SECRETS: The Jon Rallo Story
SECRETS: The Jon Rallo Story
SECRETS: The Jon Rallo Story
JON RALLO REVEALED: Susan Clairmont has new details from his murder trial and prison letters in todays Weekend Reader
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THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 22, 2008 EDITOR AGNES BONGERS 905-526-3234 OR [email protected]
SECRETS
Jon Rallo revealed: Never-before-heard details from his murder trial and letters from prison
FIRST OF THREE PARTS BY SUSAN CLAIRMONT THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Jon Rallos mug shot, taken after he was arrested in his daughters murder in 1976. Rallo was later convicted of murdering his family in their Hamilton home. He has never admitted his guilt.
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WR2
TRUE CRIME
THE FAMILY
Jon Rallo stands outside court during a break in his trial in 1977. Hundreds filled the courthouse as he stood
trial for the murders of his family: wife Sandra, top, daughter Stephanie and son Jason.
ladies man, there was one girl in
particular who caught his eye. A
lively brunette with green eyes
and a quick smile.
Sandra Pollington.
THE CRIME
Blood spots are marked on the basement floor in the Rallo home.
The Crown said this is where Rallo stuffed his victims bodies in
sleeping bags or duffel bags.
WR3
TRUE CRIME
THE LAW
Continued from previous page
Norm Thompson, at home with his wife Joyce, headed the Rallo murder
investigation for the Hamilton-Wentworth police.
derpadding below the window.
The children had been sick on
it, the cat had soiled it and Sandra complained about the odour
coming from this rug, he would
testify.
To pass time, Jon does laundry.
In the afternoon, wearing
shorts, a T-shirt and a yellow
fishing hat, he goes to Canadian
Tire on Upper James and returns
a light switch.
At dusk, he ventures out for a
long drive. He says he goes to the
beach strip, Toronto, Brantford,
Caledonia. When he arrives
home at midnight, he takes a
spin on his bike. In the schoolyard he hits a rut or stone or
brick or something and falls,
cutting his hands.
radio report.
A girls body has been pulled
from Twelve Mile Creek.
THE CRIME
Cuts and scrapes marked Jon Rallos hands the night of his arrest. Rallo claimed he got them on a midnight bike ride after his family disappeared, when his bike hit a rut or stone or brick
or something and he fell.
WR4
TRUE CRIME
THE VICTIMS
his parents.
Every day he puts flowers on
the grave shared by his wife and
daughter. The one with the space
left for Jason.
He goes to Lantana Court,
mows the grass around his childrens swing set and walks
through the house.
He waves at neighbours but
they do not speak to him.
January 1977
Jons lawyer sends a letter to
Mayor Jack MacDonald asking if
Jon could return to work at City
Hall.
The request is refused.
Sandra Rallo on her wedding day in October 1966. She and Jon met and
fell in love four years earlier, when she was 15 and Jon was 20.
Stephanie Rallo was five years old when she died. She was enrolled in
Peter Pan Nursery School and loved playing Snakes and Ladders.
November 1977
It is the biggest Hamilton trial
since Evelyn Dick took the stand.
Jon Rallo faces three counts of
first-degree murder.
The courtroom is packed, people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, holding overcoats and
brown lunch bags in their laps.
Others line up down the hall,
hoping to nab a seat should anyone leave.
A team of Hamilton Spectator
reporters is here, along with the
national press.
The Crown will call 48 witnesses. Nearly 150 exhibits will
be introduced.
A jury of nine men and three
women is chosen for the Rallo
trial: a union official, a typist,
two truck drivers, a secretary,
three factory workers, a housewife, a foreman, a college student and a supervisor.
Sandras corpse.
And it never heard that Jon
groped his sister-in-law when
she tried to comfort him.
Janice says she signed a written statement about the alleged
sexual assault at the time it happened. And she was told back
then that police had discovered
her brother-in-laws stash of
pornography when they
searched his home.
