes, in general, are at high risk for all sorts of crimes, McCrary said, because of the nature of their work. "They'll go off with a stranger," he said. "Then if you mix in . . . drugs and other stuff, all of that compounds what's going on."

Forensic investigations are often difficult with prostitutes, he said, because exams may find multiple samples of DNA, "as opposed to a housewife who is raped and murdered."

McCrary said police will be looking for any commonalities among the cases and may be keeping secret some circumstantial evidence that could link the cases.

Wendy

Jan 30th, 2006 - 11:53 PM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Sex workers slam Niagara police for indifference
Updated Mon. Jan. 30 2006 11:25 PM ET

Canadian Press

TORONTO — An investigation into the suspicious deaths of five women living "high-risk lifestyles" in the Niagara region is taking too long because of police indifference towards those who work in the sex industry, an advocacy group says.

The Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), which carries a so-called "bad client list" on its website, said Monday it will post a warning about the women - three of whom police have said were involved in drugs and prostitution, while two others worked as exotic dancers.

"We've known about this for a while," said Valerie Scott, SPOC's executive director. "There will definitely be a warning, although everyone down there's already aware of it."

The Niagara Regional Police have established a team of 12 officers to probe any possible links between the death of Cassey Cichocki and the unsolved cases of four other women dating back to 1995 whose bodies were found in the Niagara region.

The body of Cichocki, 22, was discovered last week in a wooded area in Niagara Falls, Ont. She was last seen in the early hours of Dec. 4. Police have said she died as a result of physical trauma to her body.

Scott said police are only acting now because of media interest generated in the case of B.C. pig farmer Robert Pickton, who pleaded not guilty Monday to 27 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

"I think if Vancouver had not have happened, then Niagara police would just let this continue," Scott said.

"I don't think it's because they're incapable. I think they're just not interested."

Similar accusations have been levelled against police in Vancouver and also in Edmonton, where 12 women who worked in the sex trade have been found dead in rural areas around the city over the past 16 years.

Niagara police Const. Sal Basilone dismissed suggestions that the deaths in the region have been treated any differently than any other homicide investigation.

"I don't believe that is the case in any way, shape or form," Basilone said. "We have an obligation to investigate these matters as thoroughly as possible."

Investigators have not yet adopted a theory that a serial killer is operating in the Niagara region and targeting those involved in the sex industry, Basilone said.

Police have not released the causes of death of the other victims: Dawn Stewart, 32; Nadine Gurczenski, 27; Diane Dimitri, 28; and Margaret Jugaru, 26.

Stewart was 32 and pregnant when she vanished from her home in September 1995. Her skeletal remains, and those of a fetus, were discovered 10 years ago in a wooded area in Pelham, Ont., 25 kilometres west of Niagara Falls.

Gurczenski's body was discovered in May 1999 in a ditch in the nearby town of Vineland; Dimitri's remains were found in a ditch in rural Welland, just south of Pelham, in August 2003.

Jugaru's body was found in school parking lot in July 2004.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, asked about the case Monday, said he didn't have details about the concerns raised by SPOC.

"I would urge the police and investigators to do whatever they can to help us better understand what has happened," McGuinty said.

Scott said a serious discussion about legitimizing the practice of prostitution needs to take place in Canada. Prostitution itself is not illegal, although soliciting or communicating for the purposes of prostitution is against the law.

"That sends a powerful message to society that we're a nuisance and disposable and you can do what you want with us," Scott said.

Since communicating for the purposes of prostitution became illegal 20 years ago, more than 600 sex workers have gone missing or been murdered across Canada, she added.

Wendy

Jan 31st, 2006 - 9:01 PM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

TORONTO -- An investigation into the suspicious deaths of five women living "high-risk lifestyles" in the Niagara region is taking too long because of police indifference toward those who work in the sex industry, an advocacy group says.

The Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), which carries a so-called "bad client list" on its website, said yesterday it will post a warning about the women -- three of whom police have said were involved in drugs and prostitution, while two others worked as exotic dancers.

"We've known about this for a while," said Valerie Scott, SPOC's executive director. "There will definitely be a warning, although everyone down there's already aware of it."

Niagara Regional Police have established a team of 12 officers to probe any possible links between the death of Cassey Cichocki and the unsolved cases of four other women dating back to 1995 whose bodies were found in the Niagara region.

The body of Cichocki, 22, was discovered last week in a wooded area in Niagara Falls. She was last seen in the early hours of Dec. 4. Police have said she died as a result of physical trauma to her body.

A 33-year-old Niagara Falls resident was charged yesterday with second-degree murder in Cichocki's death.

Michael Durant is to appear in St. Catharines court today for a bail hearing, it was reported.

Scott said police are only acting now because of media interest generated in the case of B.C. pig farmer Robert Pickton, who pleaded not guilty yesterday to 27 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of sex-trade workers.

"I think if Vancouver had not have happened, then Niagara police would just let this continue," Scott said.

"I don't think it's because they're incapable. I think they're just not interested."

Niagara police Const. Sal Basilone dismissed suggestions that the deaths in the region have been treated any differently than any other homicide investigation.

