Steven Truscott Case

Date of Murder

Jun 9, 1959

Steven Truscott, 14, takes his classmate Lynne Harper, 12, on a short bicycle ride near an air force base outside Clinton, Ont., about 180 km west of Toronto.

Body Found

Jun 11, 1959

Searchers find Harper's body in a nearby wood. She had been raped and strangled.

Steven Truscott is Arrested

Jun 12, 1959

Police arrest Truscott.

Charged

Jun 13, 1959

Police charge Truscott in Harper's murder.

Sentenced to Death

Sep 30, 1959

After 15-day trial, a jury finds Truscott guilty and he is sentenced to death.

No More Death Penalty

Jan 22, 1960

The death penalty is commuted to life imprisonment.

Spring of 1966

Mar 23, 1966

Isabel LeBourdais's The Trial of Steven Truscott questions the quick police investigation and trial procedures. The book sparks a public uproar and leads the federal government to ask for a Supreme Court review.

Truscott Goes Public First Time

Mar 24, 2000

Truscott goes public for the first time, proclaiming his innocence in a documentary broadcast on the CBC's The Fifth Estate. The program unveils new evidence to suggest that police may have been too hasty in pinning the death on Truscott.