Zuraw who still will not talk
of those two issues decided
before the trial that they might
muddy the legal waters and
could be grounds for an appeal.
He needed to make all the
pieces fit: Dont leave anything
tangled.
And he needed to be fair: This
was not trial by ambush. Rallo
had the opportunity to clearly
get his story out.
Dec. 8, 1977
Jon is called to the stand. He testifies for five hours over two
days.
Two hundred people brave a
snowstorm to fill the court.
He is cool. Polite. Articulate.
He gulps for control when
he talks of the murders.
Jon testifies that on the night
after his family vanished after
his extremely long car ride and
mishap on the bike he wandered his house sadly before settling for the night on the living
room couch.
I stayed there all night looking out the window and dozing
off and waking up and hoping
again if a car came on the court,
or a cab or something, and it was
Sandra, I could see her out the
window.
MONDAY:
Jon Rallos life in prison
THE CRIME
The trunk of Jon Rallos Ford Maverick. The Crown said he put his
familys bodies in the trunk before driving to the St. Catharines
area and dumping them in waterways.
WR4
TRUE CRIME
THE VICTIMS
his parents.
Every day he puts flowers on
the grave shared by his wife and
daughter. The one with the space
left for Jason.
He goes to Lantana Court,
mows the grass around his childrens swing set and walks
through the house.
He waves at neighbours but
they do not speak to him.
January 1977
Jons lawyer sends a letter to
Mayor Jack MacDonald asking if
Jon could return to work at City
Hall.
The request is refused.
Sandra Rallo on her wedding day in October 1966. She and Jon met and
fell in love four years earlier, when she was 15 and Jon was 20.
Stephanie Rallo was five years old when she died. She was enrolled in
Peter Pan Nursery School and loved playing Snakes and Ladders.
November 1977
It is the biggest Hamilton trial
since Evelyn Dick took the stand.
Jon Rallo faces three counts of
first-degree murder.
The courtroom is packed, people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, holding overcoats and
brown lunch bags in their laps.
Others line up down the hall,
hoping to nab a seat should anyone leave.
A team of Hamilton Spectator
reporters is here, along with the
national press.
The Crown will call 48 witnesses. Nearly 150 exhibits will
be introduced.
A jury of nine men and three
women is chosen for the Rallo
trial: a union official, a typist,
two truck drivers, a secretary,
three factory workers, a housewife, a foreman, a college student and a supervisor.
Sandras corpse.
And it never heard that Jon
groped his sister-in-law when
she tried to comfort him.
Janice says she signed a written statement about the alleged
sexual assault at the time it happened. And she was told back
then that police had discovered
her brother-in-laws stash of
pornography when they
searched his home.
Zuraw who still will not talk
of those two issues decided
before the trial that they might
muddy the legal waters and
could be grounds for an appeal.
He needed to make all the
pieces fit: Dont leave anything
tangled.
And he needed to be fair: This
was not trial by ambush. Rallo
had the opportunity to clearly
get his story out.
Dec. 8, 1977
Jon is called to the stand. He testifies for five hours over two
days.
Two hundred people brave a
snowstorm to fill the court.
He is cool. Polite. Articulate.
He gulps for control when
he talks of the murders.
Jon testifies that on the night
after his family vanished after
his extremely long car ride and
mishap on the bike he wandered his house sadly before settling for the night on the living
room couch.
I stayed there all night looking out the window and dozing
off and waking up and hoping
again if a car came on the court,
or a cab or something, and it was
Sandra, I could see her out the
window.
MONDAY:
Jon Rallos life in prison
THE CRIME
The trunk of Jon Rallos Ford Maverick. The Crown said he put his
familys bodies in the trunk before driving to the St. Catharines
area and dumping them in waterways.
WR4
TRUE CRIME
THE VICTIMS
his parents.
Every day he puts flowers on
the grave shared by his wife and
daughter. The one with the space
left for Jason.
He goes to Lantana Court,
mows the grass around his childrens swing set and walks
through the house.
