Ken Jessop hopes sister’s killer ‘enjoys his time in hell’
Killer of Christine Jessop revealed 36 years later
TORONTO — Shock, anger, relief — Ken Jessop has been cycling through a cascade of emotions since his mother called with the stunning news.
After 36 years, their quest is finally over. The killer of his little sister, Christine, has finally been identified as former family friend Calvin Hoover, who took his life in 2015.
“This came out of the blue but now it all makes sense,” Jessop says over the phone line, his voice racing as he paces back and forth just minutes after the police press conference. “I knew it was someone we knew. I knew it was someone close.”
Heather Hoover had worked with Jessop’s father at Eastern Independent Telecom before he was was sent to jail for fraud.
“Our parents were friends. They would come over to our house. They had kids the same age. We called Heather ‘Header the Newf’ because she was from Newfoundland.
“And she was one of only three people that knew we were going to visit my dad in jail that day and Christine wasn’t going.”
It was October 1984. While Ken and his mother were visiting Bob Jessop in jail, 9-year-old Christine took the school bus back to their home in the village of Queensville. And then she simply disappeared.
More than two months passed before her body was discovered in a wooded area in Sunderland, about 50 kilometres away. She had been raped and stabbed to death.
Neighbour Guy Paul Morin was wrongly convicted of the murder and later exonerated by the advent of DNA testing. Jessop and his mother, Janet, have been searching for her true killer ever since. “We never gave up. It’s been close. But we never lost hope,” Jessop says.
Just last year, we met to talk about the 35th anniversary of Christine’s disappearance and their frustration that Toronto Police weren’t doing enough to solve the cold case.
Now Jessop has a different view. “I’m so happy they never stopped working on it, despite my protestations. I’m so thankful that I was wrong.”
Two weeks ago, on the 36th anniversary of his sister’s murder, he and his mom went together for the first time to visit Christine’s grave back in Queensville. This year felt different, he says.
Unlike every other Oct. 3, it felt like they were celebrating her life and not dwelling on the horror of her death.
Just days later, the police got a match to her killer.
Investigators were having trouble reaching him Thursday morning so his mom phoned and told him to answer their call. Jessop wouldn’t let her off the line until she told him the news herself.
“I was just stunned,” he recalls. “When the detective came on the phone and told me as well, I just buckled. I couldn’t believe it. I just started bawling.”
The hunt for Christine’s murderer has consumed his teenage and adult years; it’s defined his life. Now 50, Jessop is reeling at finally having the mystery solved.
“What am I going to do tomorrow when I’m going to wake up for the first time without having to wonder who killed my sister? What am I going to do without this ball of hatred in my chest?” he asks.
“I’ve spent 36 years looking back. Now I have to look forward. It’s a wonderful feeling.
“I feel happy for Guy Paul, too. A large percentage still believe he got away with murder. There are some people who think I did it. It’s closure for all of us. It’s a miracle.”