Guy Field is Dead
I was in my office talking with a colleague when I got the call that I really wished I hadn't answered on speakerphone:
- This is the National Parole Board, is this Mr. Allore?
Before I had the chance to tell my colleague that, no, I did not have a relative serving hardtime, he had the grace to discretely leave my office.
- Mr. Allore, we were curious... why do you wish to attend the parole hearings of ten Quebec offenders?
Yeah, so I wrote a letter to the chair of the parole board, Ian Glen. So what? Doesn't everyone?
I have to confess I have a kink when it comes to Quebec crime. I'm pretty much an expert on the era of 1977 - 1981; that grand time when Quebec cops styled themselves after Kojak, smoking cigarettes and sporting really REALLY big ties. Actually what led to my contacting the parole board was a communique I'd read on Corrections Canada's notice board:
Décès d'un détenu de l'établissement Archambault
Le 21 octobre 2003 vers 8h40, Guy Field, un détenu de l'établissement Archambault, pénitencier fédéral à sécurité moyenne, est décédé de mort naturelle au Centre régional de soins de l'établissement. Agé de 70 ans, Guy Field purgeait depuis le 2 novembre 1978 une sentence indéterminée pour meurtre au 2e degré.
Guy Field was dead. He died in prison. Now I am practically the last person on the planet who knows who Guy Field was and what he did to be sent away for 25 years.
Guy Field was the "monstre de Levis". In 1977 he terrorized a tiny suburb on the South shore of Quebec City. Field abducted a child, strangled her and performed unspeakable acts on her dead body. Google Guy Field today and you will find nothing; only this brief blurb - in French - on a corrections newsletter. There is no record of the harm he inflicted, and the lives he destroyed; which in a way I suppose is fitting and just.
But it got me thinking. A mandatory life sentence in Canada - assuming all parole requests where denied - is twenty-five years. In November 2004 - right around the time that Field died of "natural causes" - he might have been eligable for parole. Did Field die naturally, or did someone take matters into their own hands and stop Field.
It's not an impropable thought. In the last year, five prisoners have died at Archambault penitentiary; all deaths were "morts naturelles".
But this is a sidetrack to my main concern. Guy Field got me thinking - All those offenders who were put away between 1977 - 1981; what ever happened to them? It's been twenty-five years; there time's up. They'll be getting out now, or in the next few years, if not sooner if they were granted parole.
So this led me to writing the Parole Board. I went trolling for bad guys. I picked ten of the worst offenders from the late seventies - guys that did really unspeakable stuff (crime buffs take note: a good source are the old "Almanachs Du Crime Au Quebec" which were published by Photo Police. Also note: anything by Photo Police is not for the weak stomached).
So I wrote the parole board and asked to see the parole determinations for these ten offenders, and if they were still imprisoned, for the opportunity to attend a future parole hearing. This is my right, and any Canadian's right, as a citizen of that country.
- Mr. Allore, not to pry, but does this have anything to do with your sister, are you thinking that these men might have in someway been responsible?
I couldn't believe the parole officer would have the nerve to ask this - under the rules of Access to Information, they have no right to ask such a question. I took it in stride:
- Madam, as you can see, most of these offenders were imprisoned BEFORE my sister died. So it would be unlikely that they were responsible for her death.
Alright.... Well, we're going to grant your request. It just seems odd. people don't usually ask to attend ten parole hearings.
I have no intention of attending ten parole hearings, but I didn't tell her that; this was my way of finding out if these guys were still incarcerated. If they were, then NPB would have to notify me of their next parole hearing (pretty clever, I know; but it wasn't my idea - I got it from a victims advocate in Toronto).
Then again maybe I will attend all ten hearings. Shouldn't someone stand up and tell people about what has been forgotten? Shouldn't someone speak for those victims who have been silenced and cannot speak for themselves?
Saturday, January 24, 2004
Sunday, January 11, 2004
PETITE GUERRE
Recent posting on Champlain College website:
JOB OPENINGS ON CAMPUS: CAMPUS DIRECTOR
Champlain Regional College is seeking the services of a DIRECTOR for CHAMPLAIN-LENNOXVILLE to work on a full-time permanent basis.
