Police probe into family murders under fire
Relatives call internal review into how case was handled in Brampton deaths ‘unacceptable’
The Star has reported on the 3 deaths in the Harrison family.
How did Peel police fail to view the deaths of Bill and Bridget Harrison as homicides until after their son was killed? The only organization probing the missteps in the Harrison family murder investigations is the force that made them — and Peel’s internal review has already come under fire.
Chief Jennifer Evans launched the internal investigation in February, suspended it in March, then reinstated it after relatives of the Harrison family called the suspension “unacceptable” and fired off emails to the Peel Police Services Board, the mayor of Mississauga and the Peel Crown attorney’s office.
“Limiting the investigation into what went wrong with the Harrison case to internal reviews means asking our family to trust the very institutions and individuals who repeatedly failed us while our family members were murdered, year after year,” Wanda Jamieson, a close family friend who has been co-ordinating efforts to hold authorities to account, told the Star. “We cannot accept that.”
Three members of the Harrison family died in their home, one after the other, between 2009 and 2013 — first Bill, then Bridget, then Caleb. A Star investigation documented the failures of police, coroners and pathologists in the first two death probes. Police did not treat the deaths of Bill and Bridget as homicides until after their son was murdered. Relatives and friends believe two deaths could have been prevented if the first had been properly investigated.
Peel police have not responded to the family’s request for an independent third-party review. Jamieson said the family has been told they will not see the report that comes out of the internal review, and it won’t be made public. A spokesperson for Peel police told the Star information may be released, “where appropriate.”
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie expects to see the full report. “I have spoken with Chief Evans and relayed my expectation that the findings of the internal investigation be released and made public,” she said in a statement. “If I am not satisfied with the outcome of the internal investigation being conducted by both Peel Police and the chief coroner, I will call for further action.”
The Office of the Chief Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service are conducting an internal review. The province’s chief coroner said it will likely be followed by an independent review. Dr. Dirk Huyer, who had a teleconference with the family in March along with chief forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Pollanen, has promised transparency.
In January, Caleb’s ex-wife, Melissa Merritt, and her common-law spouse, Christopher Fattore, were convicted of firstdegree murder in his 2013 death. Fattore was also found guilty of first-degree murder in Bridget’s 2010 death, and not guilty of second-degree murder in Bill’s 2009 death.
Their convictions followed a three-month criminal trial in which prosecutors argued the Harrisons were murdered at key moments in a bitter custody battle over Merritt and Caleb’s two children.
Merritt and Fattore have both filed appeals.
The family has asked Attorney General Yasir Naqvi for a public inquiry. Naqvi’s office has not given the family an answer. In a statement emailed to the Star, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General did not rule out an inquiry, but said it is important that criminal proceedings “be allowed to continue without interference or influence, so as not to jeopardize the integrity and independence of those proceedings.”
In February, a few weeks after the trial concluded, Peel’s police chief tapped Insp. Joseph Pao- lini to lead the internal review. Soon after, the Harrisons met with Paolini and shared their concerns. Jamieson said the family was told they would have little input or involvement in the review and would not see the final results.
On March 21, Paolini called Jamieson with news. The review had been suspended, he said, because Merritt and Fattore had filed appeals.
It was a strange announcement, given that the appeals had been filed weeks before the internal review started and given that most murder convictions are swiftly appealed. Jamieson, who took notes during their conversation, said Paolini told her that Peel police had only just learned of the appeals, two months after they were filed.
Jamieson said the suspension was unacceptable. She pointed out that appeals can take years, that it has already been nine years since the first death, and that the family was promised that a review would take place after the trial.
Paolini told Jamieson that he had spoken with David Maylor, senior Crown attorney for Peel Region, and that Maylor had suggested an internal review could jeopardize the appeal.
Jamieson wrote to Maylor, asking if he had recommended that police cancel the internal review.
“Any decision by the Peel Regional Police to launch or suspend an internal review rests squarely with Chief Evans and her leadership team,” Maylor replied.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General said police services operate independently from the Crown.
A few days after learning the review had been suspended, Jamieson wrote to the Peel Police Services Board to voice the family’s concerns, and asked the board: “What action will you take?” In her March 26 email to board chairperson Sue McFadden, Jamieson copied the Peel police chief and Crombie.
Two days later, Evans replied to all and said the review was back on. It was the first and only time the Harrison family heard from the police chief directly.
In a statement emailed to the Star, Sgt. Josh Colley, a spokesperson for Peel police, offered this explanation about the onagain, off-again review: “Chief Jennifer Evans ordered a review after the courts rendered their guilty verdicts. She later suspended it pending the appeals process in order to ensure that the review does not in any way interfere with the integrity of that process. After consulting with the Crown, the decision was made to carry on with the review.”
Colley said Paolini is a “senior officer and experienced investigator.” The review is in its early stages and the Harrisons “will continue to be informed of the process, and any pertinent findings will be communicated to the family and the members of the public, where appropriate,” he said.
Robert Serpe, executive director of the Peel Police Services Board, refused to comment on the Harrison case. Serpe did not respond to questions about whether the board had asked to see a copy of the report or a summary of its findings.
Chief Evans is no stranger to the importance of independent reviews in bringing accountability and restoring public trust in the aftermath of flawed police investigations. She has led or assisted in reviews of police conduct for inquiries into how Canada’s most notorious serial killers — Robert Pickton and Paul Bernardo — escaped capture for years.
Peel’s handling of the Harrison family murders echoes concerns now being raised about Toronto police in connection to alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur — including whether red flags went unnoticed during missing persons investigations connected to Toronto’s Gay Village.
Years before McArthur’s arrest, three of the men he is now alleged to have killed were the subjects of a special missing persons probe called Project Houston. That investigation closed in 2014, with no evidence of criminal activity.
Faced with serious questions about Project Houston and other missing persons cases, the Toronto Police Services Board in March voted unanimously to commission an independent investigation into how the force conducts probes into disappearances, a move supported by police Chief Mark Saunders.
No such independent investigation has been called to explore systemic issues in the Harrison murders, even with the criminal trial concluded.