Less than two weeks after the sadistic murder of Doreen Moorby, the Ghost would strike again within the Oak Ridges Moraine. Once again a child would be left scarred forever by the events of the day, however this child would help to generate a rather remarkable composite sketch of the killer.
Dale Ferguson was to describe the intruder to sketch artist Detective Sergeant Joseph Majury of Metro Toronto Homicide, who drew a composite of the suspect. Majury described Dale as “a remarkably astute and bright young man.” Dale felt satisfied that the composite sketch accurately identified his mother’s killer.
Dale’s description of the man was as follows:
- Age: 38 to 42
- Height: 5’8” or 5’9”
- Build: Medium
- Weight: about 160 lbs.
- Complexion: dark, in need of a shave
- Hair: black, the style resembling a brush-cut growing out
- Speech: a deep voice, and may have had a slight accent
- Clothing: wearing what appeared to be a greyish blue sport shirt with yellow and white stripes and dark grey dress trousers
Dale added that “the man looked as if he had been in a lot of fights.
An excerpt from Chapter Three – The Ghost Knocks Again
Tuesday, May 19th, just thirteen days after the Gormley murder, would be remembered as an exceptionally beautiful spring day. The Fergusons had moved from Ajax the previous September to the attractive, shingled, two-floor four bedroom stucco house. It sat on three acres of land off Highway 9 and just west of Highway 50. Russell Ferguson, a former botanist at Queen’s University, had said that the family was excited about the idea of a country life.
The attractive 37 year-old Helen Margaret Ferguson was, like Doreen, a nurse who chose to stay home and raise her burgeoning family of three children while her husband taught at Humber College. The couple were aware of the ghastly murder of another young nurse – who had also been married to a teacher – in close-by Gormley, but felt no undue concern for their own safety.
The family had already begun to make their mark on the little community. When all three of the children were in school, Helen would often cross the fields to visit and console a neighbour who had recently lost her daughter. “She was always offering to help in any way that she could,” remembered the neighbour.
Early on that Tuesday morning, in consultation with her husband, Helen determined that Dale, their eldest child at 8, was not recovering as well as expected from the mumps and that he should see their doctor again. Before Russell left for work, they decided that Helen would call the doctor’s office and that Russell would come home early enough to take Dale in to be looked at.
Dale was made comfortable in a downstairs bedroom where it would be easier for Helen to tend to him. This was a bonus for Dale – he would have the television to entertain him. His six-year-old brother, Scott, caught the bus for school at 8:30 am and the youngest child, Pam, aged 4, only attending half-days, would catch the bus for school at 12:45 pm. Helen normally walked Pam to the end of the driveway and waited with her for the bus, but on this day Helen was not feeling well and watched from the front window as Pam was picked up. The view from the house to the road was mostly unobstructed – as was a view of the house from the road.
The only visitor that morning was a neighbour who lived directly east of the Fergusons. The neighbour arrived at 11:15 am, chatted with Helen for about fifteen minutes and then left after giving her some lettuce plants. Both Dale and Pam were in the home during the visit.
It was approximately 1:20 pm, about half an hour after Pam’s departure, while Helen was ironing and Dale was absorbed in The Merv Griffin Show, when there was a knock at the front door. Dale later recalled that when his mother answered the door, the family dog had taken the opportunity to escape to the outside while his mother spoke to the caller. Helen called after the pet and then headed outside to retrieve it.
A minute or so later, Helen re-entered the house by a door that went directly into the garage. She likely used this door due to the fact that the front door had a faulty lock and could only be opened from the inside when it was closed. Because Helen entered this way, she needed to pass directly in front of the bedroom door where Dale was, and he noticed that his mother was being followed by an unknown man.
Helen explained to her son that the man had a sick boy in the car and wanted to get directions. Dale was apparently satisfied with this answer and went on watching television, believing the man and his mother to be nearby in the living room. Due to the television, he was unable to hear anything else until a loud crash followed by three loud cracks that sounded like firecrackers. In fact, he specifically remembered wondering why “that man” and his mother would be letting off firecrackers.
Shortly after, Dale saw the man race past the bedroom doorway to the door to the garage. This brought Dale to his feet, where he saw the stranger tear down a set of curtains, using one curtain to wipe the door handle , and presumably the other one on the outside door-knob.
Dale began to realize that something was terribly wrong as the man quickly left the house and backed his car noisily down the gravel driveway. Dale began to call for his mother, but with no response. An eerie quiet fell upon the the tidy little farm house.
Dale searched the house and found his mother in a pool of blood in the hallway, near the base of the stairs, her face a mask of terror.
Over thirty years later, Dale would tell his mother’s murderer in front of a packed courtroom:
“The last time I saw my mother, she was being carried away on a stretcher, covered by a sheet. I’ll never forget her expression when I found her lying on the floor, her eyes half open, in a pool of blood. Beyond that, I don’t remember her at all.” Dale Ferguson challenged the prisoner: “Do you remember running from our house? I do. It’s clearer than my first kiss, the birth of my kids or what I had for lunch today”