FUNCTIONS
The Director's duties will include the following:
• Participate with other College Officers in the development, formulation and revision of College-wide objectives, plans, policies and procedures and establish appropriate mechanisms to ensure their realization and implementation at Champlain - Lennoxville.
• [bla, bla, bla, bla bla ]
• Represent and promote Champlain - Lennoxville in the local community and ensure that it is a partner in the socio-economic development of the community.
• Be a member of the Director General's Advisory Committee, attend meetings of the Executive Committee and report on activities at Champlain - Lennoxville at each meeting of the Board of Governors.
• Other tasks assigned by the Director General.
QUALIFICATIONS
Education Graduate degree or equivalent years of schooling in an appropriate area of specialization.
Experience Eight (8) years relevant experience of which at least three (3) have been in a senior management position. Teaching experience at the post-secondary level will be considered an asset.
Other Effective communication skills in English and in French are required.
Candidates may be submitted to selection tests.
EFFECTIVE DATE: Monday , January 19, 2004
DATE OF POSTING: Friday, December 12, 2003
CLOSING DATE FOR
APPLICATIONS: Monday, January 5, 2004
MY RESPONSE:
Selection Committee for the Director - Champlain - Lennoxville
Attn: D Brisson
CHAMPLAIN REGIONAL COLLEGE
P.O. Box 5000
Sherbrooke ( Quebec ) J1H 5N1
January 5, 2004
Re: Application for position of Director / Champlain-Lennoxville
Dear Selection Commmittee:
Attached please find my resume that I wish to submit for the position of Director for Champlain Regional College - Lennoxville. Although my experience is primarily in Finance, I feel I possess critical skills and key experience that will prove to you I am more than qualified as a candidate for this position.
I have a twenty-five year history with Champlain College and the surrounding community of Lennoxville. As well, I maintain many strong relationships with the neighboring town of Sherbrooke, and have worked hard in the last two years at becoming bilingual. In addition I am on a first name basis with many of the current administration including my soon-to-be supervisor, Gerald Cuttting, Len Davis, and outgoing Director, Bertrand Daigneault. In fact, I believe I once met one of your first Campus Directors, Bill Matson, who once referred to my sister as a runaway-lesbian-druggy - which was his loving way of saying she wasn't worth looking for. Of course there is that recent matter of Bernie Daigneault accusing me of making "gratuitous, unfounded and untruthful attacks on (the School's) sterling reputation ", but I'm sure we can all put that behind us.
I have reviewed the Functions you have outlined for the incoming director; after reading my resume I'm sure you will agree I am ably qualified to carry out these duties. In addition, I know how much you value subterfuge; especially sweeping problems under the rug when they involve the affairs of pesky students. Although at present I do not possess these abilities, I will work hard under your tutelage to develop this special skill set.
Undoubtedly you will have a lot of questions, and most of those can be covered in the interview. Before we get to that, there is one request that I have for you.
If you would publicly apologize for your behavior with regard to the events surrounding the disappearance and murder of my sister, Theresa Allore, and admit that your comments and actions over the past 25 years - particularly your unfounded attempts to gratuitously
and untruthfully discredit her reputation - were base, hurtful and unwarranted; then I'm sure we can eliminate the interview and get right down to the drug screen and offer letter.
I thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you
soon.
Sincerely,
John Allore
www.whokilledtheresa.blogspot.com
Sunday, December 28, 2003
2003 - Canadian Crime In Review
Get over it: Canada's as violent as the U.S.
Ok, so I admit I have a bias for Quebec crime, but just to show I can be fair and balanced, I will leave off any mention of arsonist-cum-murderer Angelo Colalillo, M.D. impersonator-cum-murderer Richard Bouillon, knife enthusiast Guy Croteau (say, doesn't Croteau mean "cut" in French? Ironic, eh? ), object of police fabricated evidenceHugo Bernier, or good-old-fashioned serial killer William Fyfe. Oh and contrary to Court TV, the trial of the new millennium has nothing to do with a kiddie diddler named Michael: it's all about a little Angel named Mom.
