Accused to appear in court for Tori Stafford’s kidnap, murder

Two Ontario residents charged in connection with the high profile abduction and death of eight-year-old Victoria (Tori) Stafford will make another court appearance Thursday, as authorities continued Wednesday to search for the girl’s body.

The two accused – Terri-Lynne McClintic, 18, and Michael Rafferty, 28, – are slated to appear by videolink in a Woodstock Ont., courtroom at 9 a.m. The couple was arrested May 20 and remain in custody.

McClintic is charged with abduction and accessory after the fact to murder while Rafferty faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of abduction.

Rafferty is reportedly on suicide watch at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre in London Ont., according to his lawyer Harald Mattson, in an interview with the Waterloo Region Record.

Meanwhile, the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Tuesday they would review the way Amber Alerts are handled, in the wake of heavy criticism for not issuing the warning after Tori went missing after school on April 8.

The Ontario Amber Alert is a warning system that lets the public know about abducted children who are in imminent danger, according to the OPP website.

At the time of Tori’s disappearance, police said the case didn’t fit the criteria for an Amber Alert and it was never activated.

OPP commissioner Julian Fantino said Tuesday the Stafford case had "brought some questions to the fore."

However, Fantino also cautioned police don’t want the Amber Alerts to "become a routine thing" and should be reserved for special cases where it is important to get the public’s attention.

The search for Tori’s remains was expected to continue Wednesday, as authorities entered their eighth day of looking for the girl’s body.

Police divers were called in to scour two lakes near Guelph, Ont., – about 100 kilometres west of Toronto. Investigators also continued to ask for public assistance in their search for the grey, cloth-covered back seat of a car believed to have been used in the abduction of the Woodstock child.