"I don't believe that is the case in any way, shape or form," Basilone said. "We have an obligation to investigate these matters as thoroughly as possible."

Wendy

Jun 5th, 2006 - 4:33 PM

Police add second murder charge against Michael Durant

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - Police laid a second murder charge Monday against a man already accused of killing one woman with a high-risk lifestyle in southern Ontario.

Michael Durant, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 28-year-old Diane Dimitri, whose body was discovered in a ditch in rural Welland in August 2003.

Earlier this year, Durant was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Cassey Cichocki, an exotic dancer who vanished late last year. Her body was found in January, wrapped in a blanket and dumped in the bush near the Niagara Gorge.

That charge has since been upgraded to first-degree murder, police said.

The charges come after a task force began looking into the murder of five women with high-risk lifestyles in the Niagara region.

The five women -- three prostitutes and two exotic dancers -- were found dumped in various locations across the region, starting in 1996.

Niagara Region police deputy Chief Donna Moody said police are continuing to investigate whether there is a connection between all five slayings.

Dimitri's father, Kyri Kyriacou, said he's growing more hopeful that the person responsible for his daughter's death will face justice.

"For the past three years we've had no idea why, no questions answered, and now we have a possibility,'' he said Monday.

"It's going to be a long struggle,'' Kyriacou said. "Closure is the important thing.''

Kyriacou also asked that the media be sensitive when talking about his daughter, since he's now caring for her four children.

The other dead women were identified as Dawn Stewart, 32, Nadine Gurczenski, 26, and Margaret Jugaru, 26.

The slayings prompted the creation of the Project Advocate task force to probe more than a dozen attacks on sex-trade workers in the Hamilton-Halton area.

Cichocki, who turned to the streets to fuel a drug problem, was last seen in the early hours of Dec. 4.

Stewart, who was 32 and pregnant, vanished from her home in September 1995. Her skeletal remains, and those of a fetus, were discovered March 31, 1996, in a wooded area in Pelham.

The body of Gurczenski, 27, was discovered May 8, 1999, in a roadside ditch in Vineland.

The body of Jugaru, 26, was discovered in a school parking lot on July 9, 2004.

Monday's developments were just the latest in a series of unrelated deaths involving sex-trade workers across Canada.

In British Columbia, accused serial killer Robert Pickton faces 26 counts of first-degree murder related to dozens of women who went missing from Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside.

Pickton has been in custody since February 2002.

In Alberta, a police task force dubbed Project Kare has spent more than two years investigating the deaths of dozens of Alberta women, many of them involved in the sex trade.

Thomas George Svekla, 38, of High Level, Alta., was arrested May 9 and charged with second-degree murder in one of those deaths.

Anastasia Kuzyk

Current 22 yrs. and still counting, and not a fraud

Jun 6th, 2006 - 2:03 AM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

You guys are just jumping on the bandwagon again. Val you have been around since the 80's and you never started to give the impression that you gave a **** till there was something in it for you, more press for the has been. The one thing is I never hope to here from is the press about any dead women from sex work. What about the murders of the women in Toronto between 96 to 98? And also we had info about these murders in bad date book back in the late 90's about these women. In fact I talked to the cops down there as well and they shared as much as they could with me. I can prove this with notes and hard copies of the bad date book that we were producing at the time. Val has caused so much in fighting between Spoc with former members of Maggies' with Maggies' and S.W.A.T. that the social worker gained control of the bad date sheet/book. This is one thing us *****s had as a tool of empowerment and ya'll ****ed it up for personal gain. Ya'll are such a bunch of sad people it is not funny anymore. SWAT had a slamming bad date booklet it produced with Debra Waddington ( who was force to leave Maggies' because of stupid in fighting there and eventually went to work at the " Works". The bad date book did not pull any punches, we put tricks, cop, pimps, anyone who **** with us *****s in terms of violence. Wait a go with your **** disturbing you bunch of screw ups.

Tia

Nov 18th, 2006 - 6:33 PM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Hi my name is Tia, I am Nadine Gurczenski's Daughter. I just wanted to say get those cops moving on my moms murder because as they sit down and sip hot coffee, im on my rerends trying to figure out why this happend. Look there is about a llittle over six billon people in the world...there is about half of those poeple being killed,dying and sick who will die so lets shorten that number...a little over 3 billion people...can you solve one mystery on your own? You don't deserve to be cops...solve my mothers god **** mystery, ****!
Tia

No Name

Nov 2nd, 2007 - 11:33 PM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Tia, your mother's lifestyle makes it hard for the police to solve her death.

danielle

Feb 25th, 2008 - 1:46 AM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

These woman where murdered what they did for a living does not make the crime any different. They where human beings mothers daughters and sisters and one should not judge.

No Name

Feb 26th, 2008 - 12:26 AM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Read what I said! I didn't say that their murder didn't matter because of what they did. I said because of their lifestyle, in the case of Nadine Gurczenski anyway, it makes it hard for the police to solve her murder. She went from club to club, didn't use her real name, didn't keep any real friends, and not many people new much about her. So there isn't much to go by.

genevieve

Mar 27th, 2008 - 10:35 PM

Re: Police probe murders of five Women in Ontario

Does anybody have more info on when michael durant will go to trial?

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