So here are my top ten stories from 2003 demonstrating the violence and corruption of the great white north:
1. Newfoundland's Ouchie
A former chief justice of the Supreme Court is asked to investigate why so many wrongful-murder convictions have occurred in Newfoundland. Asked to probe the cases of Gregory Parsons, Ronald Dalton and Randy Druken, former chief justice Antonio Lamer stated there may be a "systematic failure of the system or, maybe it was just three individual boo-boos."
2. Deep Throat Probes the Prairie
Saskatoon hit the big time when the Washington Post reported the plight of Darrell Night, a 37-year-old member of the Cree Nation who was driven to the outskirts of town and left for dead in the freezing cold by two members of the Saskatoon police force. "Get the fuck out of here, you fucking Indian"; that's how officers left Night, who managed to survive the three mile walk back to the city. The force is now under investigation since several frozen aboriginal bodies have turned up in the area where police left Night.
3. Human Remains Discovered in Dartmouth Quarry
In August, RCMP confirmed that human remains were found in a rock quarry outside Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Investigators were at a loss to say who the remains belonged to; was it a 15-year-old boy missing since 1995? A former Hells Angels member missing since 1999? My guess is it's one of the countless young women that have gone missing from the Halifax area - in the past 15 years many turned up in wooded areas, while others have disappeared without a trace.
4. Vince Bevan? Is anybody home?
It is a tragedy that graduate student Ardeth Wood went missing from downtown Ottawa in the summer of 2003 only to turn up dead along a riverside biking path. But the real story here is how Ottawa chief of police, Vince Bevan still can't solve this crime. You remember Bevan - he's the one who let Karla Homolka plea bargain her way out of a life sentence. How someone can blow the Paul Bernardo case then get PROMOTED to chief of police is beyond me.
The scuttlebutt around the Nation's Capital is that police were aware of a serial rapist operating along the biking paths of the Ottawa river long before Ardeth Wood disappeared. Now the case is stone cold and Bevan isn't talking.
5. Toronto The Very Bad
10-year-old Holly Jones disappears from her downtown neighborhood. Later pieces of her body are found floating in luggage along the shores of Lake Ontario. Police arrest 35-year-old Michael Briere, a software developer who lives near Holly's home. These things aren't supposed to happen in Toronto.
6. Cecilia Zhang - "Parents may breathe a little easier"
So said police in the wake of the abduction of the nine-year-old child, confident that Zhang was part of a ransom plot and not abducted by a sexual predator. Shaken by the murder of Holly Jones, authorities didn't want Toronto to break into total panic. It's been over two months now and police still can't find Cecilia.
7. Ridgway vs Pickton - Can We Get A Recount?
On December 18th, Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway is sentenced to life in prison after confessing to the murders of 48 women over the past two decades. The murders set a record for serial killings in America, but Ridgway may have a rival - up the road in British Columbia, pig farmer Robert Pickton is charged with seven additional murders, bringing his total charges to 22. Pickton is reputed to be Canada's worst serial killer, possibly responsible for the murders of over 60 prostitutes from downtown Vancouver.
8. Edmonton's Missing Women
Not to be outdone by their neighbors in Vancouver, Edmonton has its own missing women. A task force from the Western province has been handed 123 cases to investigate in relation to the unsolved murders of 20 area prostitutes.
9. Etiquette 101:
If you throw a party, don't forget to invite the guests!
In November, Justice Canada hosts a victims of crime conference. Dubbed, Lessons Learned from Victims of Crime the event was unique on two accounts:
1. It was the first of its kind in Canada.
2. The DOG neglected to invite victims.
Left to explain the gaff of the Ministry, then Deputy Justice Minister Richard Mosley was given a deus ex machina when outgoing Prime Minister, Jean Chretien swiftly promoted him to the Supreme Court. Talk about your exit strategies. Let's hope future conferences will be more inclusive.
