Nearly 36 years ago Barbara Stoppel was killed in a donut shop in Winnipeg. Now a former police detective involved in the case is releasing a book highlighting the botched investigation and the string of victims left in the wake.
Andrew Mikolajewski retired from the police department in 2014 after 28 years on the job. He wanted to share what happened behind the scenes of the investigation so he started writing.
The book follows the story of 16-year-old Stoppel who was strangled and found unconscious on the floor and the man wrongly accused in her death, Thomas Sophonow.
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“Numerous witnesses saw a stranger, who many referred to as a cowboy in the store with her shortly before her body was discovered in the women’s washroom,” Mikolajewski told Global News.
Mikolajewski said the investigation suffered from tunnel vision.
“At that time there was immense pressure to catch the killer,” Mikolajewski said.
Mikolajewski was one of the detectives working on the review of the case. It became glaringly obvious that Sophonow wasn’t the person they were looking for.
“Our role in this investigation was to look into the interest of the deceased, Barb Stoppel. From there it extended to her family. But also when we found that Tom Sophonow was innocent he became a victim as well and then we looked after his interests to prove he was innocent.”
The book has the approval from Sophonow and the Stoppel family. On Sunday the third chapter will be released online.