Woman behind Stefanie Rengel killing loses appeal of decision to revoke parole

A woman who pressured her boyfriend into murdering his teenage ex more than a decade ago has lost her bid to overturn the revocation of her parole.

In a decision released Friday, the appeal division of the ParoleBoard of Canada rejected Melissa Todorovic's argument that the boardwas unreasonable and overly strict in cancelling her day parole lastyear.

The parole board moved to send Todorovic back to prison after finding she had become entangled in a secret love triangle,contravening a condition of her release that required she discloseany new relationships.

The one-person panel found at the time that Todorovic's "purposeful and calculated" deception meant she posed an undue risk to the public.

She had been granted six months of day parole in a halfway house in late 2018, after the board found she had improved inunderstanding what led her to orchestrate the 2008 killing of14-year-old Stefanie Rengel.

Board should have been more lenient: Todorovic

But the board required that she report any new romantic orplatonic relationships because of the role unhealthy romance playedin her crime.

At that hearing, Todorovic's parole officer said the woman hadbecome romantically involved with two men on probation who werefriends, and appeared to be turning them against each other.

Todorovic, meanwhile, said she knew it was wrong to hide the relationships, but insisted there was no manipulation.

In challenging the revocation, Todorovic argued the board should have been more lenient in assessing whether she posed a risk to the community, given she has spent the last 12 years in prison without the opportunity to understand how to function in the community.

The appeal division rejected that argument, saying Todorovic had participated in numerous programs and been granted temporary absences and work releases to prepare her to reintegrate into society.

"The reality is that you have been given every opportunity toimprove your understanding of your risk and needs, to developeffective and meaningful strategies to recognize and manage your risks, and to prepare yourself for a graduated return to society," the decision read.

'You had become re-engaged in your offence cycle'

"Your own choices resulted in your suspension of day parole; your own decisions to be evasive and manipulative recipitated therevocation of your parole," it said.

The appeal ruling also dismissed her arguments that a victim impact statement read at the hearing went beyond what is permitted,and that there was a reasonable apprehension of bias because thepanel member who heard her case had previously interacted with her in a professional capacity.

Todorovic was convicted of first-degree murder in 2009 forordering her then-boyfriend, David Bagshaw, to kill Rengel. Bothwere sentenced to life in prison, with Todorovic eligible for parole after seven years.

The plot was fuelled by Todorovic's jealous obsession withRengel, a girl she had never met but who Bagshaw had briefly datedyears earlier. Todorovic, who was 15 at the time, continuouslythreatened to break up with Bagshaw or withhold sex unless he killed Rengel.

He eventually lured Rengel out of her family's Toronto home andstabbed her to death on New Year's Day 2008.