10. Nutcase Watch
December 31, 2003 - Only 553 days left until Karla Homolka is released from prison.
Get over it: Canada's as violent as the U.S.
Ok, so I admit I have a bias for Quebec crime, but just to show I can be fair and balanced, I will leave off any mention of arsonist-cum-murderer Angelo Colalillo, M.D. impersonator-cum-murderer Richard Bouillon, knife enthusiast Guy Croteau (say, doesn't Croteau mean "cut" in French? Ironic, eh? ), object of police fabricated evidenceHugo Bernier, or good-old-fashioned serial killer William Fyfe. Oh and contrary to Court TV, the trial of the new millennium has nothing to do with a kiddie diddler named Michael: it's all about a little Angel named Mom.
So here are my top ten stories from 2003 demonstrating the violence and corruption of the great white north:
1. Newfoundland's Ouchie
A former chief justice of the Supreme Court is asked to investigate why so many wrongful-murder convictions have occurred in Newfoundland. Asked to probe the cases of Gregory Parsons, Ronald Dalton and Randy Druken, former chief justice Antonio Lamer stated there may be a "systematic failure of the system or, maybe it was just three individual boo-boos."
2. Deep Throat Probes the Prairie
Saskatoon hit the big time when the Washington Post reported the plight of Darrell Night, a 37-year-old member of the Cree Nation who was driven to the outskirts of town and left for dead in the freezing cold by two members of the Saskatoon police force. "Get the fuck out of here, you fucking Indian"; that's how officers left Night, who managed to survive the three mile walk back to the city. The force is now under investigation since several frozen aboriginal bodies have turned up in the area where police left Night.
3. Human Remains Discovered in Dartmouth Quarry
In August, RCMP confirmed that human remains were found in a rock quarry outside Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Investigators were at a loss to say who the remains belonged to; was it a 15-year-old boy missing since 1995? A former Hells Angels member missing since 1999? My guess is it's one of the countless young women that have gone missing from the Halifax area - in the past 15 years many turned up in wooded areas, while others have disappeared without a trace.
4. Vince Bevan? Is anybody home?
It is a tragedy that graduate student Ardeth Wood went missing from downtown Ottawa in the summer of 2003 only to turn up dead along a riverside biking path. But the real story here is how Ottawa chief of police, Vince Bevan still can't solve this crime. You remember Bevan - he's the one who let Karla Homolka plea bargain her way out of a life sentence. How someone can blow the Paul Bernardo case then get PROMOTED to chief of police is beyond me.
The scuttlebutt around the Nation's Capital is that police were aware of a serial rapist operating along the biking paths of the Ottawa river long before Ardeth Wood disappeared. Now the case is stone cold and Bevan isn't talking.
5. Toronto The Very Bad
10-year-old Holly Jones disappears from her downtown neighborhood. Later pieces of her body are found floating in luggage along the shores of Lake Ontario. Police arrest 35-year-old Michael Briere, a software developer who lives near Holly's home. These things aren't supposed to happen in Toronto.
6. Cecilia Zhang - "Parents may breathe a little easier"
So said police in the wake of the abduction of the nine-year-old child, confident that Zhang was part of a ransom plot and not abducted by a sexual predator. Shaken by the murder of Holly Jones, authorities didn't want Toronto to break into total panic. It's been over two months now and police still can't find Cecilia.
7. Ridgway vs Pickton - Can We Get A Recount?
On December 18th, Green River serial killer Gary Ridgway is sentenced to life in prison after confessing to the murders of 48 women over the past two decades. The murders set a record for serial killings in America, but Ridgway may have a rival - up the road in British Columbia, pig farmer Robert Pickton is charged with seven additional murders, bringing his total charges to 22. Pickton is reputed to be Canada's worst serial killer, possibly responsible for the murders of over 60 prostitutes from downtown Vancouver.
8. Edmonton's Missing Women
Not to be outdone by their neighbors in Vancouver, Edmonton has its own missing women. A task force from the Western province has been handed 123 cases to investigate in relation to the unsolved murders of 20 area prostitutes.
