MANDEL: Pickering teen obsessed with serial killers pleads guilty to senior’s murder

Disturbing details released in agreed statement of facts after teen pleads guilty to first-degree murder

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Published Jun 18, 2026  •  4 minute read

Eleanor Doney is pictured with her husband, Bruce, in this undated Facebook photo.

The 14-year-old Pickering teen was obsessed with serial killers and told his gaming friend that unlike his heroes, he wouldn’t get caught.

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Thankfully, he was wrong — but not before he took the life of an innocent stranger who was simply outside raking the leaves.

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WARNING: DISTURBING DETAILS

The disturbing details of the agreed statement of facts entered during his guilty plea to first-degree murder in Oshawa were released to the media this week and they tell a horrifying tale of a youth who was a walking timebomb and for weeks had an “urge to kill.” The statement said he even contemplated killing his own grandmother before choosing someone else’s in 83-year-old Eleanor Doney.

After the brutal murder on the afternoon of May 29, 2025, Durham Regional Police obtained CCTV footage from across the street that showed the boy — carrying a briefcase and dressed in a long black coat, black medical face mask and black gloves — stop just before 3 p.m. outside Doney’s home on Lynn Heights Dr., where she was gardening outside.

After they chatted for about two minutes, the statement said the teen returned to his briefcase, retrieved a knife and stabbed the helpless retired teacher in the left side of her neck.

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Well wishers leave bouquets in front of the Pickering, Ont., home where Eleanor Doney lived on June 2, 2025. Photo by Jack Boland /Toronto Sun

Retired teacher stabbed multiple times

According to the agreed statement, Doney staggered backward, turned and fled toward her house, but the teen killer gave chase and caught up to her in a couple of steps. He stabbed her in the back and then stabbed her in the neck from behind. On the video, she can be heard crying out.

The statement said Doney fell on her back on the sidewalk and the merciless teen bent over her and stabbed her repeatedly in the face. He then grabbed his briefcase and ran eastward down Lynn Heights. At about 3:02 p.m., a passerby saw her and called police.

They arrived nine minutes later and despite efforts at CPR, Doney died a short time later at Sunnybrook hospital.

Court heard a canvas of neighbouring schools soon identified the teen as a student who had been suspended for five days just the day before for bringing a knife to school.

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In a group chat with friends on the day of his suspension, he said he was planning to take a train to Toronto to avoid arrest, would be gone for at least a month and might kill something during that time.

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Video surveillance from the area showed that after the killing, he walked into a wooded area near Finch Ave. and Guild Rd. The statement said police later found a knife that tests showed was the one used in the brutal slaying.

A search warrant at his home uncovered a Cuisinart knife set with his fingerprints on the packaging, according to the statement, and one blade missing from the set as well as the clothes he was believed to have been wearing at the time of the murder. Police also seized his computer and phone.

The statement said an examination of his electronic devices showed that in the weeks leading up to the murder, there was a new and increasingly intense interest in sociopathy and psychopathy, serial killers, stabbing, stalking and avoiding detection. There were photos of the intersection of Fairport Rd. and Lynn Heights at 1:38 a.m. on May 16, 2025, about 200 m west of where the homicide occurred. The phone also contained a short video of a steak knife similar to the one used in the murder and the one seized by his school on May 28, 2025.

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Court heard he was obsessed with Yoshikage Kira, a suit-wearing businessman who is secretly a serial killer in the popular manga and anime series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

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Internet searches included serial killers, stabbing tips

The statement said a Motorola phone seized from his bedroom showed the user surfed the web and social media about serial killers and Yoshikage Kira right up until three minutes before the murder and continued to access YouTube after the slaying, including clips from TV shows Breaking Bad and Family Guy and the movie Iron Man.

According to the agreed statement, his searches included:

— On April 17, 2025, and May 19, 2025, he accessed a video entitled “Is Reverse Grip Good For Stabbing Down?” The video demonstrated how to apply maximum pressure when stabbing someone.

— On May 20 and 21, 2025, he accessed 15 videos about how to tell if you are a psychopath or sociopath.

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— On May 22, 2025, he searched “how serial killers got away” on YouTube twice and accessed a four-hour video called “The Most Sadistic Serial Killers of All Time.”

— On May 24, 2025, he accessed six videos about serial killer Ted Bundy.

— On May 26, 2025, he accessed a two-hour-long psychologist video entitled “Psychopath or Sociopath – What you Need to Know.”

— On May 29, 2025, he accessed 18 YouTube videos about Bundy and six videos about stalking. He also repeatedly accessed the GO Transit online schedule. He also accessed an AI version of the Yoshikage Kira character.

The boy, his name protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, admitted to the planned and deliberate murder in April and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for next month.

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