Mellisa Duff-Shore

1997 - 2020  (23 years)

• Name	Mellisa Duff-Shore
  Born	1997
  Gender	Female
  Crime	2020
  	murdered
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-489080
  Died	2020
  Person ID	I489080	Generations
  Last Modified	9 Jun 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Cambridge killer ordered to be detained in forensic hospital Melissa Duff-Shore fatally stabbed her daughter in 2020. A Cambridge woman who killed her daughter four years ago has been ordered to be detained in a forensic hospital. Melissa Duff-Shore stabbed Kayla Duff-Foley, 22, dozens of times in September 2020 in their townhouse on Queen Street West, in the Hespeler area of Cambridge. Five months ago, Duff-Shore, now 45, was found not criminally responsible for murder due to a mental disorder. On Wednesday, the Ontario Review Board \emdash which will decide if and when she can be released back into the community \emdash ordered her to be detained at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas. Hospital privileges for people found not criminally responsible are generally granted incrementally. It will be up to the hospital to decide whether Duff-Shore can enter Elgin and Middlesex counties accompanied by staff, the board said. The hospital would notify local police ahead of time. Duff-Shore would be required to take random alcohol and drug tests. The board ordered Duff-Shore to abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs and to not possess weapons. Duff-Shore's case will be reviewed annually. Before killing her daughter, Duff-Shore took three different medications \emdash all sedatives \emdash and said she "passed out," Crown prosecutor Brendan Gould told court when she was found not criminally responsible. When she awoke, she saw blood on her arms and hands and "a pool of blood in her lap," Gould said. Then she saw her daughter's dead body at the bottom of a staircase. The victim's blood was found on three knives. Her mother's blood was on two knives. There was no motive, Gould said. Duff-Shore has no memory of stabbing her daughter, but admits that she did, court was told. She was charged with second-degree murder, but Superior Court Justice Andrew Goodman declared her not criminally responsible. The finding was backed by the Crown, and defence lawyer John Fennel. When she killed her daughter, Duff-Shore had severe post-traumatic stress disorder, likely with trancelike dissociative symptoms, said Dr. Joel Watts, a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed her for many hours. She was likely in a state of automatism, court was told, with little or no control over her actions. Her daughter was "a young girl filled with love for all those around her," said a GoFundMe campaign that raised $14,400 for her funeral and other family expenses. "She leaves behind a trail of memories and a spot in everyone's heart." Gordon Paul is a Waterloo Region-based court reporter for the Record. Email: gpaul@therecord.com. Paul, G. (2024) Cambridge killer ordered to be detained in forensic hospital, The Record. Available at: https://www.therecord.com/news/crime/cambridge-killer-ordered-to-be-detained-in-forensic-hospital/article_c73b0d28-80d6-5f4f-a3e8-5e4c1d5b5463.html (Accessed: 3 October 2024).