Investigation of Terry Arnold as a Suspect

Before the arrest of Thomas Sophonow, Terry Arnold was for a time a suspect. There are a number of ways in which he was linked to Barbara Stoppel. It is not without significance that he went to the St. Boniface Hospital on the 28th of December, 1981 to enquire as to Barbara's condition. At that time, he met Mrs. Stoppel. He told her that he was a truck driver, that he had frequented the Ideal Donut Shop and had come to know Barbara.

The Winnipeg Police Service became aware of this visit on the 28th and he was interviewed the following day by Constable Bell. In the opinion of Constable Bell, Terry Arnold was similar in appearance to the composite drawing. He wore glasses and had acne or pimples, as described by some of the eyewitnesses. It is interesting to note that Thomas Sophonow did not have acne or pimples. Terry Arnold was, in the opinion of Constable Bell, "somewhat strange". Constable Bell noted that he had lived at 9-25 Cromwell, a three-storey apartment building. From that building, the Ideal Donut Shop could be seen.

A friend of Terry Arnold called the police to advise them that Mr. Arnold bore a similarity to the widely publicized composite drawing. The friend stated that Mr. Arnold regularly wore a cowboy hat and cowboy boots.

Jackie Gurergil was put forward by Terry Arnold as someone who could provide an alibi for him. However, it was learned that she could not give evidence as to his whereabouts at the relevant time.

He was further interviewed by the Winnipeg Police on the 17th of January, 1982. He told Sergeant Paulishyn that at one time he had a crush on Barbara Stoppel.

Thus, the investigations that were done on Terry Arnold at the time indicated that:

1. he resembled the composite drawing;
2. he had an acne scarred face, similar to that described by several of the eyewitnesses;
3. he wore dark framed glasses as described by the eyewitnesses;
4. he knew Barbara Stoppel and had a crush on her;
5. there was evidence from the eyewitnesses that Barbara Stoppel spoke to the man in the donut shop and followed him into the washroom;
6. he wore cowboy boots and a cowboy hat;
7. he lived within five minutes of the Ideal Donut Shop; and
8. he did not have an alibi for the pertinent time on December 23rd, 1981.

 

Despite these findings, which might have been significant, photographs of Terry Arnold were shown only to Mr. Doerksen and to Mr. Gloux. Further, although Mr. Arnold's fingerprints were on file with the police, they were not compared to those found at the Ideal Donut Shop.

Mrs. Janower had seen a photograph of Terry Arnold in a Winnipeg newspaper. She testified at the Inquiry that he looked more like the person she saw in the Ideal Donut Shop than did Thomas Sophonow.

It is unfortunate that the investigation of Terry Arnold did not proceed further. Once again, Sergeant Biener, with his usual candour, testified that Terry Arnold slipped through the cracks of the investigation of the murder of Barbara Stoppel. This is a very sad and telling conclusion.

Sergeant Biener appeared to me to be a very conscientious, fair minded and for the most part a competent police officer. He frankly conceded that problems existed in the police department in 1982. There was no officer placed in charge of the investigation, there was a lack of co-ordination of the shifts working on the case, and there existed an atmosphere of mistrust amounting at least to suspicion between groups of officers working on the case. He very fairly conceded that he, like other officers working on the case, suffered from tunnel vision. Recently, the Winnipeg Police Service instituted lectures to officers on tunnel vision. This is certainly a welcome step forward. This is particularly true since there does not appear to have been any recognition of this as a problem in 1982.

Inspector Blair McCorrister testified that today the investigation of Terry Arnold would not have fallen through the cracks. He testified that the science of profiling an investigation has progressed since the 80's. A comment that he made is particularly telling. He stated:

"In a review of this case there are certain things, and it's … it's amazing how the appearance of Mr. Arnold at the hospital on that day carried no concerns with any of the investigators, with no one in charge. However, today when officers review that or hear of what happened, they are amazed and I think that speaks of the degree of advancements in profiling and the awareness of the sciences." (Inquiry, Vol. 54, pages 9682-9683).

The Inspector also referred to the improvements made by the Winnipeg Police Service in the investigation of major crimes. The shift system in operation in the 1980's has been radically changed. There is no longer a division, or at times an overlapping, of the work of the day and night shifts. Rather, at the present time, there is a senior officer in charge of each serious crime. That officer organizes and coordinates the work to be done. All reports and supplemental reports are prepared and filed in chronological order and sequentially numbered. They all come to the officer in charge of the investigation who will make all decisions required to further the investigation.

Today, it would be that officer who would follow tips or leads and, for example, match the fingerprints of Terry Arnold with those found in the women's washroom of the Ideal Donut Shop.

Mr. Finlayson, Assistant Deputy Attorney General of Manitoba, testified as to the work that was done organizing a lecture for police officers relating to the effects of tunnel vision, its dangers and steps that can be taken to avoid it.

Recommendations

Tunnel vision

Police notebooks

Exhibits - whether filed in court or gathered in the course of the investigation.