'Sweet' elderly woman's random stabbing death 'an absolute shock' for Pickering
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Some of those bearing flowers honouring the elderly woman brutally stabbed to death on Thursday afternoon in front of her Lynn Heights Dr. home were left in tears on Friday as they described a sweet neighbour who would dress up a scarecrow leaning on the side of her house.
On Friday morning, the scarecrow was wearing a red Canada hat, plaid shirt with a Canadian flag in its pocket, pants and a sign that read: “God keep our land glorious and free.”
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Also on Friday morning, a 14-year-old boy made his first court appearance on first-degree murder charges in connection with the woman’s shocking death.
Police have called the incident a “sadistic and cowardly unprovoked attack.”
“She’s a member of our community and I just feel like we really appreciated her presence and what she contributed to the joy and the happiness,” said neighbhourhood resident Laurie DeOliveira after dropping off a bouquet of flowers.
“She dresses up the scarecrow all the time for the season. It was cheering for the Leafs a couple of weeks ago. And then it’s dressed up at Halloween. It’s something to drive by and smile at so I’ll miss her.”
The slain woman has been identified by neigbhours as Eleanor Doney, according to reports. Mayor Kevin Ashe confirmed the woman was in her 80s.
Believed to be a former kindergarten teacher, according to a group organizing a Friday night vigil, the victim was also described by another elderly woman and friend of 30 years who was dropping off some muffins as: “So sweet. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
The friend, who didn’t want to be identified, said she and Doney met at church.
Another couple, Joe and Nancy, dropped off a flower bouquet on the victim’s front lawn and said the woman sweetly made cookies for their friends’ children when they first moved into the neighbourhood.
“Rest in peace,” was spelled out a white card that rested beneath the growing flower bouquets.
“To a beautiful soul that was taken too soon,” said another card attached to flowers. “May you rest in peace.”
White curtains were closed over the front windows while two cars were in the driveway.
The only time there was any movement within the house Friday was when the friend dropped off the muffins and someone came to the door to receive them.
“The family are requesting privacy at this time,” said Durham Regional Police Acting Staff Sgt. Joanne McCabe at the scene on Friday.
McCabe said surveillance cameras recorded the victim and her assailant having a brief conversation before she was stabbed multiple times but police don’t believe the accused and the victim knew one another.
“We are making an appeal to anyone in the area that does have video to contact our homicide investigators,” McCabe said.
Police confirmed that the suspect on Thursday was wearing a long black coat, a medical mask and was carrying a bag of some sort.
Social media chatter was that some people saw the accused in the days before the fatal stabbing prowling in their backyards. McCabe said police would be investigating the possibility that actually happened.
“We are aware of some reports that he was seen in the area,” said McCabe. “Any connection to this area and any connection to this victim, we’re still looking at. As of right now I can still tell you this appears to be a random attack.”
McCabe said police are still working on a motive.
“Our homicide unit is obviously very engaged in this, they have been from the onset,” said McCabe. “And that’ll be part of the investigation to see what led up to this.”
Commenting on the possibility that the allegations are true, DeOliveira added: “It’s really scary when it’s random. It feels a little bit easier to digest when it’s targeted. I think it shakes all our sense of safety when it’s random like this. It’s an absolute shock for everybody in the neighbourhood. Everybody knows everybody and to think that it’s a 14-year-old … it’s incredibly shocking. My kids (aged 10, 12, and 15) were quite terrified Thursday night.”
Joe and Nancy said it was “pretty scary” when an emergency alert first went out on Thursday just after 5:30 p.m. for Pickering residents to shelter-in-place following the fatal stabbing while police searched for the suspect who was arrested around 8:30 p.m. following the 3 p.m. attack.
“The school bus came,” Joe said. “My granddaughter got off it, she’s eight, and she was crying and saying, ‘I don’t want to live here anymore. A lot of the kids were scared. It’s just so sad.”
Added Nancy more bluntly of the 14-year-old accused and the possibility the allegations are true: “That was a failure on all fronts for everyone. We’ve heard he was troubled. The system failed him. His family failed him. It’s a sad situation for Elenor but for that family and that boy it’s not good. Obviously, a child that is that age and that has that kind of rage and violence, you don’t have that kind of trauma without having your own issues. So I feel for everyone.”
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