9. Etiquette 101:
If you throw a party, don't forget to invite the guests!
In November, Justice Canada hosts a victims of crime conference. Dubbed, Lessons Learned from Victims of Crime the event was unique on two accounts:
1. It was the first of its kind in Canada.
2. The DOG neglected to invite victims.
Left to explain the gaff of the Ministry, then Deputy Justice Minister Richard Mosley was given a deus ex machina when outgoing Prime Minister, Jean Chretien swiftly promoted him to the Supreme Court. Talk about your exit strategies. Let's hope future conferences will be more inclusive.
10. Nutcase Watch
December 31, 2003 - Only 553 days left until Karla Homolka is released from prison.
Monday, December 8, 2003
MONDAY, DECEMBER 08, 2003
THE MONTREAL MASSACRE
DECEMBER 6, 1989
NINE MORE LESSONS TO LEARN:
1. After 21 months, the excavation of the Robert Picton farm - a project the Globe and Mail so sensitively dubbed the "Pig Dig" - ended in British Columbia last month. Charged with 15 counts of first-degree murder, Picton may be responsible for the deaths of over 60 women.
2. An Edmonton task force has been handed 123 cases to investigate in relation to the murders of 20 area prostitutes.
3. In Iqaluit, Mark King Jeffrey faces a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Jennifer Naglingiq, 13, whose body was found during the first few minutes after midnight on Dec. 6, 2002.
4. The University of Saskatchewan decides to use a December 6th memorial to call attention to a sexual assault that occured on university grounds. A spokesman for the university women's centre alleges campus security is ignoring other incidents of violence on campus.
5. A 14-year-old girl from Candiac, Quebec is sexually assaulted, beaten and left for dead on the South shore of Montreal. Her two teenage assailants ask her how she would prefer to die; strangled, beaten or drowned.
6. Four months since the murder of Ardeth Wood and Ottawa Chief of Police Vince Bevan still is no closer to solving this crime.
7. Justice delayed in Quebec as the Hugo Bernier trial is postponed for another month. Bernier is charged with the 2001 murder of Julie Boisvenu in downtown Sherbrooke.
8. Since his arrest in February of 2002, Guy Croteau is still awaiting his pre-trial hearing in the 1987 murder of Sophie Landry. The 14-year-old Laundry was stabbed over 170 times and dumped in a cornfield in St-Roch l'Achigan, Quebec.
9. In Nova Scotia, Gregory Plamondon is sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping and slashing the face of his ex-girlfriend. He could be released from prison in two years. Plamondon, who acted as his own lawyer during the trial, cross-examined, and further traumatized the victim for 6 1/2 hours.
Monday, September 17, 2001
archives of original WKT website 2001-02
CASE UPDATECold Case Red Saturday, October 25, 2003
After maintaining for over two decades that there was insufficient evidence to justify re-ng the case, in November of 2002 my brother and I were invited to the Sûreté du Québec's headquarters in Montreal where detectives announced their decision to launch a full investigation into the death of our sister, Theresa Allore.
At that meeting, we were finally given access to the entire contents of our sister's police file. Investigators with the Sûreté du Québec finally admitted that they believed the investigative work conducted by myself and the reporter, Patricia Pearson to have been accurate: Theresa had been sexually assaulted and murdered, the assailant was possibly responsible for a series of cluster-murders in the Eastern Townships region in the late 1970s.
Since November of 2002, the Sûreté du Québec has been pursuing their investigation. There are currently four investigators assigned on a part-time basis to the case. The investigators continue to focus their efforts on one of the suspects originally brought to their attention by myself and Patricia Pearson.
John Allore, Chapel Hill, N.C.
After maintaining for over two decades that there was insufficient evidence to justify re-ng the case, in November of 2002 my brother and I were invited to the Sûreté du Québec's headquarters in Montreal where detectives announced their decision to launch a full investigation into the death of our sister, Theresa Allore.