He waves at neighbours but
they do not speak to him.
January 1977
Jons lawyer sends a letter to
Mayor Jack MacDonald asking if
Jon could return to work at City
Hall.
The request is refused.
Sandra Rallo on her wedding day in October 1966. She and Jon met and
fell in love four years earlier, when she was 15 and Jon was 20.
Stephanie Rallo was five years old when she died. She was enrolled in
Peter Pan Nursery School and loved playing Snakes and Ladders.
November 1977
It is the biggest Hamilton trial
since Evelyn Dick took the stand.
Jon Rallo faces three counts of
first-degree murder.
The courtroom is packed, people sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, holding overcoats and
brown lunch bags in their laps.
Others line up down the hall,
hoping to nab a seat should anyone leave.
A team of Hamilton Spectator
reporters is here, along with the
national press.
The Crown will call 48 witnesses. Nearly 150 exhibits will
be introduced.
A jury of nine men and three
women is chosen for the Rallo
trial: a union official, a typist,
two truck drivers, a secretary,
three factory workers, a housewife, a foreman, a college student and a supervisor.
Sandras corpse.
And it never heard that Jon
groped his sister-in-law when
she tried to comfort him.
Janice says she signed a written statement about the alleged
sexual assault at the time it happened. And she was told back
then that police had discovered
her brother-in-laws stash of
pornography when they
searched his home.
Zuraw who still will not talk
of those two issues decided
before the trial that they might
muddy the legal waters and
could be grounds for an appeal.
He needed to make all the
pieces fit: Dont leave anything
tangled.
And he needed to be fair: This
was not trial by ambush. Rallo
had the opportunity to clearly
get his story out.
Dec. 8, 1977
Jon is called to the stand. He testifies for five hours over two
days.
Two hundred people brave a
snowstorm to fill the court.
He is cool. Polite. Articulate.
He gulps for control when
he talks of the murders.
Jon testifies that on the night
after his family vanished after
his extremely long car ride and
mishap on the bike he wandered his house sadly before settling for the night on the living
room couch.
I stayed there all night looking out the window and dozing
off and waking up and hoping
again if a car came on the court,
or a cab or something, and it was
Sandra, I could see her out the
window.
MONDAY:
Jon Rallos life in prison
THE CRIME
The trunk of Jon Rallos Ford Maverick. The Crown said he put his
familys bodies in the trunk before driving to the St. Catharines
area and dumping them in waterways.
A12
TRUE CRIME
SECRETS
Jon Rallo revealed: Never-before-heard details from his murder trial and letters from prison
SECOND OF THREE PARTS BY SUSAN CLAIRMONT THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Sandra Rallos parents, Margaret and Doug Pollington, stand outside the old Hamilton courthouse after the faint hope parole hearing for Jon Rallo in
November 1992. Rallo was convicted 15 years earlier of killing Sandra, his 29-year-old wife, and their children, Jason, 6, and Stephanie, 5.
Thompson was the lead investigator on the murders. He and
his wife, Joyce, have become
close with the Pollingtons, even
going with them to a seance in
the hope of learning where Jason
is. (About that seance, which the
Spec reported on, Jon writes:
What a farce, with a capital F. I
guess it was a slow news day. Im
always good for a line or two on
those days.)
That same question brings
Thompson to Jon now.
Jon says he doesnt know
where his son is.
A dozen years later, Thompson
will try again, waiting for Jon in a
room at the Beaver Creek Institution in Gravenhurst.
He comes in, with a cookie in
each hand, doesnt even sit
down. Just shrugs and walks
away.
Each conviction carries a sentence of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25
years. To be served concurrently.
Just one month before Jon
killed his family, Canada abolished the death penalty.
A police photo of Jon Rallo taken the night he was arrested for his
daughters murder in August 1976.
May 1979
Marg writes of a new racquet
club at Limeridge and Upper
Wellington.
