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Steven Truscott
This is the day when Steven was born. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. -
Cheryl Lynne Harper
This was the day that Lynne Harper was born. She was born in in New Brunswick and moved down to Southern Ontario with her parents and her older brother and younger brother too. -
Possible Suspect?
A few weeks earlier on May 21, ten-year-old Nancy Davidson was walking back from school with her friends in St.Thomas,
first stopped at the first little girl who left the girls, then he came to her. He asked her to pick out the prettiest present and showed her a bunch of ladies underwear. Was known as a sex offender.
Why wasn't he questioned and seen as a suspect? -
Last Day
It was a hot day out on Tuesday and the kids were wanting so badly to go swimming. Lynne wasn't wanting to go to the swimming hole with the others, she was more interested in going to the base pool. With her parents saying no and the base leader saying no, she left the house. 6:15 would be the last time Shirley Harper would see her daughter. And this would be the start of Steven's worst summer. -
The Start of the Interogation
A day and a half since Lynne has been missing. Lynne Harper's father had gone around the base trying to see who saw his daughter and who might have some answers. He got wind that Lynne was seen with a Truscott boy. Leslie goes to the Truscott home and Steven comes down and says that he doubled her on his bike to Highway 8 and left her there, she asked him if he could take her there -
Lynne Harper's Body was Found
School has just begun, teachers are going on with their lessons, a student looks out the window to notice the air force men and one whispers, "One of the girls from school is missing and they are trying to find her." This was the day where Lynne Harper's body was found in the bushes out by the highway. -
General Information Broadcast
Re: Lynne Harper- raped and strangled body found in bush near RCAF Station Clinton- believed to have taken place about 9:00p.m., Tues.June 10. One witness reports Lynne was given a ride in solid grey or white'59 Chev with yellow plates on highway 8, going east toward Seaforth. Only the driver in the car...At your discretion please check white cars with yellow plates and observe occupants especially for scratches on face, neck, hands and arms -
Dr. Penistan's report
He stated in his reports that Lynne was murdered between 7:15 and 7:45 p.m. on June 9th, 1959. This puts Steven in a bad position because he was the last person in town to have seen her. -
The Arrest
OPP inspector Harold Graham arrests Steven Truscott. After 8 hours of Graham having Steven in his custody, he is arrested at # o'clock in the morning. Steven Murray Truscott was convicted and to be hung as an adult offender. -
The Locket
Ten-year-old Sandra Archibald was picking berries with her sister and she saw something shimmering in the sunlight and she went over and that is when they found the locket. On the edge of Lawson's bush a gold locket with an RCAF crest was on the barbed wire fence. As soon as the girls showed their mom Mrs.Archibald notified the police right away. -
The conclusion
Magistrate Dudley Holmes of the Juvenile and Family Court orders Truscott be tried as an adult. -
Is their enough?
This was the day where the decided if there was enough evidence to go to a full trial. -
Preliminary begins!
The preliminary opens this day. Steven has been in jail for 30 days. -
the judge declares ...
After 31 witnesses and examining 21 pieces of evidence the judge was ready to make his decision. Magistrate Holmes declares there is enough evidence for the accused to be put on trial. -
Let the trial begin
On Wednesday september 16, 1959, just 3 months after Lynne Harper was found, the trial began. This was hard on Steve's family because his mother Doris just didn't understand. How could he be found guilty when there wasn't definite proof? It was baffling for everyone. -
Insepector Harold Graham
On this day he got to tell his story. Most of the jurors did not hear this testimony because he asked the jury to be excused. -
One more left
This was the last day for the witness testimonies. Butch George was the last person to give his testimony and this was the shakiest one of all. He was insure about a lot of things, example like the times and such when everything happened. -
Medical Testimonies
This was the beginning of the medical testimonies in the case. This would last for 5 days and would be the largest part of the testimonies. -
Flying Officer Glen Henry Sage
Officer Sage would take the witness stand. He was going to be the expert on the footprint that was found on the ground near Lynne Harper's body. -
Frank Donnelly
On this afternoon, Frank Donnelly Steven's attourney addressed the jury. For nine days the jury had at through 59 witnesses and 76 pieces of evidence for the prosecution. -
Doris Truscott
This was the first time that Doris has taken the stand to talk about her son. She was asked questions like why did she wash her clothes so often. This was because the day after the murder had happened she cleaned Steven clothes and the police saw suspicion in that. -
Doris Truscott
This is the first time that Doris has ever addressed anyone in this trial. This would be a very hard time for Doris since all she wanted was for her son to get out and for this crime to be over. -
Last of the witnesses
The clerk had taken down between 350,000 and 400,000 words of the proceedings. seventy-four witnesses and seventy-seven exhibits spread ober eleven days of testimony. Many people had made up their minds whether of not Steven was guilty or if he was innocent. -
The postponing of Steven's Death
Justice Minister Davie Fulton announced that he would be postponing the boy's death sentence to gibe Stev's lawyers time to appeal. Steve's new date for the hanging would be Tuesday, Feruary 16. This did not calm Steven. -
Sentence to hang
This was the orginal day the Steven was sentenced to be hung. But it later got moved to the middle of February due to another trial. -
The Hanging
This was the day that Steven was suposed to be get hung. The judge had said to Steven that he would stay at close confindment until that date. -
Authorities are asked to come in
Authorities sent in psychiatrist J. P Cathcart. The doctor had began his tests. While this was happening, Steve's father had told him not to speak to anyone about his case. The doctor had assured him thought that what he spoke of about the case would have nothing to do with the court appeal. He spent a lot of time questioning Steven about the case. -
What happens while Steven is in jail?
