Teen boy pleads guilty to May 2025 murder of Pickering senior
· Toronto Sun
A 14-year-old boy who stabbed an 83-year-old woman multiple times to death outside her Pickering home in May 2025 has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
The teen, whose identity is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, entered the plea in an Oshawa courtroom on Thursday.
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On the afternoon of May 29, 2025, Durham Regional Police said a passerby found Eleanor Doney on the ground outside a residence suffering from traumatic injuries. She was transported to a Toronto hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Police said video footage showed Doney was approached by the suspect outside her Lynn Heights Dr. home and spoke to her before he walked away.
A short time later, the suspect returned and began stabbing her in an unprovoked attack.
Sad scene outside PIckering house where senior named Elenor was stabbed to death on Thurs afternoon. People are leaving flowers & neighbors say they loved her scarecrow that she would dress for occasions (now in Canada Day mode). A 14 y.o. Boy has been charged w 1st degree murder pic.twitter.com/re4mlwGD6Q
— Jane Stevenson (@JaneCStevenson) May 30, 2025
Following an extensive search, police said a 14-year-old boy from Pickering was arrested hours later.
“He went out with a knife,” a police source told the Toronto Sun after the suspect’s arrest. “He was walking up and down … Surveillance video shows him casing out the street, looking for a victim.”
Following the guilty plea, Police Chief Peter Moreira said in a social media post that Doney’s murder had “devastated” her family.
“This senseless murder has devastated a family, deeply affected the (Durham Regional Police) officers who responded, and shaken the entire Pickering community,” he wrote on the X platform .
“The brutality and gratuitous nature of this crime — captured on video — is shocking, and it underscores the dangerous influence that online platforms can have on young people. It also raises serious questions about the responsibility of those who knew what was going to happen and failed to act.”
Doney’s family issued a statement thanking community members for their concerns days after her brutal murder.
“We want to express our gratitude to the community for the outpouring of love and support during this difficult time,” the family said . “We especially want to thank the first responders for all of their efforts. We take comfort in the fact that she was a woman of strong Christian faith.”
Doney’s senseless murder left the community shocked.
A neighbour called Doney “a lovely lady” who was “taking care of her family and dealing with a spouse who was disabled.”
“She was dedicated to him,” the neighbour told the Sun at the time . “She would push him in a wheelchair.”