A Toronto law firm says they will be holding a news conference alongside the family of murdered Toronto woman Tess Richey on Wednesday morning.
In a news release issued Tuesday, Smitiuch Injury Law PC said that Richey’s mother Christine Hermeston and her lawyer Michael Smitiuch will be making an announcement relating to the 2017 murder.
In March, 23-year-old Kalen Schlatter was found guilty of sexually assaulting and strangling Richey in the exterior stairwell of a building under renovation in the city’s Church-Wellesley neighbourhood on Nov. 25, 2017.
Richey’s lifeless body was found by her mother and a family friend at the bottom of the stairwell on Nov. 29, four days after she was reported missing.
Toronto police later came under fire after officers were accused of failing to properly search for Richey when she was reported missing. Two officers are now facing disciplinary charges of misconduct in relation to the allegations.
Richey had met Schlatter outside a popular bar in the city’s gay village just hours before she was killed.
Video surveillance footage captured on the morning the 22-year-old was murdered showed Schlatter and Richey walking hand-in-hand down a laneway toward the stairwell at Church and Dundonald streets.
Schlatter was seen walking back down the laneway alone about 45 minutes later.
His saliva and semen were subsequently found on Richey’s clothing, the jury heard during the seven-week trial.
Schlatter was found guilty of first-degree murder on March 24, 2020.
Speaking after the verdict, Richey’s mother said although she had hoped and prayed for that outcome, she was admittedly “shocked.”
“We won. Tess got her justice,” she told reporters. “We’ll never be happy. We’ll never be complete again, but we can try to heal from here and do things in Tess’ name. Thank you for all the support. It’s been a rough road, but we made it.”
The law firm says the announcement will be made at a virtual news conference at 10 a.m.
