Toronto cops make arrest in 'horrendous' 1998 slaying of Donna Oglive

Article content

Ronald Ackerman had a layover at Pearson International Airport before catching a connecting flight.

Rolling out the red carpet for the 50-year-old Gander, Newfoundland man were detectives from the Toronto Police Service’s cold case unit.

On Wednesday night, Ackerman was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the March 9, 1998 sex slaying of prostitute Donna Oglive.

“This was a horrendous crime,” cold case unit boss Det. Sgt. Steve Smith told the Sun. “She was vulnerable, working on the streets to make money. But we never forgot Donna. We never forget anyone.”

Originally from the Philippines, Oglive had moved from Vancouver to Toronto just five weeks before her murder. And she was pregnant.

She was found strangled to death at the corner of Jarvis and Carlton Sts. While the slaying quickly went cold, Smith told the Sun in 2022 that cops had the killer’s DNA.

At the time of the murder, Ackerman had been living in Scarborough and working as a trucker. More recently, he had been working in the oil fields near Fort McMurray and was headed home to Gander.

Smith said that while Ackerman was known to police, his name had never emerged in the Oglive probe. That was before genetic genealogy became the quantum leap for cold case detectives.

While Ackerman’s DNA wasn’t in the system, one of his relatives’ was. Working backwards, the trail led investigators to Ackerman.

In 2022, the TPS submitted forensic evidence to Othram in The Woodlands, Texas. Scientists there built a comprehensive DNA profile for the suspect.

That DNA profile was transferred to Toronto so that a forensic genetic genealogy search could be conducted. This search resulted in new leads narrowing the investigation down and finally, leading to Ackerman’s arrest.

“Answers are now possible for everyone, regardless of circumstances, historical origins, geography, or time period,” Othram CEO David Mittelman said. “We are honoured to assist the Toronto Police Service in leveraging advanced forensic technology to resolve long-standing cases and deliver justice.”

Smith and his unit have become among the most prodigious users of genetic genealogy in North America, clearing scores of homicides that have vexed generations of detectives.

Among them are the 1984 murder of 9-year-old Christine Jessop and the 1983 slayings of Susan Tice and Erin Gilmour, murdered by the same man just months apart.

Law enforcement sources said when detectives greeted Ackerman, he seemed “surprised.”

“Then he became a real asshole,” the source, who asked not to be identified, said. “He was like, ‘Are you sure?’ and ‘Oh, my goodness.’ In his mind, we had it all wrong.”

But DNA doesn’t lie.

“He was never on our radar,” Smith said. “Not at all. The murder of Donna Oglive was a heinous crime and Mr. Ackerman will pay for this.”

As for motive, Smith said detectives believe that Oglive’s violent death was the result of “a trick that went off the rails.”

Tragic Donna Oglive had plenty of company: From the 1970s onward there are about 30 unsolved sex worker murders in the city.

Smith said that except for several murders near the Lake Ontario Breakwall, none of the slayings are connected. The good news is that police have DNA for virtually every case.

Here are several of the unsolved sex worker slayings:

— On Nov. 17, 1985, 18-year-old Lorelei Brose was shot to death in Room 121 of the Inglewood Hotel on Jarvis St. She had been a formerly devout Jehovah’s Witness originally from North Bay.

— On Jan. 5, 1997, sex workers Therese Melanson and Florence Harrison, both 32, and both struggling with addictions, were found shot to death in the stairwell of a Toronto Community Housing building at 274 Sackville St. For 12 hours, their bodies remained in the stairwell, no one calling cops or getting help of any kind.

— Cheryl Nelson, 18, was devoured by the crack epidemic washing over her North York neighbourhood like a tidal wave. She began prostituting herself to pay for the drugs. Her body was discovered in an industrial park near her home on March 9, 1991. She had been stabbed and strangled.

— On Dec. 17, 1984, Susan Siegel, 21, was found strangled to death on a sidewalk near the old Toronto stockyards on Ethel Ave.

Smith added: “We have DNA in 42 unsolved homicides and more than 100 sexual assaults. It’s only a matter of time. In the old days in murders involving sex workers, it was often like looking for a needle in a haystack. Not anymore.”

If you have any information, contact the Toronto Police homicide unit at 416-808-7400.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun