The Russian Princess Case: The Death of Elena Tchoudakova and the Conviction of Gilbert Ho

Description

In the 1990s Toronto had a series of high profile murders involving women. At the top of the list was Paul Bernardo for reasons which require no explanation here, and, after Bernardo and his now free ex-wife, Karla Holmoka, there was Robert Baltovich, accused of murdering his then girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain. He served nine years in prison and another eight on parole before he was acquitted of the murder. Between these two murders, Baltovich being the first and Bernardo in custody awaiting trial, was the Gilbert Ho case. The victim was a beautiful young Russian woman named Elena Tchoudakova, twenty-three years old and attending Ryerson University's Interior Design program. The murder was brutal. Gilbert Ho was convicted in a largely circumstantial case. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the conviction despite delaying their decision for seven months. Gilbert has maintained his innocence from the time he was convicted. The Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted (AIDWYC) has been looking at the case for well over a decade, which is how I came to the case and the ability to tell this story. Gilbert granted me the right to access his case, and he very graciously gave of his time and answered endless questions on the telephone and in person over the many trips I made to Warkworth Institution, a medium security prison that has been his home since 1996. Because the case against Gilbert is so circumstantial and based on a psychological profile largely invented by the prosecutors, and unsubstantiated by any real witness, there wasn't a lot of investigation to do, only a walk through the case — some five boxes of material — and talking to anyone involved with the case who would talk with me. The police, the prosecutors, and Gilbert's trial lawyer, Bruce Durno all refused to speak with me, though Durno did ask for a list of questions, which I refused. Many of the people who knew Elena spoke with me. The book walks through the case in all its stages: the story, the investigation, the jail system, the trial, and the appeal. It is my belief that Gilbert Ho is innocent of the murder of Elena Tchoudakova. Many in the wrongful conviction community share my belief. However, it remains highly unlikely Gilbert will ever bee exonerated. The reasons are made clear in the story.