Twenty-five years behind bars has done little to quell the dangerous obsessions of a convicted sex killer, who has been returned to prison after a brief and troubled taste of freedom.
A Promise Kept, A Killer Contained
Retired Toronto Police homicide detective Gary Giroux has kept a solemn promise he made decades ago. He vowed to attend every parole hearing for the killer he helped put away, and even in retirement, he has stood watch. The subject of his vigilance is Stuart Cameron, now 56, whose latest bid for freedom has spectacularly collapsed.
Cameron’s crimes are etched in Toronto’s history. On July 27, 2000, he murdered 18-year-old Taiwanese student Tina Wu and nearly killed her 14-year-old sister, who almost bled to death at the scene. His violent spree included attacks on other women of Asian descent. In March 2002, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted murder, and other charges, receiving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 20 years.
Freedom Fails: Breaches Reveal Unchanged Fixation
After 25 years in prison, Cameron was granted Unescorted Temporary Absences (UTAs) starting September 11 of this year. The parole board, noting he had completed programs and was considered a low-to-average risk, offered what Detective Giroux called "the least onerous conditions." His freedom lasted just seven days.
"The parole board gave him low-hanging fruit, and he simply could not comply," Giroux told the Toronto Sun. "He’s like the teenager who asks dad for $20 when he knows he’s only getting $10."
The breaches were numerous and alarming. Cameron was found with marijuana, broke rules around his medications, and accepted a contraband phone from another halfway house resident. Most disturbingly, the parole board documented his "unusual focus" on a female program facilitator of Asian descent. He asked her a series of personal questions about her nationality, languages, and personal history.
"The reason for the concern was that the program facilitator is of Asian descent, as were all of the women you victimized and those with whom you were involved romantically," the parole panel wrote in an October 28 decision.
A Calculated Gambit and a Community Still at Risk
Cameron’s path to this brief parole involved a calculated shift in identity. In 2014, he changed his listed race from Latin American to North American Indian and his religion from Christian to Native Spirituality, later claiming to be Guyanese Indigenous. This move helped facilitate a transfer to the Kwikwexelhp Healing Village, a step toward his UTAs.
For Giroux, a 22-year homicide veteran, the outcome confirms his worst fears. "He could have been out years ago," Giroux stated. "I don’t know what his future looks like, but it isn’t a happy one, and the community is still at risk."
The retired detective has informed Tina Wu’s family in Taiwan of Cameron’s return to prison. "I promised them at his sentencing I would always be there as long as I’m above ground," he said. The parole board, having been "really no nonsense" this time, appears determined not to be burned by a premature release. For now, Stuart Cameron is back to square one, his dangerous fixations undimmed by a quarter-century of incarceration.
