Donna Stearne and Wendy Tedford were two typical 17-year-olds. The two were typical girls of the '70s in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. On Thursday, April 26, 1973, the two girls never would imagine it was their last day.
According to Donna's father, Donna left home around 7 p.m. with her school books. She had planned on staying the night at Wendy's, but before the night was over they decided to go shopping. Shirley, Wendy's sister, last saw the girls around 7:30 when they left to go to the Yorkdale Shopping Center.
They rode the bus to the mall. The two spent around two hours at the shopping center before leaving. They were last seen at the "Sit n' Eat" around 10:45 ordering cokes. They did not stay long and no one had noticed when they had left. It was the last time anyone saw them alive.
It wasn't unheard of for the girls to party and stay out all night. It wasn't a common occurrence, but it did happen once in a while. This time the girls didn't.
Linda Harris, another sister of Wendy, began to worry when she didn't hear from her. She called Wendy's workplace, Towers, on Friday and learned that her little sister never made it to work. Linda called the police knowing that something was wrong.
The body of two murdered girls was found in a field 2 kilometers from the diner. 10th grader Tony Iscaro was on his way to school when he discovered the two lying side by side. He didn't take a good look because he was scared and he ran for help.
Both girls had been shot. Wendy was shot twice in the neck and was lying face down with her arms by her sides. Donna was shot in the back of the head and was found lying on her back. Both were fully clothed and had small amounts of cash in their purses. There were no signs of sexual assault and no signs of a robbery.
There was semen found at the scene though. They tested it against the girls on-again, off-again boyfriends and neither were a match.
Heather Korenblum who lived near where the girls were found said she heard 2 gunshots around midnight. Another neighbor Ann, Curley said she heard thuds in the distance "like something hitting the ground," around 11 pm.
Around a year later a .38-colt revolver was found by the road in Winsdor, Ontario. It was identified as the gun used to kill Wendy and Donna and was used in a break in in Winsdor. But no other crimes have been connected to the gun.
In this case the police has tried it's hardest to find who ended the lives of these young girls. There just hasn't been enough evidence and they've hit dead ends. Thy hope to solve this case someday.
Let's picture these two young women.
Donna was a senior who was hoping to get into college soon. She loved animals and wanted to become a veterinarian. He had a lot of things she loved. She loved to sing in her choir, she loved to paint . Before she died she was working on a picture of a bridge at dusk for her mother. She was looking forward to the summer, she had applied to be a camp councilor operated by People's Church. A church she had been baptized at and sang in the choir with.
Wendy was an employee at Tower's Department Store in the office. She dropped out of school in 1971 because of her father's death. She had recently moved in with her sister Shirley and Shirley's four year old son. Wendy was happiest when she was painting or when she putting together a model car. She had a boyfriend she was deeply in love with. She talked about how when she turned 18 they were going to get married. Her birthday was May 12. It was less than a month away.
Neither one of these girls would ever make it to summer let alone their 18th birthdays. Their murder is still unfortunately unsolved. There's hope that the person who committed this terrible crime on two girls is found and their murders are still unsolved.
SOURCES:
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=2173666&GRid=8088525
https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/once-upon-a-city-archives/2017/08/10/cold-case-murders-of-wendy-tedford-and-donna-stearne.html
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/45774801/
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