After Nearly Three Dacades, The Killer Of Donna Oglive Is Identified

Ronald Gordon Ackerman Charged With First-Degree Murder Of Donna Oglive

SOLVED

Donna Oglive

Updated: 2025-02-07 ()

Update

Toronto police detectives made arrest in 1998 slaying of Donna Oglive.

Around midnight on the morning of Thursday, February 6, 2025, Ronald Gordon Ackerman, 50, of Gander, Newfoundland, was arrested at Toronto Pearson International Airport before catching a connecting flight.

At the time of the murder, Ackerman had been living in Scarborough, Ontario and working as a trucker. More recently, he had been working in the oil fields near Fort McMurray, Alberta and was headed home to Gander.

"For 26 years, investigators have remained committed to seeking justice for Donna and her loved ones. Advances in forensic technology, along with the unwavering dedication of our team and investigative partners, have led us to this arrest," said Detective Sergeant Steve Smith of the Homicide and Missing Persons Unit, Cold Case Section.

"Our thoughts remain with Donna's family and friends, who have endured decades of grief and unanswered questions. No matter how much time passes, we do not give up on victims of homicide."

Ackerman was charged with first-degree murder. He was remanded in custody in Toronto. He appeared via video link at the Toronto Regional Bail Centre, 2201 Finch Avenue West, on Thursday, February 6, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.

Pre-update

Toronto, Ontario — Donna Oglive, a resident of British Columbia, was in Toronto for five weeks before she was killed, police said. She was four months pregnant with a baby boy.

The body of 24-year-old Donna Oglive was found after 7 a.m. on March 8, 1998, in the corner of a parking lot at 130 Carlton St. on the east side of Jarvis St. She had been strangled, police said in a news release.

In 2019, Toronto police appealed to the public for information leading to the killer of 21-year-old Lisa Lynn Anstey. She was found after 9 a.m. on May 12, 1997, face down in a laneway south of Front St. E. and west of Cherry St. She was also strangled.

Oglive had been working as a sex trade worker in the Gerrard Street East and Church Street area at the time of her death.

Lisa Lynn Anstey worked in the sex trade industry in the area of Wellesley Street East and Bleecker Street before she was killed.

Homicide cold case Det.-Sgt. Stacy Gallant told the Star that the DNA profile of the killer from both cases do not match, and that the cases are not considered linked.

But there are similarities in that the two victims were sex trade workers of about the same age and were both killed in similar circumstances in the downtown core.

The Star reported in 1998 that Oglive was the latest victim in a string of unsolved Toronto prostitute murders over the previous four years. Police at the time believe three of those seven homicides may be the work of a predator stalking Parkdale prostitutes.

21-year-old Lisa Lynn Anstey - She was found after 9 a.m. on May 12, 1997, face down in a laneway south of Front St. E. and west of Cherry St. She was also strangled.

The police have already received calls from people trying to help after the appeal in Anstey's case was put out, he said.

I want people to know these are not forgotten cases," said Gallant, who was on his last day at work before retiring after 31 years with the Toronto Police Service.

The DNA profiles of the killers weren't on the national database, Gallant said.

Donna Oglive was known to travel between British Columbia and Toronto regularly. She was of Filipino descent, with dark skin, about 5'5", and approximately 160 pounds. She had black shoulder-length hair and was wearing a long white high heel boots, a mini skirt and fur jacket.

Anyone with information on the two deaths in Toronto is asked to contact police at 416-808-7400, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637).