Expert assails police for not naming killer
‘No defensible reason’ for refusing to ID man who slayed girl, criminologist says
There is “no defensible reason” for refusing to publicly identify the man who sexually assaulted and killed Ljubica Topic nearly five decades ago, according to a criminologist who specializes in cold cases.
Windsor police held an emotional news conference Friday to announce they had finally learned who was responsible for the kidnapping, savage beating, sexual assault and killing of the six-yearold girl in 1971. Police said the man recently died, with the lead investigator stating “we know exactly who it was.”
But, citing the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, they won’t tell the public who it is.
“Are you telling me a sexual murderer of a child posthumously has more rights than the public right to know who this is?” said Michael Arntfield, a former police officer and well-known criminology professor at Western University.
The law is clear and this is across North America — in fact, essentially the G7. You cannot libel a dead person and a dead person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
“Including the fact that if he hasn’t been arrested for other offences that we know of, there are people — police investigators and citizens — who may very well benefit from knowing the name and being able to assist in other investigations.”
Other than stating the man was 22 when he killed Ljubica, that he eventually settled somewhere in Western Canada, and he recently died, police refused to give any details about the killer.
A man grabbed Ljubica on May 14, 1971, as she played outside her Drouillard Road home. She walked away holding hands with her killer after he offered $8 for help with a job. The man gave her eight-yearold brother a dime to ride his bike in the other direction.
Early the next morning, police discovered the girl’s body dumped behind the house at 1690 Hickory Rd. Her leg was broken and her teeth were smashed.
Arntfield said this cold case was among the oldest in North America. “It’s a tremendous achievement,” he said of Windsor police investigators finally cracking the case. “It’s a testament to a remarkable commitment that they got this solved.”
But Arntfield added the refusal to identify the man, based on privacy issues because he’s dead and police can’t formally charge him, mars the otherwise momentous announcement.
“At the same time, it casts a pall over the success in that there is really no public closure or resolution, and now dozens of other unanswered questions.”
Windsor police spokesman Sgt. Steve Betteridge said Monday that under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a person maintains privacy rights for 30 years after death.
He added that disclosure of personal information gathered during a police investigation is “an unjustified invasion of personal privacy.”
“This is an extremely unique set of circumstances and Windsor Police Service does understand the public’s desire to close the book on this tragic homicide that occurred in our community,” said Betteridge. “That is human nature and we understand that.
“But we have to, as a police service, abide by the law. And the law that I quoted to you is in black and white and spells out how this set of circumstances that we have does not fit the criteria to legally publish the name.”
Arntfield disagrees.
“The law is clear and this is across North America, in fact, essentially the G7,” he said. “You cannot libel a dead person and a dead person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
The Police Services Act allows the chief to release personal information that is in the public interest “in spite of any other Act,” he said.
The public interest here, he added, is solving other cold cases. It’s an almost certainty that Ljubica Topic was not this man’s only victim, said Arntfield.
“You’re talking about someone with a number of obvious paraphilia — a sadistic homicidal pedophile,” he said.
“This is really the optimal age for commencing a criminal career in serial sexual homicides. So those who begin at that prime age, I don’t know of any who would then just completely stop.
“It’s not necessarily that they’ll murder anybody else — I think there’s a good indication that he would have — but he would have been involved in other crimes, sexual crimes included.”
Police did hint Friday that investigators in other jurisdictions might be looking at the same killer for other unsolved crimes.
“Give them something to work with. Give the public out there something to work with,” Arntfield said.
Anecdotal evidence has shown 95 per cent of unsolved crimes are eventually resolved with the help of at least one tip from the public, he said.
Soliciting help from the public is among the “foremost priorities,” said Arntfield, and refusing to reveal this man’s name is a “flagrant contradiction of the methods used in every other cold case.”
“That you would withhold the name if you thought there were further cases and not want tips from the public is as irrational as claiming that this guy’s privacy interests outweigh the public’s interest,” said Arntfield.