No Claim to Mercy: Elizabeth Bain and Robert Baltovich-A Suburban Mystery

Susan Massarella is a reference librarian at Laurentian University.

Elizabeth Bain has not been seen since June 20, 1990. She is presumed
dead, although her body has never been found. Her boyfriend, Robert
Baltovich, was charged with her murder and then convicted and sentenced
to life in prison in 1992.

This profoundly disturbing book, which grew of an article Finkle wrote
for the October 1996 issue of Saturday Night, raises many questions
about Baltovich’s trial. It appears that law enforcement was more
concerned about getting a conviction than about considering every
possible scenario. Like Guy Paul Morin, Baltovich may have been wrongly
convicted. Finkle exhaustively profiles other possible suspects,
including the notorious serial killer/rapist Paul Bernardo, who was
committing rapes in Scarborough at the time of Bain’s disappearance.
In sentencing Baltovich, Mr. Justice John O’Driscoll stated that he
had “no claim to mercy.” This book, which won the Crime Writers of
Canada Arthur Ellis Award (for best nonfiction), raises the possibility
that Baltovich may have a claim to exoneration.