An Orangeville woman says she has been harassed and falsely targeted by a woman who has been running a Facebook site regarding the Sonia Varaschin murder investigation.
Local realtor Rebecca Boden says she has been a target of Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, a victim’s rights advocate, ever since Ms. Boden questioned the validity of claims Ms. Olunloyo was making on the site.
“I want everyone to be aware that she’s exploiting Sonia’s murder to promote herself.”
Ms. Olunloyo has had media exposure in the past, much of which has been positive. She had been praised for her outspoken stance on victim’s rights and her willingness to act as a spokesperson for crime victims and their families.
Her reputation took a severe blow when newspapers reported that she was wanted on outstanding warrants in Georgia.
She was deported back to her native Nigeria in late August.
Ms. Boden has experiences that led her to see Ms. Olunloyo as vindictive and prone to twist the truth to achieve selfish ends.
She said she had been following the Facebook site since it began, shortly after Ms. Varaschin was found dead in September 2010.
At first, Ms. Boden said she had a friendly correspondence with Ms. Olunloyo. Ms. Boden shied away, though, after the victims rights advocate provided posts that she found “questionable.”
For example, a woman contacted Ms. Boden, via facebook, and claimed Ms. Olunloyo was a fake. Ms. Olunloyo replied that the woman, who lived in B.C., was a drug addict and that her brothers were murderers.
She also said the B.C. woman was known to police. “Trust me,” she wrote Ms. Boden. “Criminal charges are coming.”
Ms. Boden says she investigated further and was able to confirm that Ms. Olunloyo’s claims were untrue. “That’s when I started warning people about it and that’s when she retaliated.”
On her site, entitled “Find Sonia Varaschin’s Killer,” Ms. Olunloyo wrote:
“Someone in (Orangeville) knows the murderer, and maybe the OPP and Orangeville police need to go ask the one that sells the houses; Rebecca Boden.
“She happens to know everyone, and I mean everyone!”
Ms. Boden has also produced documentation that Ms. Olunloyo used her twitter account, under the name “Snitchlady” to strongly suggest a suspect. She also went so far as to give the name and address of her suspect’s brother.
The post about Ms. Boden was sent on Monday, was followed by a number of critical responses and an eventual post that claimed Ms. Olunloyo was living in Nigeria and no longer running the site.
Ms. Boden, while having no respect for Ms. Olunloyo’s credibility, is unwilling to leave it alone. Nor does she want to see the incident blown over.
“This is my town,” said an emotional Ms. Boden. “The people in this town loved Sonia and for (Ms. Olunloyo) to do what she’s doing is disgusting.
“When she plays on people’s emotions and fear for her personal gain, and to promote herself, it’s game on.
“She can do whatever she wants to me, but I just want to protect the people that are here.”