KITCHENER, Ont. – A young woman who pressured her boyfriend to kill his teenage ex more than a decade ago had her day parole revoked Friday after she became entangled in a love triangle outside prison.
The Parole Board of Canada made the decision after hearing Melissa Todorovic had failed to disclose two romantic relationships, breaching one of the conditions of her release.
During a hearing at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., the board heard from one of Todorovic’s parole officers that the young woman began a relationship with a man who was on probation, then later became involved with his friend.
“She appeared to be manipulating them against one another,” telling the first man he was not satisfying her sexually and complaining about it to the second, the parole officer told the board.
Todorovic’s behaviour “raises concerns about her judgment and her ability to manipulate,” the officer said.
Todorovic was granted six months of day parole in November after the board found she had made progress in understanding what led her to orchestrate the 2008 killing of 14-year-old Stefanie Rengel.
WATCH: Mother of Stefanie Rengel speaks to Global News about day probation for her daughter’s murderer (Nov 28, 2019)
The panel also said at the time that Todorovic should expect to remain in counselling for a long time and required her to report any close relationship to her parole officer.
Todorovic said Friday she knew it was wrong to hide her relationships but denied manipulating or controlling the two men. She attributed her actions to feeling isolated and overwhelmed by the adjustment to life outside prison.
“I was lonely when I was out there,” she said. “I liked people complimenting me and giving me attention and I didn’t want it to end.”
The parole board panelist, however, called it “very, very, very concerning” that Todorovic was engaging in behaviours similar to those that led to her crime so soon after moving to a halfway house.
Todorovic was convicted of first-degree murder in 2009 for ordering the slaying of Rengel, a Toronto teen who had become the focus of her intense jealousy even though the two had never met.
Fuelling this obsession was the fact that Rengel had briefly dated Todorovic’s then-boyfriend, David Bagshaw, years earlier.
Todorovic, who was 15 at the time, repeatedly threatened to break up with Bagshaw or withhold sex unless he killed Rengel. He eventually carried out the murder plot, luring the teen out of her home on New Year’s Day 2008 and stabbing her six times.
Both Todorovic and Bagshaw were sentenced as adults to life in prison, with parole eligibility set at seven years for Todorovic and 10 years for Bagshaw, who was just a few days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the murder.
Todorovic appealed her conviction and sentence but both were upheld. The process delayed her application for parole, however, and the board has said she became eligible for day parole in 2013 and full parole in 2015.
WATCH: Day parole granted for woman who masterminded Stefanie Rengel murder (Nov. 27, 2018)
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