At that meeting, we were finally given access to the entire contents of our sister's police file. Investigators with the Sûreté du Québec finally admitted that they believed the investigative work conducted by myself and the reporter, Patricia Pearson to have been accurate: Theresa had been sexually assaulted and murdered, the assailant was possibly responsible for a series of cluster-murders in the Eastern Townships region in the late 1970s.
Since November of 2002, the Sûreté du Québec has been pursuing their investigation. There are currently four investigators assigned on a part-time basis to the case. The investigators continue to focus their efforts on one of the suspects originally brought to their attention by myself and Patricia Pearson.
John Allore, Chapel Hill, N.C.
archives of original WKT website 2001-02
Thanks
I would like to thank the following people for helping me in my quest to find out the truth about the death of my sister:
James Riordon at Amigo 3 Interactive for donating this webspace
Patricia Pearson, for working so hard with me to research the circumstances surrounding my sister's death, and for writing the subsequent article in The National Post that let others know Theresa's story
The National Post for allowing me to reprint Ms. Pearson's article
Thank you all, very much,
I would like to thank the following people for helping me in my quest to find out the truth about the death of my sister:
James Riordon at Amigo 3 Interactive for donating this webspace
Patricia Pearson, for working so hard with me to research the circumstances surrounding my sister's death, and for writing the subsequent article in The National Post that let others know Theresa's story
The National Post for allowing me to reprint Ms. Pearson's article
Thank you all, very much,
archives of original WKT website
Nat'l Post Article
Updates
Pictures
Email
Links
Thanks
Links
www.foilaw.netresources on freedom of information law
www.suretequebec.gouv.qc.caSurete du Quebec
www.ombuds.gouv.qc.caLe Protecteur du Citoyen / Quebec Ombudsman
www.juliebureau.comSite for Julie Bureau / missing since September 26, 2001
www.missingchildren.casite for missing children
www.metropol-detectives.comsite for Robert Beullac
http://www.radio-canada.ca/actualite/justice/Justice avec Simon Durivage
Updates
Pictures
Links
Thanks
Links
www.foilaw.netresources on freedom of information law
www.suretequebec.gouv.qc.caSurete du Quebec
www.ombuds.gouv.qc.caLe Protecteur du Citoyen / Quebec Ombudsman
www.juliebureau.comSite for Julie Bureau / missing since September 26, 2001
www.missingchildren.casite for missing children
www.metropol-detectives.comsite for Robert Beullac
http://www.radio-canada.ca/actualite/justice/Justice avec Simon Durivage
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
John AlloreGazetteNovember 22, 2002
On November 11th, a 14 year old girl went missing from Saint Hyacinthe. I learned about this from the Surete du Quebec's website and immediately, a four alarm bell went off in my head. Has anyone started a search party? Should I contact the SQ? Why isn't there a report in the papers? Is anyone doing anything about this? As it turns out, this girl has run away quite often in the past, and this time, perhaps she headed for Ontario with her 29 year old boyfriend. I turned off the alarm bell. I was wrong. This time.
You will understand my paranoia when you learn that my sister went missing over 24 years ago. Theresa disappeared like this girl from Saint Hyacinthe, and the authorities erroneously concluded that she was a run away. When her body was found, they wrongly assumed she had suffered a drug overdose, and a half-hearted investigation ensued. We were told someone would come forward. No one ever did. We were told to give it time. We gave it 23 years. I started my own investigation. The SQ said it was pointless. I discovered she had been murdered. The SQ said she was not. I uncovered two other murders. The SQ said they weren't related. I asked for a reinvestigation. They looked at the evidence, they said there was no basis. I made some threats. They changed their minds. They said my sister had been murdered, there would be a reinvestigation.
In the midst of this, Champlain college conducted itself with equal shame. On September 11th when most of us were mourning, Champlain executives were conducted a 3 hour, closed door meeting with their press agent, and exercising damage control. Their ultimate response was to defer to the Police. If the case was re-d, they would cooperate. Note to Champlain: the case had been re-d, enjoy being investigated.
