Widow pushes for investigation into husband’s death

A Simcoe woman is pushing for a coroner’s investigation into her husband’s death even though the case was closed years ago. Her husband was killed in a horrible tragedy on the QEW five years ago when he was hit by flying debris. But she says she’s never been told what really happened.

For five years, Ann Marie Stewart has been living with the death of her husband in a tragic, almost-unheard of event. Now she feels it’s time to speak out.

“Absolutely it’s an issue for me. It changed my world. It killed Richard, and who’s next?” she said.

Stewart’s husband, Richard, was an accountant, driving to Toronto on July 7, 2009 on the QEW when a piece of metal smashed through the windshield of his car and killed him on the spot.

Investigators have never determined where the metal came from, the road or an overpass.

But the coroner decided the facts were clear and he wouldn’t hold an inquest to look further.

Stewart says she has more questions than answers, especially after filing freedom of information requests for police notes and other documents.

She says the coroner wasn’t told about things like other pieces of metal on the road. A group of mysterious SUVs stopping at the scene and then driving on, or why top OPP commanders went to the scene when there were investigators already there.

“I don’t like the words conspiracy, cover up. What I can tell you was there was a clear suppression of evidence based on the coroner telling me that he didn’t have this evidence,” she said.

She says it’s a public safety issue because it could happen again at any time, and other people could be left searching for answers.

“We don’t know what happened. We need to know what happened. We need to make sure that Ontario citizens are safe on their highways,” she said.

While Stewart, who is a lawyer, says her husband’s death was an unimaginable loss.

“For me, Richard being killed, my world stopped. And I believe, I believe in justice and if it wasn’t for my recent health…I had an incident, a serious health concern in the middle of a jury trial and that’s what’s prompted me now. I’m afraid that I might not be able to speak up for him and I have to do my job for him,” she said.

Coroner Dr. Dan Cass says he is re-examining the material around Stewart’s death following his conversations with Stewart. He says he is looking into issues she brought to his attention that had not been raised before.