9-year-old Tori Stafford was murdered by Michael Rafferty and Terri Lynne McClintic: Sign of a Psychopath

Sign of a Psychopath is north of the border in Woodstock, Ontario, to investigate the horrific kidnap, torture, and murder of schoolgirl Tori Stafford in 2009 by Michael Rafferty and Terri Lynne McClintic.

On April 8, 2009, Tori was just 9-years-old when she vanished on her walk home from school. Her partially clothed remains were discovered three months later in a field in Mount Forrest, approximately 100 miles north of her home.

The little girl had been abducted, sexually assaulted, and tortured before being murdered and left in the field. The sadistic killers were Michael Rafferty and his then-girlfriend Terri-Lynne McClintic.

McClintic would later testify against her former boyfriend; she claimed that he had asked her to kidnap a young girl. She also admitted that she had lured Tori into Rafferty’s car.

The pair took Tori, firstly to Guelph, where Rafferty bought a hammer and some garbage bags, and then they drove to Mount Forrest. McClintic testified that she watched as Rafferty repeatedly rapped Tori until she became overcome with rage and beat the girl to death with a hammer.

Murderer Michael Rafferty pleaded not-guilty

McClintic subsequently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. On the other hand, Rafferty admitted to having been involved with the abduction but claimed he was mostly an innocent bystander as McClintic beat and murdered the nine-year-old.

His lawyers questioned the reliability of McClintic’s testimony, pointing to her violent past and the fact that she kept changing her story. She alternated between telling cops that she or Rafferty had been the one to deliver the fatal blows.

However, the investigating cops were able to gather more evidence against Rafferty that suggested he played an integral part in the murder. DNA evidence, surveillance video, and phone records all linked him to the abduction and murder.

Data records from Rafferty’s Blackberry cellphone indicated that he had been in Woodstock, Guelph, and Mount Forrest during the timeframe that McClintic had suggested. There was also a bloodstain from Tori that was discovered in his car.

In the weeks prior to the murder, Rafferty had googled child pornography that had included violent images.

In 2012 Rafferty was finally found guilty of first-degree murder, sexual assault causing bodily harm, and kidnapping. He was sentenced to life in prison.

More from Sign of a Psychopath

Follow the links to read about more murders profiled on Sign of a Psychopath.

Thayne Ormsby came across as an affable young man from Maine; however, in 2010, he went on a killing spree that left a father and son, and a third man dead. When detectives asked why, he said he’d been told one of the men was a drug dealer, which turned out to be false.

Teenager Kevin Davis asked his mother, Kimberly Hill, for permission to kill himself. When she tried to talk him out of it, he bashed her head in with a hammer and had sex with the corpse. When questioned by police, he said, “I’m just a terrible, disgusting person.”

Sign of a Psychopath airs at 10:30/9:30 on Investigation Discovery.