In 2017, a coworker unwittingly stumbled on to Pete Forde’s stash of 150 folders containing images and video of women friends, acquaintances, and roommates in their most intimate moments in the bathroom and in the shower — all carefully labelled by first and last names. In the ensuing investigation, detectives discovered a history of voyeurism going back decades. When Toronto Life asked her to cover the story, reporter Katherine Laidlaw realized that she knew Forde. She couldn’t help but wonder if there was a folder with her name on it, too.
In the days after Forde’s arrest, Anika learned the extent of the crimes for which he stood accused. Most of the other photographed women were his long-time friends—women who had confided details of their deepest insecurities. He had always been happy—even eager—to lend a shoulder or an ear. One friend, who’d told him just months earlier that she had been raped, learned he’d been taking pictures of her crotch over coffee for the better part of a decade.
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