Just before the murders, Jon,
his father-in-law and a neighbour owned that corner and
planned to build their own racquet club. The business deal
came up at the trial, leaving open
the possibility Jon didnt divorce
his wife for fear his father-inlaw would back out of the deal.
Im pleased that the racquet
club is the success I thought it
would be, he writes back. If I
was speaking to my two former
business partners Id let them
know what we missed out on.
July 1980
Jon sees a wire photo in The
Spectator of a boy from Massachusetts riding a bike. He is certain it is Jason. The Spectator
tracks down the boys mother
and debunks the theory.
A13
TRUE CRIME
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Columnist Susan Clairmont
has won five Ontario Newspaper
Awards and been nominated for
a National Newspaper Award.
Contact her at 905-526-3539
or [email protected].
Continued from previous page
TOMORROW:
Jon Rallo on parole in Sudbury
High: 3
Low: -2
Pack an emergency kit
for the car. Snows
coming, up to 7 cm
tonight. Details: Go 2
T U E S DAY, N OV E M B E R 25, 2 0 0 8 T H E S P EC .C O M T H E VO I C E O F O U R C O M M U N I T I E S S I N C E 1 8 4 6
City eyes
smoke ban
for public
housing
DAMAGE CONTROL
In the U.S., president-elect Barack Obama named his crisis team and promises
to push for a $700-billion stimulus package. Britain is spending
$37 billion to jump-start its economy. Will our PM take action sooner rather
than later if Canada continues to lose ground?
BY EMMA REILLY
United States
unveils team of economic advisers
urges Congress to pass a costly,
job-creating stimulus bill as quickly as possible
orders advisers to craft package to create
or protect 2.5 million jobs
vows to support bailout commitments
of current administration
Britain
$37-billion stimulus plan
cuts sales tax by 2.5 percentage points
increases taxes for the rich
speeds up $5.6 billion
in public works spending
We have seen in previous recessions
how a failure to take action at the start
of the downturn has increased both
the length and depth of the recession.
To fail to act now would be not only
a failure of economic policy, but a
failure of leadership.
British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
Canada
no new stimulus package in Thursdays
economic statement
considers moving up billions in infrastructure
spending before February budget
expected to ease pension requirements
for cash-strapped firms
plans more room for seniors to draw
from their registered retirement plans
The most recent private-sector forecasts suggest
the strong possibility of a technical recession
Yes, I am surprised at this.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
(in Peru Sunday)
Continued on A3
SECRETS
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A6
TRUE CRIME
SECRETS
Jon Rallo revealed: Never-before-heard details from his murder trial and letters from prison
THIRD OF THREE PARTS BY SUSAN CLAIRMONT THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Jon Rallo leaves the parole office in Sudbury last month. The Hamilton man who killed his wife and children in 1976 moved to Sudbury after he was granted day parole in August.
Jon Rallos new home: a halfway house on Larch Street in Sudbury operated by the St. Leonards Society.
A7
TRUE CRIME
Stephanie and Jason Rallo stand on the front lawn of their home on
Lantana Court, Hamilton.
Jason and Stephanie Rallo on a family outing with their mother, Sandra. Jon Rallo was convicted of killing all
three of them a few years after this photo was taken.
Mr. Rallo?
He turns and flashes a broad
smile.
Yes? he says.
Im Susan Clairmont from
The Hamilton Spectator. Im
writing a story about you and
wanted to give you a chance to
talk.
The smile vanishes. He turns
away. Rifles through the rack of
thrift shop clothes so fast items
fall to the floor.
I have nothing to say, he responds, his voice measured.
Its a story about your life.
About what youve done ... Its a
large story.
It always is with you people.
He begins to walk away.
How are things going for you
in Sudbury?
He stops. Turns.
I have nothing to say to you,
Susan.
He immediately rushes back to
the halfway house.
Jon Rallo crosses a street in Sudbury. The Sudbury police service opposed his move to the community because he continued to deny that he murdered his family.