Officers charged in Tess Richey case
Police allegedly failed to properly investigate her disappearance, death
Six months after the body of Tess Richey was found by her mother during a desperate search for her missing daughter, two Toronto police officers are facing disciplinary charges for allegedly failing to properly investigate the young woman’s disappearance.
The professional misconduct charges come as a result of an internal police investigation into officers’ handling of the missing person case — now a homicide — that drew heated criticism of how the service probes disappearances. “It was obvious that something had gone terribly wrong when my mom had to drive from North Bay to To- ronto to find our beloved Tessie in the same area she was reported missing in,” Richey’s sister, Varina Richey, said in a statement Tuesday. Const. Alan McCullough and Const. Michael Jones, two officers from the busy downtown division that includes the Church-Wellesley community where Richey went missing, made a brief early morning appearance before a police tribunal at Toronto police headquarters.
Each is charged with two counts of professional misconduct under Ontario’s Police Service Act: neglect of duty and insubordination. If found guilty of misconduct, the repercussions range from a formal reprimand to dismissal. According to a summary of the allegations released in police documents Tuesday, the pair were working the day shift together on Nov. 26, 2017, one day after 22-yearold Richey was reported miss- ing to police by her family.
The officers received a call to check an address in relation to Richey’s missing person case, but failed to take the investigation further despite learning that it was the young woman’s last known location, according to the document.
“You did not search the adjoining property or immediate area thoroughly.”
“You did not conduct a canvass of the neighbours. You failed to notify a supervisory officer of all the particulars,” the document states, adding the alleged actions were in contravention of Toronto police missing persons procedure.
It wasn’t until three days later, on Nov. 29, that Richey’s body was found in an alleyway outside a building near Church and Wellesley Sts. — approximately 40 metres northeast of the address the officers attended.
“No mother should find their own child,” Richey's mother, Christine Hermeston, wrote in a Facebook message that was later deleted. “Not one cop searched the area where she was last seen and had they immediately checked after given the address she may have been still alive, there may have still been a chance.”
Richey was killed by neck compression, according to a post-mortem examination.
Kalen Schlatter, 21, was arrested Feb. 4 and charged with second-degree murder, a charge later upgraded to first-degree murder. Toronto police Staff Sgt. Shane Branton, of the professional standards unit, told the tribunal Tuesday he has been in contact with the prosecutor handling the Schlatter case. “The circumstances surrounding the alleged misconduct involve a very serious matter before the criminal courts,” Branton said. Proceeding before it is resolved will have a “negative affect on this serious prosecution,” he added quoting from a letter submitted to the tribunal by the Crown attorney.
Late last year, Toronto police chief Mark Saunders launched an internal review of missing persons cases. The move came in the wake of public outcry over the force’s handling of Richey’s disappearance and others with ties to the Church-Wellesley community, including the men now believed to be victims of alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur.
Saunders has also announced that Toronto police will create a dedicated missing-persons unit to review and update disappearances already on file and investigate high-priority new cases. There is also an ongoing independent review of Toronto police’s handling of missing persons cases, commissioned by the Toronto police board earlier this year. Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, said he fully supports the reviews of how the service investigates missing persons cases. But he says he is confused by the charges brought against McCullough and Jones, who he called experienced officers.
In her statement, Richey’s sister Varina said that the allegations surrounding her sister’s death “are something no family should have to endure.”