Louie Goziotis spoke with reverence about his older sister, Helen Sedo, at the opening day of the trial for John Sedo, Helen’s husband of nearly 35 years who is charged with second-degree murder.
The Aurora, Ont.. woman’s body has never been found, but Crown prosecutor Jeanaha Kim told the jury that Helen’s burnt-out Acura was later discovered up north in a small clearing on a property in the Huntsville area that was well known to her husband, John.
Goziotis testified that Helen, who was retired and 16 years older than him, made you feel like you were the most important person in the world. He recalled that John and Helen had “taken in John’s father and she sacrificed years of her life making sure he was taken care of.”
John and Helen had two grown sons and a grandson. Goziotis said he and Helen would often speak multiple times a day because they were taking care of their father, who was in an “old age home.” The couple lived in Aurora but had a property in Huntsville where they had a permanent sleeping tent, a screened-in area for eating, and a firepit.
They also had a large vinyl shed where they would keep all their toys including their dirt bikes. “My sister enjoyed being there as long as there was family up there (with her),” Goziotis explained.
On Friday, July 31, 2020, Goziotis recalled getting a call at work from his brother-in-law around 11 a.m. “John said that my sister and him had a heated argument. He said that they were having marital issues and she left a couple of days ago. He said she left before but had never not come back. He said that Thursday, he went up north to ride his bike and clear his head and his mistake was not bringing his cell phone.”
Kim asked Goziotis how he responded to the news about his sister. “I asked him if he called the police. I was shocked at the time. That’s unlike her to leave and not contact anybody. I didn’t know what to think,” Goziotis responded, his voice breaking up with emotion as he recalled the 10- to 15-minute phone call.
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“I thought it must have been a really bad argument. I thought something happened to her because there was no way she would spend a night away.”
Goziotis said John told him he wanted to visit with his friend Jim Brown, an ex-police officer, so he could get Brown’s advice before calling authorities.
He said he got off the phone and left work to look for Helen. Goziotis said as he was searching, he got a call from Helen and John’s son, Michael.
“Michael asked me if I had spoken to his father or mother. Michael and I were waiting to hear back from John. At that time, we were thinking she had just left. We were talking about the fact the police need to be called soon.”
Goziotis testified he and Michael texted back and forth that night. “He was concerned about his mom and wondered why police weren’t called. Michael said that his father’s reluctance to call the authorities was ‘weirding him out’. “I told him not to be in that head space,” Goziotis added.
“John called me at some point that evening but Jim Brown said not to call police until morning because it would be an overreaction if we contacted them so quickly,” Goziotis recalled, clarifying that John said that after the heated argument, he said “she packed a bag and left. I believe he said 10:30 (p.m.).”
Goziotis said he tried calling John first thing Saturday morning but there was no response. When Goziotis heard back via text message, “he said he slept in, he had breakfast and he wanted to take a shower before the police came because he wanted to be prepared.” Goziotis told his brother-in-law that if he didn’t call police in 30 minutes, he would.
York Regional Police later put out a news release about Helen’s disappearance. The bulletin said she was last seen driving a 2012 Silver Acura when she left her residence on Treegrove Circle, in the area of Bathurst Street and St John’s Side Road on July 29, 2020.
Goziotis testified he had last spoken to Helen at around 8 p.m. that night when he called her back. She told him she had pocket-dialed him earlier in the day but was looking for information that their father’s old age home needed. He told Kim his sister did not mention John during the conversation.
Though two weeks earlier, before his sister disappeared, he testified ,”she said, and I quote ‘John is being an asshole again. He’s not being compassionate’, relating to the amount of time she was spending taking care of their father. She didn’t know if they could work it out. She was leaving. They would have to split some of their assets, and they wouldn’t be able to keep some of the things that John liked,” referring to the Huntsville property and the dirt bikes.
Goziotis testified that a few years before, Helen told him that she and John were arguing and she didn’t know what would happen. “She said they weren’t getting along. She mentioned it was basically due to how much time she was spending taking care of my mother at the time,” Goziotis said, adding his mother passed away in 2017.
In the Crown’s opening address, Kim told jurors that after John called police to report his wife missing, the couple’s son Michael found Helen’s cellphone in the back yard on a glass table. Helen’s passport was also located. Her bank account remained untouched and no purchases or transactions were made on her credit card.
After Helen’s disappearance, Kim explained that police and family searched extensively in Aurora and in Huntsville. “John was the last person to see Helen alive. John Sedo killed his wife, set her car on fire, and then returned home to report her missing,” said Kim.
Sedo has pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
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