Bain summary

It was June, 19, 1990 when Elizabeth Bain, 22, went missing, after telling her mother she was going to check the tennis schedule at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus where she was a student.

Bain was last spotted that day at Colonel Danforth Park near the tennis courts located in the valley below the school.

Three days later her car, with blood stains inside, was found parked in front of an auto body shop on Morrish Road.

Elizabeth Bain

Elizabeth Bain went missing on June 19, 1990. Brian Raybould, head of homicide for Toronto Police said earlier this month that the case is now “closed.”

To this day her body has never been found.

Robert Baltovich, Bain’s boyfriend, was put under police surveillance and became their main suspect.

Baltovich was arrested on Nov. 19, 1990 and charged with first-degree murder. On Feb. 4 1992, his trial began with the charge reduced to second-degree murder.

The defence argued that the “Scarborough rapist”, a sex offender who surfaced in 1987, was responsible for Bain’s disappearance.

Baltovich was convicted and received a life sentence for second-degree murder on March 31, 1992.

Paul Bernardo was arrested on Feb. 17, 1993 in connection to the Scarborough rapist’s crimes. Soon after, Baltovich’s lawyer hired Brian King, a private investigator, to examine any links between Bernardo and Bain.

Bernardo had also gone to school at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus and some of his crimes were committed in Scarborough parks.

There was circumstantial evidence that connected Bernardo to the Bain disappearance, Baltovich’s defence team noted.

Baltovich appealed his conviction in May 1996. The appeal named the Scarborough rapist as the killer, but not Bernardo specifically.

A new case was set to be heard in February of 1997, but was put off indefinitely.

Later, in March 2000, a legal brief was filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal claiming Bernardo, now sentenced to life in prison for several infamous murders in St. Catharines, was responsible for Bain’s murder.

At the end of March 2000, the court decided to take another look at the case and Baltovich was released on bail eight years after he was first convicted.

The court overturned Baltovich’s conviction in December, 2004 and ordered a new trial, saying the first trial was mishandled by the judge.

On July 15, 2005 Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General decided to try Baltovich again for second-degree murder.

Police interviewed Bernardo about the Bain case in June, 2007 but he said he had nothing to do with her death.

Baltovich’s new trial began on April 3, 2008 and he pleaded not guilty for the second time.

Shortly after, on April 22, the Crown decided there was not enough evidence for a conviction and Baltovich was acquitted.

About this article

By: Rachel Muenz and Crystal Cossitt
Posted: Oct 26 2008 2:49 pm
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Filed under: News