Darla Thurott Murder: High-ranking Police Officer’s Son a Person of Interest

A retired police officer who investigated the murder of Darla Thurott claims in the Ontario Court of Appeal that he knew the child had been raped, but he denies withholding information from an interview with a person of interest because the man was the son of a police commissioner. Timothy Rees served 19 years in prison for the second-degree murder of the 10-year-old girl before being granted parole in 2009.

Attention : information contained in this article may shock some readers.

In these hearings, the defense of Tim Rees claims his client was falsely accused of the murder of Darla Thurott in 1989 in Toronto and that he was imprisoned in place of the real murderer: James Raymer.

The trial showed in 1990 that James Raymernow deceased, lived in the room opposite the little victim’s bedroom and that he was the owner of the house where the children lived. Thurott.

The defense of Rees has been hearing the interrogation of March 17, 1989 before the Court of Appeal for two days.

We hear Raymer tell the police that he sometimes went to the bedroom of Darla to wish him good night, but he also happened to caress his crotch.

The man, who was 52 at the time, told police he had met Darla to the bathroom that night, but after some hesitation on the matter, he claims that he ultimately did not go to see her that night.

He recognizes that he has a good relationship with Darla whom he invites into his room to watch cartoons.

However, we hear him say that he is too old for the child and that it is Darla who began to seduce him.

The testimony of Raymer is however confused. He repeats that he had nothing to do with the death of Darlaalthough he admits that the police do not believe him.

Evidence of sexual assault

The lawyer of Tim Rees, James Lockyerrevealed that the autopsy showed that Darla had been strangled, but that she also had old anal injuries, indicating that she had been raped in the past.

In the witness box, the officer Clanfield claims he no longer remembers the interrogation very well.

However, we can hear him getting impatient in the recording and accusing Raymer to lie.

Me Lockyer asks for the recording to be stopped and speaks to the agent Clanfield. You knew that Raymer had killed Darla?he asks her.

The retired police officer replies that he thought that Raymer was a person of interest and that he wanted to continue questioning him so that he would tell the truth

L’agent Clanfield admits that he tried to make him repeat Raymer what he had said at the beginning of the interrogation, when he said that he had gone to see Darla the night of the murder to wish him goodnight.

The 67-year-old retiree admits that he has finally accepted the version of Raymer that he had never been in the room after all Darla the night of the murder.

Undeniable information

Me Lockyer yet makes him admit that the information from Raymer were very incriminating at the time.

You knew the sexual inclinations of James Raymerbut you kept this information to yourself?asks the lawyer.

Irritated, the agent Clanfield affirm that This idea is ridiculous and that he did everything to resolve the investigation with his colleagues.

Me Lockyer also told the pensioner that he had also had a conversation with Raymer about his financial situation, but that this part of the questioning was not recorded.

I didn’t know he came from a wealthy family, but yes, he was the son of an Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner.he said.

His colleague, S^gt Rose, had said on Wednesday that Clanfield and had led him Raymer at the police station after questioning him in the house of Thurott the morning when Darla was discovered unresponsive in her bed, but that they had stopped at a bank beforehand at the request of the individual.

I don’t remember us stopping at a banksays the retired police officer today.

Me Lockyer reveals numerous memory lapses and contradictions in the officer’s interrogation Clanfield as he had done the day before with the testimony of the S^gt Rose.

Police Service Doubts

The lawyer reminded the court that the police officer, like the sergeant, were interviewed by his department’s Office of Professional Quality Standards in 2009. Both men were already retired.

Clanfield says he remembers a call at night in October 2011 while he was in Kenya, but did not know it was the Bureau calling about an unsolved investigative tape.

years after I left the service, I told them that I remembered the case but not in great detail and that I was unaware that the interrogation had been recorded”,”text”:”It had already been 7 years that I had left the service, I told them that I remembered the affair but not in great detail and that I was unaware that the interrogation had been recorded”}}”>It had already been 7 years since I left the service, I told them that I remembered the affair but not in great detail and that I did not know that the interrogation had been recordedhe said.

Me Lockyerwho appears to have a copy of the telephone conversation, explains that the agent Clanfield told the investigator that he did not think that Raymer would have been the murderer, becausehe did not have the physical capacity to kill Darla, being sick.

The lawyer then cites the meeting between the agent Clanfield and the Crown in May 2024 regarding the testimony he was going to give before the Court of Appeal.

The existence of this tape was completely new to me.he said, adding that he did not even know he had questioned James Raymer in 1989.

Me Lockyer suggests that the agent’s memory lapses Clanfield come at the right time, because he took part in the criminal investigation much more than he claims and because he knew that Raymer was suspect N^o 1 in the murder of Darla.