I welcome the SQ's assistance, but I can hardly feel grateful. There are no big favors being done for me here. Law enforcement is finally doing the work they should have done 24 years ago. Only, back then they had a chance at catching the murderer. Now justice is remote, at the end of a trail that's gone cold.
It shouldn't be like this for the families of crime victims. We shouldn't have to wait decades, we shouldn't have to lobby day in and day out, we shouldn't have to take our tales to the press. We should be able to expect skillfull and committed crime investigations for the dollars we surrender to run the SQ. It should be a bottom-line part of the deal.
Last night I had a dream about my sister, or rather, when I woke up, I remembered the dream. In the dream my brother and I conjured her up to appear for us. We found her in a playground swinging on the swings. She was just as we had left her, and we were as we were now, in our late 30s and 40s, but strangely she was still 19, and still our big sister, so much wiser and smarter than us. She was as funny as I remember her, as full of life, completely captivating, yet selfless. We talked a long time about nothing. What music we liked, what our families were doing, where we wished to travel in our later years. We did not talk about the why, or the what, or the who. How did you die? Do you know who killed you? Are you pleased with what I'm doing to solve it now? She seemed to know that these things were important to me, but she also knew that it wasn't important. Gently, she managed to steer the conversation away from all that. She controlled the situation, but in the most charming way. She was the quality person I have always loved.
My sister was a quality person. Louise Camirand, Manon Dube, Julie Boisvenu, Julie Surprenant, Julie Bureau were all quality persons.
A quality person deserves a quality investigation. People's lives are worth saving and their deaths are worth vindicating. If we ask nothing of our institutions, then it's like saying we expect nothing from ourselves. It does not take "knowing" these people to get involved. You know them. They are of your communities. They are you. And they are lost.
On November 11th, a 14 year old girl went missing from Saint Hyacinthe. I learned about this from the Surete du Quebec's website and immediately, a four alarm bell went off in my head. Has anyone started a search party? Should I contact the SQ? Why isn't there a report in the papers? Is anyone doing anything about this? As it turns out, this girl has run away quite often in the past, and this time, perhaps she headed for Ontario with her 29 year old boyfriend. I turned off the alarm bell. I was wrong. This time.
You will understand my paranoia when you learn that my sister went missing over 24 years ago. Theresa disappeared like this girl from Saint Hyacinthe, and the authorities erroneously concluded that she was a run away. When her body was found, they wrongly assumed she had suffered a drug overdose, and a half-hearted investigation ensued. We were told someone would come forward. No one ever did. We were told to give it time. We gave it 23 years. I started my own investigation. The SQ said it was pointless. I discovered she had been murdered. The SQ said she was not. I uncovered two other murders. The SQ said they weren't related. I asked for a reinvestigation. They looked at the evidence, they said there was no basis. I made some threats. They changed their minds. They said my sister had been murdered, there would be a reinvestigation.
In the midst of this, Champlain college conducted itself with equal shame. On September 11th when most of us were mourning, Champlain executives were conducted a 3 hour, closed door meeting with their press agent, and exercising damage control. Their ultimate response was to defer to the Police. If the case was re-d, they would cooperate. Note to Champlain: the case had been re-d, enjoy being investigated.
I welcome the SQ's assistance, but I can hardly feel grateful. There are no big favors being done for me here. Law enforcement is finally doing the work they should have done 24 years ago. Only, back then they had a chance at catching the murderer. Now justice is remote, at the end of a trail that's gone cold.
It shouldn't be like this for the families of crime victims. We shouldn't have to wait decades, we shouldn't have to lobby day in and day out, we shouldn't have to take our tales to the press. We should be able to expect skillfull and committed crime investigations for the dollars we surrender to run the SQ. It should be a bottom-line part of the deal.
