'IT BREAKS MY HEART': Christine Jessop's dad says killer 'destroyed' many lives

Article content

For 36 years, Bob Jessop went to bed every night wondering who raped and killed his little girl.

“It is true,” asked the 78-year-old father of Christine Jessop, who disappeared in 1984 and was later found stabbed and sexually assaulted. “I never thought I would live long enough to see this.”

But Thursday he got the call from Toronto Police informing him they had finally determined who was behind his daughter’s murder.

“I was stunned to hear it,” he said. “It is a bit overwhelming.”

Then he heard it was man he knew named Calvin Hoover who died in 2015.

“I can’t see his face,” said Bob. “I know he worked for us and did some wiring at the York Regional Police station with us.”

Other than that, he doesn’t recall much more about Hoover.

“I had 20 guys working for me then,” Bob said.

But even though he says he is suffering from the “early stages” of Alzheimer’s, he does have some recollection of Hoover.

“I know he lived near us and I know he was over to our house a few times,” Bob said. “I am pretty sure he was over for work-related matters.”

It was then he believes Hoover first laid eyes on Christine.

“It breaks my heart,” Bob said.

Never once did he ever suspect Hoover, or think of him as a suspect, until Thursday when he was told of this news. Bob Jessop said he just wishes Hoover was still alive.

“If I could, I would line him up and blow his brains out,” the slain girl’s dad said.

Bob said the pain of his daughter’s murder destroyed him and his family, as well as that of originally charged and convicted but later cleared Guy Paul Morin and his family.

“There were a lot of victims in this,” he said.

However, he said, nine-year-old Christine suffered the most.

“It’s so unfair,” he said.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Bob hopes his daughter, who would be 45 if she were still alive, is remembered more than her killer. And he often thinks about what Christine would have been like and the life she could have achieved had it not been stolen from her.

You don’t get over something like that, he said.

“She was a level-headed child. She was so well behaved. She was a special little child.”

Bob said he can’t understand how someone he trusted could have ever done something so heinous.

“He must have been sick,” he said.

Bob said he wants to “thank the police” for staying on top of it and his wife Sandra for “being my lifeline.”

These have not been an easy 36 years, he said, adding at least now, for the first time since 1984, he can can go to bed not wondering who murdered his precious daughter.

“I am happy to now know who it was but I doubt I will be able to sleep,” Bob said.

jwarmington@postmedia.com