Christine Jessop murder: Police identify killer in 1984 cold case of nine-year-old girl

TORONTO -- Toronto police have identified the man responsible for the murder of Christine Jessop, a nine-year-old Ontario girl who was sexually assaulted and killed more than 35 years ago.

Through DNA evidence, police announced Thursday semen found on Jessop's underwear was matched on Oct. 9, 2020 to Toronto resident Calvin Hoover, then 28. 

Hoover died in 2015, police said.

"However, if he were alive today the Toronto Police Service would arrest Calvin Hoover for the murder of Christine Jessop," Toronto Interim Police Chief James Ramer said Thursday.

Jessop was abducted after leaving her home in Queensville on Oct. 3,1984. The child's body was discovered nearly three months later, on Dec. 31, in a farm field about 55 kilometres away in Sutherland.

Police said she had been stabbed to death.

Guy Paul Morin, Jessop's neighbour, was arrested and wrongfully convicted of her murder. He was acquitted in 1995 after new DNA evidence emerged excusing him as the killer.

The Ontario government apologized to Morin for his prosecution and paid him $1.25 million in compensation. His wrongful conviction was subject of a judicial inquiry.

In a statement released through his lawyer on Thursday, Morin said he's relieved this update will give Jossep's mother, Christine, "some piece of mind."

He said two Toronto police officers came to his home Thursday morning to tell him "they had identified the man who murdered Christine Jessop."

"I am grateful that the Toronto Police stayed on the case and have now finally solved it," Morin said. "When DNA exonerated me in January, 1995, I was sure that one day DNA would reveal the real killer and now it has."

Cutting-edge technology helped lead police to Hoover

Hoover was identified as a potential suspect through genetic genealogy tracing that was finally confirmed from an existing blood sample, police said. 

Genetic genealogy tracing, which is not available in Canada, develops a whole family tree of individuals, rather than a single match.

While the semen sample, which was analyzed again this year, did not give an immediate match, the cutting-edge genetic genealogy tracing was able to create links with two "families."

From there, authorities were able to match the DNA to Hoover. 

Hoover, who had an unrelated criminal history, was never considered a suspect during the initial investigation but did come up as a person of interest, police added.

Police said Hoover and his wife had a "neighbour acquaintance" relationship at the time of Jessop's death and that he may have worked with her father.

Ramer acknowledged on Thursday that identifying Hoover as the killer has "generated many more questions" about the final moments of Jessop's life and that there is still more work to be done on the case.

"If you have any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, please contact police," Ramer said. "We'd quite frankly like to know what he was doing."

With files from The Canadian Press.