By Canadian Press

Woman convicted in Stefanie Rengel’s killing has day parole revoked

Sep 1, 2019 | 1:09 AM

KITCHENER, Ont. — A young woman who pressured her boyfriend to kill his teenage ex more than a decade ago had her day parole revoked Friday after she became entangled in a love triangle with two former inmates outside prison.

The Parole Board of Canada determined Melissa Todorovic should remain behind bars after hearing she had failed to disclose two romantic relationships, breaching one of the conditions of her release.

During a hearing at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ont., the board heard from one of Todorovic’s parole officers that the young woman began a relationship with a man who was on probation, then later became involved with his friend.

“She appeared to be manipulating them against one another,” telling the first man he was not satisfying her sexually and complaining about it to the second, the parole officer, Angela Law, told the board.

Todorovic’s behaviour “raises concerns about her judgment and her ability to manipulate,” Law said.

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Todorovic was granted six months of day parole in November after the board found she had made progress in understanding what led her to orchestrate the 2008 killing of 14-year-old Stefanie Rengel.

The panel also said at the time that Todorovic should expect to remain in counselling for a long time and required her to report any close relationship to her parole officer.

Todorovic moved to a halfway house in Brampton, Ont., and met the two men at a program meant to help offenders reintegrate the community, it heard. She began dating one of them and confided in the other about her relationship troubles, the board heard.

Her day parole was suspended in March after her clandestine relationships came to light through one of the men’s probation officer, the board heard. Friday’s hearing aimed to determine whether she should be allowed to resume day parole.

Todorovic said Friday she knew it was wrong to hide her relationships but denied manipulating or controlling the two men.

She attributed her actions to feeling isolated and overwhelmed by the adjustment to life outside prison and acknowledged that neither relationship was healthy.

“I was lonely when I was out there,” she said. “I liked people complimenting me and giving me attention and I didn’t want it to end.”

The parole board panelist, however, called it “very, very, very concerning” that Todorovic was engaging in behaviours similar to those that led to her crime so soon after moving to a halfway house.

Shannon Stewart noted Todorovic showed insight into her actions and benefited from a strong support network yet still carried out a “calculated deception.”

“If you didn’t want to commit another crime, then you wouldn’t have knowingly engaged in your offence cycle,” she said.

Todorovic was convicted of first-degree murder in 2009 for ordering the slaying of Rengel, a Toronto teen who had become the focus of her intense jealousy even though the two had never met.

Fuelling this obsession was the fact that Rengel had briefly dated Todorovic’s then-boyfriend, David Bagshaw, years earlier.

Todorovic, who was 15 at the time, repeatedly threatened to break up with Bagshaw or withhold sex unless he killed Rengel. He eventually carried out the murder plot, luring the teen out of her home on New Year’s Day 2008 and stabbing her six times.

Both Todorovic and Bagshaw were sentenced as adults to life in prison, with parole eligibility set at seven years for Todorovic and 10 years for Bagshaw, who was just a few days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the murder.

Todorovic appealed her conviction and sentence but both were upheld. The process delayed her application for parole, however, and the board has said she became eligible for day parole in 2013 and full parole in 2015.

Rengel’s relatives had questioned the sincerity of Todorovic’s remorse when she was granted day parole last year, and said Friday the young woman had proven them right.

“The fact that Melissa, in just a few short months, was unable to abide by her very limited conditions raises red flags that are, frankly, terrifying,” Rengel’s mother, Patricia Hung, said in a victim impact statement.

“I had so hoped, for her own sake and others’, that she would grow into a woman capable of sound moral decisions…and compensate in some way for the harm she caused so many,” she said. “Part of me is very sad for her. I am also very afraid.”

Hung expressed relief at the board’s decision to return Todorovic to prison. Todorovic had asked to resume day parole, this time at a halfway house in Kingston rather than Brampton, Ont.

Todorovic’s lawyer argued it was unreasonable to expect someone who grew up in prison to reintegrate in the community without “bumps in the road.” 

He suggested his client did not feel she could confide in her parole officer and did not want to discuss her sex life with her mother. He added Todorovic, who said she was recently diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, is “an outsider in a lot of ways.”

Todorovic has two months to appeal the panel’s decision. Otherwise, the board is not required to review her eligibility for day parole for a year.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press