OPP provide new details on tip, investigation that led to arrests in Lucas Shortreed’s death

Ontario Provincial Police are releasing more details about the tip that led to arrests for the hit and run collision that killed Lucas Shortreed in 2008.

OPP Supt. Jennifer Spurrell said the almost 15-year investigation picked up traction in June 2022, when the tip came in.

“Without getting into all the details of the tip specifically, it identified that the Halliburtons – who were ultimately charged in this investigation – were responsible for the hit and run of Lucas Shortreed, and that the vehicle was potentially still on the property in a semi-trailer,” Spurrell said.

Lucas Shortreed, 18, was killed in fatal hit and run near Alma, Ont. in 2008.

Spurrell couldn’t say who the tipster was, how they knew the information, or what their connection was to the case.

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She said police obtained a search warrant to confirm the existence of the vehicle on David and Anastasia Halliburton’s property in Mapleton Township. A photo released by the OPP shows the white semi-trailer, which contained the car, was parked right next to their home.

Police search the Halliburton's property on Sideroad 21, Mapleton Township on Sept. 21, 2022. The car was found hidden inside the white trailer. (Wellington County Police Services Board agenda package)

When police searched the trailer, they discovered a false wall at the back of the trailer that was hiding the car that hit Shortreed.

The white Dodge Neon matched the description of the vehicle and had significant body damage.

The tip was one of more than 100 that police received. Investigators have said they approached it with guarded optimism and skepticism.

“There was some significant investigation into other persons of interest, so obviously there was some tips that seemed quite credible,” Spurrell said.

“It’s not that [this] wasn’t a credible tip, it just seemed challenging to believe that the vehicle was still in existence after 15 years.”

OPP found the car involved in the hit an run that killed Lucas Shortreed hidden in a semi-trailer on David and Anastasia Halliburton's property in Mapleton Township. The pair have since pleaded guilty for their involvement in the crime. Sources: OPP (left) Facebook (right).

Police had also already ruled out the Halliburtons from their investigation.

The pair were questioned by OPP in 2008 and 2009 and cleared both times.

“From a police perspective, the Halliburtons were cleared because they did present a vehicle with no damage,” Spurrell said.

During court proceedings, it was revealed that the Halliburtons bought a nearly identical Dodge Neon to the one they had hidden and swapped the licence plates and Vehicle Identification Numbers.

“The Vehicle Identification Number did match what we were looking for so, from a law enforcement perspective, it is very difficult once those steps have been taken to prove that the vehicle isn’t what’s being presented,” Spurrell explained.

In 2013, the OPP even approached the Halliburtons to use their Dodge Neon in a re-enactment of the hit and run. Police unknowingly used the decoy vehicle in the re-enactment as part of a media campaign aimed at generating leads in the case.

Police stage a media event in 2013 as they continue to investigate the crash that killed Lucas Shortreed. On Sept. 26, 2023, court heard OPP used the Halliburton's Dodge Neon, which the pair had bought to replace their previous car that was damaged in the actual crash. (CTV Kitchener/File Video)

WHEN DO POLICE OFFER A REWARD?

The person who reported the tip received the $50,000 reward that police were offering for information.

Spurrell said rewards are determined on a case by case basis.

“It depends on the major case manager in that case. There are cases that just have stalled with time and they just become more challenging to investigate and then the major case manager will seek, from the [OPP], authorization to incentify people to come forward to help the investigation get some more traction,” Spurrell said.

The reward is paid by OPP.

THE NIGHT LUCAS DIED

On the night of Oct. 10, 2008, Lucas Shortreed left a party in Alma and began walking home to Fergus along Wellington Road 17. Just before midnight, he was struck and killed by a driver who fled the scene.

Police found debris from the vehicle at the scene and determined that they needed to look for a white 1995 or 1997 Dodge Neon.

Despite that clue, they were unable to find the person responsible for 14 years.

OPP said they received more than 100 tips in the unsolved case over the years and they examined hundreds of cars in their search for answers.

The address police searched on Sept. 21, 2022 was just a few kilometers from the scene of the 2008 crash and even closer to a where a billboard with Lucas Shortreed's face once stood. (CTV Kitchener)

THE HIT AND RUN

On Sept. 21, 2022, police carried out a search at the Halliburton’s property, seized the vehicle, and arrested David and Anastasia.

David Halliburton was charged with failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm or death and obstructing justice.

Anastasia Halliburton was charged with accessory after the fact.

They were released on bail two days later.

During a conversation covertly recorded by OPP on the day there were released, David Halliburton confessed to his daughter that he was responsible for Shortreed’s death.

He said he had some beers at a friend’s house on Oct. 10, 2008 and drove home with his 11-year-old son sitting in the backseat.

“During the conversation, Dave Halliburton admitted he struck Lucas Shortreed who was standing in the middle of the road and that he saw Mr. Shortreed at the last second, but it was too late to avoid him,” the agreed statement of facts that was read in court said.

The agreed statement of facts also detailed what happened to Shortreed.

“Mr. Shortreed was thrown approximately 30 feet airborne as a result of the collision,” it said.

His body was found by another driver.

“He had no vital signs and there were obvious signs of severe trauma – it was clear Mr. Shortreed had passed,” the agreed statement of facts said.

Shortreed’s injuries were extensive. Court heard that his spinal cord was severed, he had multiple rib fractures, a lacerated lung and liver, as well as a severe fracture of his left tibia and fibula.

An autopsy determined his death was “instantaneous.”

Halliburton admitted he was aware he struck a person, but told his son that he hit a deer. He also claimed he looked back but didn’t see anything, so he continued to drive home.

The Neon had significant damage to its roof and the windshield was shattered.

Halliburton told his daughter that he hid the car in the trailer and planned on “cutting it up” but was unable to, so he dumped bleach on the car in an attempt to get rid of any DNA.

“Even if I was stone cold sober, I would have done the exact same thing,” he said during the taped conversation with his daughter.

David Halliburton’s son had superficial injuries to his face from the shattered windshield, which Anastasia Halliburton tended to at their home.

CLOSING THE CASE

In September 2023, David Halliburton pleaded guilty to failing to remain at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm or death, as well as obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and was prohibited from driving for three years.

Anastasia Halliburton, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and careless storage of a firearm. She was given six months of house arrest, 12 months of probation and was required to complete 200 hours of community service.

REMEMBERING LUCAS

“Now we can remember Lucas and all the great things that he did and his great memories, instead of being overshadowed more by the tragedy and the investigation,” his mother Judie Moore told CTV News in Oct. 2023.

Lucas Shortreed's family on Oct. 6, 2023. (CTV News/Stefanie Davis)

Moore said Shortreed was a volunteer at a long-term care home and encouraged the public to visit a senior in her son’s memory.

“He worked in the gardens, planting gardens and flowers with the seniors,” Moore said. “I found out that after he finished his volunteer session, he had a spaghetti lunch for the [seniors] who had helped him. I found out about that at his funeral. I didn’t know, and he didn’t ask me for any help or money to do that. So it was pretty cool to learn that.”

Shortreed also loved cats, food and hugs.

On his gravestone his family included a poem which reads: “Think of him as living in the hearts of those he touched, for nothing loved is ever lost and he was loved so much.”