Whiel Steve was in jail his mother and father had turned to John O'Driscoll. a senior lawyer in the province to handle the boy's application before the ONtario Court of Appeal. The evidence was not to be considered new evidence, only points of law. For three days five judges speculate the legal intricacies of the September trial. -
Ontario Training School for Boys in Guelph
This was the day where Steven had entered into the training school. He stayed there until January 1963. -
Dr. George D. Scott
The Truscott family had met with psychiatrist Dr. Scott to discuss and convince Steven's parents that Steve should indeed take the drug therapy. Dr.Scott suggests that this drug will help jog Steve's memory of his criminal deed. These drug tests would begin October 1st of 1962. In early 1961 there was problems with the LSD drug therapy. -
Collins Bay
This was the day where Steven was no longer at the school for boys because he had turned 18 and therefore that made him an adult. -
Parole Applications
This was the month that Steven would try and enter his parole application. It was usually not aloud for inmates that are sentenced to life inprison to be allowed a chance to have parole until they have spent 10 years in jail. -
Dr. A Celovsky
This was a psychologist that met with Steven and he had come to the conclusion that on the surface Steven showed 'good outward control'. But testing uncovered someting darker. He reveals that Steven was 'self centered and a peculiarly detached individual. -
Truth Serum Injections
Dr. George Scott was wanting to start Steven on the injections on this day but he decided to wait longer to do this. Instead he tried to just question Steven about Lynne Harper and see what he would answer. While he was giving answers about Lynne Harper he would never make them direct answers about her. Scott semed confident that he could get a confession out of Steven. -
Case was under review again
This was the day where the case had gone under review again. Steve was saying that he had spent five years in jail, and he knows that it wasn't a long time for a setence like he had but he was very young and all he wanted was one chance to prove that he should be aloud to mix within society. -
He turns 20
Steven had turned 20 and he had been in Collings Bay for 2 years already. He didn't know what the outside world was like anymore. -
First Recorded Use of drugs
This was the first day that was recorded of Dr.Scott use of drugs on Steven. He started with sodium pentothal, it was a popular relaxant after World War Two, as a sort of truth serum. This drug slowed the patient's heart rate and relieved tensionand anxiety. Nitrous Oxide, laughing gas was commonly used too because it was an added anaesthetic. -
The Treatment
Dr.Scott had a five hour treatment that spanned over two days. In total he used 400 grams of LSD. Scott noted that there would be more doses soon to follow in a 5-6 month time period. Dr. Scott had to be careful when givig his patient this drug because if he gave it to fast he would slip into unconsciousness and too slow he would simply just be giddy. The psychiatrist was very dissapointed with the outcome. Steven didn't give a confession at all. He just talked about memories of his childhood. -
Persuading Personality
This is the day where Dr.Scott had stated this : " The problem of his innocence or guilt plays a role in my particular attitude toward [him]. He states that he is not guilty of the offence and this must be accepted as his statement. The fact that he was found guilty in the traditional courts of Canada is a factor of extremem importance. If he is guilty and is not admitting it then this implies that there is a complete repression of the problems involved." -
Transfer
This was when Steven was transfered to Farm Annex of the Collins Bay Penitentary
