Alicia Ross

Alicia Ross (February 1980 - August 2005) was a young woman from Markham, Ontario, Canada whose disappearance in August of 2005 and the resulting investigation became the subject of international media coverage. After widespread media suspicion of Ross' boyfriend, her next-door neighbor turned himself in to authorities and was sentenced to life in prison for second degree murder.

Disappearance

On the morning of August 17, 2005, Alicia Ross, a Hewlett Packard employee, mysteriously disappeared without her purse, keys, or car, leading her boyfriend to report her as missing and causing the police to suspect that something may have happened to Ross, although they did not immediately deem the case "foul play". Initially, her current boyfriend and ex-boyfriend were questioned, although neither were reported to be suspects in the missing persons case. Her boyfriend, Sean Hine, last saw Ross at 12:00 midnight the night before, and her family last saw her at 11:00 PM on August 16. By August 19, a police crew and 60 volunteers had been scouring nearby ravines around Ross' Markham, Ontario home. By August 20, nearly 400 volunteers and over 60 police officers were participating in the search for Ross. Police had to turn down volunteers and requested only 100 volunteers per day to help them in their efforts. The search continued for several days, and was reported on the American TV show America's Most Wanted.[5]

On August 22, Ross' boyfriend Sean Kine was arrested for drunk driving just hours after the police reported that they had shifted their focus from a missing person case to a possible case of foul play. The search was scaled down while Kine came under increased interrogation and was "feeling the heat" from the police investigation. On the 25th of August, Kine's neighborhood was canvassed; although he was "not a suspect", neighbors were asked whether they had seen Kine taking out trash on August 17, or anything suspicious.

On August 29th, the National Post reported that Ross' boyfriend Sean Kine had stopped cooperating with investigators and refused to take a polygraph test. However, in private phone calls with Ross' mother Sharon Fortis, he had "told her how much he misses her daughter and asks how she is coping." [6] News began to surface that Kine considered himself "pretty much the prime suspect" of the investigation, and of his somewhat unusual decision to report her missing after she failed to answer two phone calls. Boyfriend Not Talking, Mother Says

Media attention to the case began to wane in late August due to the lack of new leads and the ongoing devastation of Hurricane Katrina in the southern United States. On September 2nd, 2005, the York Regional Police dismantled their campaign post in Thornhill, Ontario, because students were returning to the school they had been using as their command centre. Police shut Ross command centre

The case lay dormant for over a week, until Jennifer Teague, an 18-year-old woman in nearby Barrhaven, Ontario was reported missing, and Ross' mother Sharon Fortis once again became the subject of stories, about how she and the family were coping and looking for closure in Alicia's disappearance.

Body Found

On September 21, over a month after Ross' initial disappearance, and just days after the body of slain 18-year-old Jennifer Teague was discovered, the Globe and Mail reported that the body of Alicia Ross had been found, and that police had taken one person into custody. [7] The body was found more than 50 miles from Ross' Markham, where she was last seen by her family and her boyfriend of six weeks on the night of August 16. Ross' neighbor, 31-year-old Daniel Sylvester was charged with second-degree homicide Man charged with second-degree murder in case of missing Ontario woman, after turning himself in, in the company of a lawyer, to police. The Edmonton Sun said, "With public suspicions firmly focused on Sean Hine, Alicia's boyfriend and the last known person to have seen her before she disappeared, the news that her next-door neighbour, an enigmatic and little-known character on his own street, had been arrested shocked the city."

Aftermath

Toronto Sun columnist Mike Strobel wrote an apology piece to Sean Hine on behalf of a "presumptuous public", and Sean's father, Ken Hine went on to speak to the Toronto Sun and "set the record straight," saying that his son was "going through a lot of emotions" and "finding out his girlfriend was murdered and not coming back."

On October 7, 2006, more than 50 days after Alicia Ross' disappearance, friends, family, and mourners held an "emotional farewell" to Alicia Ross.[8] 500 people filled into a Toronto, Ontario synagogue to mourn the passing of Alicia Ross.

On January 19, 2006, Daniel Sylvester made a video court appearance in Markham, Ontario[9], for his preliminary hearing.

On January 20, 2006, CTV reported that the Ross/Fortis family was releasing a website, www.aliciaross.ca, in memory of Alicia Ross[10]. In March, 2006, Sharon Fortis announced the creation of a scholarship named after Alicia Ross and Greg Rogers, a boyfriend of Ross' who died in a car crash in 1999. The money would be raised by a Greg Rogers memorial hockey game fundraiser.Family of Alicia Ross Lends Her Name To Fundraiser

Murder Trial

On July 4, 2006, Daniel Sylvester went to court for a preliminary hearing.[11]

The murder trial began May 7, 2007 - nearly a year-and-a-half after Ross' initial disappearance - with a jury of 8 women and 4 men. Sylvester attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter in the death of Ms. Ross, which would have suggested that the lawyers would try to argue that the death was unintentional, but the plea was rejected by the court. Prosecutor Kelly Wright stated:

"He told police he encountered her and they exchanged words," Ms. Wright said. "He slapped her on the face. He pushed her on the ground and drove his knee into her solar plexus several times. He took her head and banged it into the ground several times," the prosecutor said.

Mr. Sylvester lined the inside of his truck and put the body of Ms. Ross inside. He cleaned up the blood, had a shower and drove about 80 kilometres northeast of his home to a wooded area near the town of Manilla. Some of the remains were transferred three weeks later by Mr. Sylvester to the Coboconk location, said Ms. Wright.

The following link contains an archive of articles describing many of the details of the trial: [12]

The courtroom testimony saw Sylvester describing himself as a "fringe" individual who did not do well with other people. According to testimonies, Sylvester advanced upon Ross slightly after her boyfriend had left.

Sylvester said that during the argument with Ross, she called him a name, which made him snap. "She insulted me and called me a loser and that's what really got me going," he said on the video. Asked by McViety if he'd ever been called that name before, he responded: "Yes, many times throughout high school and ... even grade school. I just have social difficulties with other kids. I have anxiety problems," he said. ... McViety asked him to pen a letter to Ross and her family. "I don't know what I'd say," he told the detective as he started sobbing uncontrollably. "I would say I had no right to take your daughter's life," he cried, turning away from the detective and facing a wall. Through his tears, he wrote a two-sentence note to Ross's family: "I am beyond words. I cannot possible express how sorry I am for what I have (done)." McViety left the interview room, but the tape was still rolling. Sylvester could barely be heard talking to himself:

"I should never have been born. ... Nice going a--hole. Way to make your mother proud. Real credit to your family. You never should have been f---ing born. Oh my God." Earlier in the tape, Sylvester said he regretted the grief he had caused his mother. "I told her that ... I'd never do this to hurt you, I'd never put you in this position. All the shame and humiliation you're going to have to bear being associated with me...You know that she doesn't need that. (She's) 71,"