Tracking a Killer: The Cold Case Files

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection calls it case fraught with a lot of sadness. 16-year-old high school student Mistie Murray disappeared from Goderich, Ontario on May 31st, 1995. Her adoptive father was charged with murder. He was acquitted in 1997. Mistie has never been found.

Michael Nigris was shot and killed in the Oshawa, Ontario plaza parking lot where he worked on March 30th, 2023. Durham Regional Police say they have been able to locate two individuals they believe were involved in his murder, but there have never been any arrests in this case. His sister says this is not going to be a cold case and they will exhaust every resource they have to get justice.

15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel left her Toronto apartment on June 12, 1999 after telling her parents she was headed out to see about a new job. She never returned. Months later her remains were found in Finch East Park. Police had a suspect early on, but there has never been an arrest in this case.

Unidentified human remains were discovered on July 16, 1980, in the area of Steeles and Concession in Markham. For over 40 years the identity of the person was unknown, but with the use of genetic genealogy the remains were identified in 2023 as belonging to William Pennell. The 26-year-old had escaped from a correctional facility in Kingston.

21-year-old Patrick Santos’ body was found in the backyard of his father’s Scarborough, Ontario home on September 17, 2006. His hands and feet were bound and tape was wrapped around his head. Police say he had been beaten and suffocated. His mother is looking for answers all these years later and still seeks justice for her son.

24-year-old Alberta Williams from Vancouver, British Columbia disappeared in August of 1989 after being out with friends at a bar in Prince Rupert where she had been doing some seasonal work. Three weeks after her disappearance her body was found on Highway 16. A missing person's case became a homicide.

In January of 1998, 29-year-old Hamilton, Ontario resident Sheryl Sheppard disappeared. Police say it is like she vanished off the face of the earth. The last person to see her was her fiancé Michael Lavoie. According to investigators he had dropped her off at an adult entertainment club in Niagara Falls. In this episode we talk to Sheryl's mother who has never given up on trying to find out what happened to her daughter and to the detective working on this 25-year-old cold case.

In August of 2010, 42-year-old Orangeville, Ontario nurse Sonia Varaschin was reported missing after she did not show up for work. Her body was found days later in a wooded area in nearby Caledon. Her killer has never been found. Police say they have received more than 1,500 tips from the public, but continue to search for the “one piece of information that will lead to an arrest.” In this episode we talk to the investigator working on this unsolved homicide and to one of Sonia's old friends who is still asking, “Who could have done this?”

In November of 1982, the body of 25-year-old Delia Adriano was found in a wooded area in Milton, Ontario. The Oakville woman had been reported missing by her family more than month earlier after she was dropped off in front of her home, but never made it inside. Her killer remains at large. In this episode we talk to her sister who tells us she is still waiting for answers and for justice.

In May of 2018, 37-year-old Matthew Staikos was at a late business dinner in Toronto's Yorkville area. When the young entrepreneur came out of the restaurant with a colleague someone jumped out of a silver Mercedes and shot Staikos from behind in what police describe as an ambush. Investigators have not been able to find that gunman. In this episode we talk to Matthew Staikos' brother and to the private investigator the family has hired to try to find answers.