On august 17, 25-year-old alicia Ross disappeared from her family home north of Toronto. Her boyfriend, Sean Hine, had been the last person to see her when he left her house that evening and he called police after he could not reach alicia at home or at work the next morning.
Ross, who had no history of taking off and who appeared happy at her job where she had just received a promotion, became big news in the Toronto and area media. From the outset, police were convinced that foul play was involved. although the York Regional Police refused to refer to Hine as a suspect, he was constantly referred to as a person of interest immediately after the young woman went missing.
It was a natural response by both the media and the public to assume that alicia Ross was a victim of a crime and that Hine, her boyfriend of two months, was responsible. If recent high profile similar events could be used as an indication, it seemed it was only a matter of time before Sean Hine would be arrested.
First there was the high profile case of Scott Peterson. Everyone watched Peterson organize searches after his pregnant wife, Laci, disappeared. Peterson was later arrested, convicted and is currently on death row in California.
Last July, with Laci and Scott Peterson fresh on their minds, Canadians watched Edmonton mechanic, Michael White tearfully plead for the safe return of his wife, Liana, whose abandoned vehicle was found but who seemingly disappeared without a trace. White helped organized a search for his missing wife and was with a group of searchers when her remains were discovered. Even prior to a cause of death being determined, Michael White was arrested and charged with second degree murder and committing an indignity to a dead body. He is currently awaiting trial in alberta.
a little more than a month after alicia Ross disappeared; when it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before Sean Hine joined Scott Peterson and Michael White in a prison cell, Daniel Sylvester, the 31-year-old next door neighbour of Ross and her family, went to a police station with his lawyer. Sylvester confessed to killing Ross and that evening police recovered the remains of the 25-year-old woman in two locations northeast of her home.
The day after Sylvester’s arrest, writing in The Toronto Sun, Thane Burnett apologized to Hine for essentially ignoring those who said he couldn’t have done it and believing that he was guilty of the murder of alicia Ross.
The media, including Burnett, could not really be faulted for thinking that Hine had been guilty of killing his girlfriend. Most people didn’t need the media to help them think that the boyfriend and last person to see Ross did it. But the immediate apology for Hine for being obviously mistaken was a class act. Too often when the media does get it wrong, they simply go on as if nothing has happened. The mainstream media that salivate at the thought of catching others in mistakes rarely look at themselves when they make a mistake. Burnett’s apology was a refreshing change.