Man pleads guilty a year after DNA test flagged him for brutal 1983 murders
Last year, a man was charged with the two-decades-old murders of two Toronto women after a DNA test and investigation unearthed convincing evidence against him.
On Thursday, October 5, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on both counts in an Ontario court.
Joseph George Sutherland was arrested in Moosonee, a town in northern Ontario, on November 24, 2022, and charged in connection with the murders of Susan Tice, 45, and Erin Gilmour, 22.
The women were sexually assaulted in their homes and stabbed to death in 1983. Tice was a mom trained and employed in social work, while Gilmour hoped to become a fashion designer.
Susan Tice (Toronto Police Service)
Looking at the evidence over the years during the investigation, police had determined that the same individual had killed Tice and Gilmour.
Sutherland’s arrest was big news last year. Toronto Police Chief James Ramer held a news conference to share it.
The 62-year-old was previously not among the suspects in the killings, TPS Chief Ramer noted. He was only flagged in the cold case last year thanks to DNA test evidence and genetic investigation.
“This is a day that I and we’ve been waiting almost an entire lifetime for,” said Sean McCowan, Gilmour’s brother, referring to the arrest. McCowan was 13 years old at the time of his sister’s death.
Erin Gilmour (Toronto Police Service)
Police will continue looking into other unsolved crimes Sutherland might be connected to since 1983.
His sentence for the two murders is expected on December 14.
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