“We’ll remember Christopher as a little boy who had a short life, a happy life, who was loved …”

He says there have been many milestone years, not the least of which is 2001 when the provincial sex offender registry was established, followed years later by a national registry.

“His legacy improved community and public safety,” Jim Stephenson says. “As a result of the work Anna and I undertook after his death to address the shortfalls and the gaps in the plaster that allowed a person to do what he did to Christopher.”

His legacy is historic and unprecedented changes to that flawed system, including provincial and national sex offender registries, a national DNA databank for offenders, and a long-term offender designation created in 1997 aimed mainly at sexual offenders who do not meet dangerous offender designation.

THE CRIME

It was 9 p.m. on June 17, 1988. Christopher was shopping with his mom and 8-year-old sister Amanda when they slipped into a sewing store, leaving Christopher to mind some Bi-Way parcels in the hallway. Anna Stephenson could see him through the window of the store.

But Fredericks had been stalking them in the mall, and when Anna Stephenson glanced away, in that split second he pounced. Christopher was forced at knifepoint out of the mall.

Photo studio manager Harry Moreland told a panicked Anna Stephenson that he had seen Christopher leave with a man in his 50s. A composite sketch was produced, and a tip from the public led police to Fredericks' door June 19.

But it was too late. Fredericks confessed, and took police to the field where Christopher’s body was found.

Originally from Smiths Falls, Fredericks had been released from prison just two months earlier, in March, after serving two-thirds of a five-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old Ottawa boy. He was never deemed a dangerous offender, although he had a lengthy criminal record and had already sexually assaulted eight children.

He was living in Malton, then moved to the basement of a house on Ray Lawson Boulevard two weeks before the murder, in the same neighbourhood the Stephensons lived.

His trial heard that his parole officers had lost track of him, and weren’t completely aware of his history of child sexual assault and mental illness.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in 1989 and died in Kingston Prison in 1992 when an inmate stabbed him with a pair of shears.

THE LEGACY

The Stephenson’s transferred their grief and sorrow to advocacy.

They pushed for an inquest, which came only after Fredericks died and his conviction appeal was abandoned.

That inquest resulted in 71 recommendations in 1993. Within a year, about half had been acted upon, but it would take eight more years before the sex offender registry was created, in April 2001.

The registry is an investigative tool that instantly tells officers where sex offenders are living in relation to a crime scene like the one in Brampton 30 years ago. It could have saved Christopher’s life.

“We (the public) still don’t know who is out there, but police do,” Jim Stephenson says. “They know where they live and that causes us to feel a lot safer ...”

A national registry took longer, but was eventually created.

The Stephensons still live in Brampton, in the same home.

For them, moving was never a consideration.

“That wouldn’t have accomplished anything,” Jim Stephenson says. “It seemed quite natural to stay in the area. Amanda was in school … we were comfortable with it.”

And Christopher’s spirit is here, he says.

So instead of running away, they dealt head-on with what happened, and dedicated their lives to advocating for victims.

“The interim milestones are basically signposts in the road,” Jim Stephenson explains of the 30th anniversary. “They remind us Christopher is no longer with us, but with us in spirit every day.”

Not a day goes by they don’t think of him – and miss him, he says.

“We make do with that reality.”

With files from Torstar Network