Stepmom found guilty in teen’s 1994 death
TORONTO — A woman accused of killing her 17-year-old stepdaughter more than two decades ago was found guilty of second-degree murder on Monday after a trial which heard graphic evidence of the physical and emotional abuse suffered by the girl.
Elaine Biddersingh, who had been charged with first-degree murder, had pleaded not guilty in the death of Melonie Biddersingh, whose charred, malnourished body was found in a burning suitcase in an industrial parking lot north of Toronto in 1994.
The teen’s body went unidentified for years until 2011, when her stepmother told a pastor the girl had “died like a dog” after being confined and denied food and medication.
“This was a very long and difficult trial,” Crown prosecutor Mary Humphrey said outside court after the verdict, which was reached following six days of deliberations. The conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.
Melonie’s father, Everton Biddersingh, was found guilty in January of first-degree murder in his daughter’s death.
Exactly how Melonie died remains unclear but expert evidence at the trial has indicated she inhaled water shortly before her death and either drowned or nearly drowned, but died afterward from something else, such as starvation.
The trial heard that Melonie came to Canada from Jamaica in 1991 with two brothers to live with her father and her stepmother.