Roommate found guilty of young writer’s murder
Best friend remembers victim as ‘the missing puzzle piece that completed everybody’
Victoria Selby-Readman had always wanted to be a writer. A fan of Sylvia Plath and Edgar Allan Poe, she was working on collection of short horror stories when she was murdered by her roommate, a man she’d offered a temporary home to help her afford her rent after her ex-boyfriend moved out.
On Friday, that man, Richard Isaac, was found guilty of second-degree murder in the 2018 killing of Selby-Readman, 28, by a jury after two days of deliberations in the last jury trial running in Toronto under COVID-19 restrictions.
Isaac, 44, faces an automatic sentence of life in prison, but his parole ineligibility period will need to be decided by a judge. Nine of the 12 jurors recommended the maximum period of 25 years, the other three made no recommendation.
Although the jury heard that Isaac was wanted by Durham Regional Police for harassing and threatening his ex-girlfriend when he moved in with Selby-Readman and that he later pleaded guilty to criminal harassment, they did not hear that Isaac had a much longer history of domestic-violence-related charges and convictions spanning several years.
“I hope now Victoria can rest in peace knowing justice has been served,” her best friend Alexandra Palermo said after the verdict.
“The verdict still doesn’t take away any of the pain or how much we all love her and miss her every day. I will never get my best friend back, but I can now go through life knowing the man who killed her and robbed her of her beautiful life will be in jail and held accountable for what he has done.”
Many of Selby-Readman’s family and friends came to court daily for the trial, although due to strict limits of the number of people allowed in the courtroom, no more than five or six people were allowed into the public gallery.
Palermo said they tried to rotate attendance so the jury could see how many people cared for Selby-Readman.
“She was the missing puzzle piece that completed everybody. Now we are missing our piece,” Palermo said. “There was always light around her.”
During the trial, the Crown argued that Selby-Readman had clearly wanted Isaac out of the small downtown apartment they shared. He had moved in three weeks prior, and, in texts to her father on June 8, 2018, Selby-Readman complained of his drinking. “He’s so stupid. I want him gone today,” she said.
That Friday evening was the last time she was seen alive, in the building security video that showed her entering her apartment.
The Crown said Isaac killed Selby-Readman that evening and remained in the apartment all weekend, leaving only to buy more alcohol, until he left early Monday morning when his father came to pick him up. Selby-Readman’s body was discovered by her worried father on Tuesday.
In finding Isaac guilty of second-degree murder, the jury rejected the defence theory that Selby-Readman’s exboyfriend was the killer, and that what really happened was Isaac came home to find Selby-Readman dead.
That explanation was documented in a bizarre series of journal entries written by Isaac, who did not testify. The Crown also argued Isaac faked text messages to Selby-Readman’s father so he would think she was still alive.
Palermo said there were so many things Selby-Readman wanted to do in her life and she was looking forward to being independent.
Selby-Readman studied women’s studies, literature, philosophy and political science at the University of Toronto, Palermo said. She hoped to have children one day, and adored animals, including her beloved cat Bunny and Palermo’s dog Sky.
“She had such a sharp mind. She was the smartest person I knew,” Palermo said. “I will miss her forever and ever.”