Thirty years after she was stabbed and strangled to death in her Toronto apartment, police have arrested a man for the murder of a former Estevan woman.
Donna Proian was murdered on June 23, 1981 and for the past three decades Toronto Police had a strong suspicion about who was responsible for her death but were unable to gather enough evidence to press charges.
However, thanks to advancements in forensic technology and DNA, Ernest Westergard was charged with first-degree murder Toronto police announced during a media conference Friday.
"The fact that we are here today is testament to the quality of the police work that I believe has been done since the initial investigation dating back to 1981," said Det. Sgt. Steve Ryan, the head of the Toronto cold case squad who also credited the work done by employees of the Centre of Forensic Sciences.
"Their contribution and their efforts are instrumental in the conclusion that we have come to today."
Proian, whose maiden name is Pardun, was born in Estevan and raised in the city by her foster parents Grace and John Grob.
After graduating from high school, Proian went to study French at the University of Saskatchewan campus in Regina. She later moved to France to study at a bible school and while there she met her husband Charles.
The couple later returned to Regina but eventually settled in Toronto where Charles worked for Bell Canada while Donna went to work as a secretary for the University of Toronto's Dean of Arts and Sciences.
According to a report in the Toronto Star, on the day of her murder Donna's co-workers, who described her as a small, thin woman who was intelligent and quick, called Charles at around 11:30 a.m. to inform him that this wife hadn't shown up for work. After he was unable to reach her by phone Charles went back to their apartment and found Donna's lifeless body on the floor. She was strangled with her own clothing and was also stabbed in the neck a number of times.
How someone had managed to get inside the Proian's locked apartment in a building with tight security, and murder Donna, has long been a source of mystery for Toronto Police.
Westergard was immediately on the radar of investigators but it wasn't until recently that they collected the requisite proof to lay charges. The 60-year-old made his first appearance in court Friday morning. He is already serving life in prison for the murder of Sonya Run in 1994.
Ryan said although the case dragged on over the years, police never gave up on finding Proian's killer.
"I hope that this announcement today gives comfort to all the families who have lost loved ones to a homicide and whose killers have not yet been identified. I say to them, we as investigators, we never give up, we never forget your loved ones; to continue hoping and never say never because you just never know."
After her murder, Donna Proian was buried in the Estevan City Cemetery and lies there in an unmarked grave.