Last night I had a dream about my sister, or rather, when I woke up, I remembered the dream. In the dream my brother and I conjured her up to appear for us. We found her in a playground swinging on the swings. She was just as we had left her, and we were as we were now, in our late 30s and 40s, but strangely she was still 19, and still our big sister, so much wiser and smarter than us. She was as funny as I remember her, as full of life, completely captivating, yet selfless. We talked a long time about nothing. What music we liked, what our families were doing, where we wished to travel in our later years. We did not talk about the why, or the what, or the who. How did you die? Do you know who killed you? Are you pleased with what I'm doing to solve it now? She seemed to know that these things were important to me, but she also knew that it wasn't important. Gently, she managed to steer the conversation away from all that. She controlled the situation, but in the most charming way. She was the quality person I have always loved.
My sister was a quality person. Louise Camirand, Manon Dube, Julie Boisvenu, Julie Surprenant, Julie Bureau were all quality persons.
A quality person deserves a quality investigation. People's lives are worth saving and their deaths are worth vindicating. If we ask nothing of our institutions, then it's like saying we expect nothing from ourselves. It does not take "knowing" these people to get involved. You know them. They are of your communities. They are you. And they are lost.
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
Patricia PearsonNational PostThursday, November 14, 2002
Last week, provincial justice ministers conferred in Calgary about setting up a national sex-offender registry.
Good. The proposed Registration of Sex Offenders Information Act would go some way to protecting our citizenry by making the movement of convicted sex offenders transparent.
No rapist could slip out of jail after serving his paltry sentence and then disappear into the crowd, lurking there until he felt another predatory urge. The police would know where he lived, and would be notified if he moved, or changed his name.
Yet, the effectiveness of such an Act would be based entirely on the ability to enforce it, and that, in turn, would be based on a difficult blend of competence, resources and a willingness to take sex assault seriously.
Policing the pedophiles, but not the men who prey upon adult women -- including the prostitutes who disappeared for years from Vancouver's East Side before Robert Pickton was charged with murdering 15 of them -- would fall way short of understanding how violent and traumatic this crime is.
Only a fraction of rapists are actually caught and convicted, which also undermines the ideals of a registry.
This past year has been eye-ng for me in terms of how brutally common sexual assault is in Canada, and how ineptly and sometimes indifferently it is handled.
Investigating the unsolved sex murder of a friend's sister, which became a three-part series in this paper called "Who Killed Theresa?" was an object lesson in the manifold obstacles to developing a meaningful registry.
While the justice ministers were jawing over this issue in Calgary, John Allore was presenting some of our findings in his sister Theresa's murder case to two investigators at the Sûreté du Québec. The SQ had previously reacted to the National Post series by agreeing to review the files of Ms. Allore and two other murdered females in the Eastern Townships: Manon Dubé and Louise Camirand, whose deaths -- we had argued -- were connected.
But then the SQ announced that our evidence was not "new," and that they would do no further investigation. John Allore was obliged to file complaints with every level of bureaucracy he could think of in Quebec, as well as enlisting the assistance of two private investigators and of provincial Liberal leader Jean Charest.
I began interviewing women who had been stalked or assaulted in the area at the same time that the three victims died, and collaborated with a superb journalist for Radio-Canada, so that we could present the case on TV to the French-speaking citizenry on his show Justice.
At this point, the SQ phoned John Allore for the very first time, and agreed to meet with him and to solve these crimes. With the resources available to the SQ, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel with viable suspects emerging from the shadows.
What proved to be critical in our quest, however, were the 13 women who overcame their sense of privacy and provided us with accounts of assault that matched either our suspect or the very small geographic area in which Dubé, Camirand and Allore were killed. We were even able to procure a licence plate number, which the SQ is now tracing.
Only one of these 13 cases ever resulted in a conviction. In the other 12, the victims had been threatened into silence by their assailants, or kept quiet because they had escaped before harm came to them. Several did go to the police, only to have their allegations looked into lamely and then shelved.
All were aware that if they did procure a conviction, the sentence would be negligible and the assailant could seek revenge. (The one man who was convicted got out in under two years, and killed a waitress.) For years, some of these women have felt bitter regret that they could not prevent their attackers from striking again. Anxiety that the lack of resolution in their cases might have led to the deaths of Louise Camirand, Theresa Allore and Manon Dubé inspired them to contact us. At least, that was one source of inspiration. The second was that they felt confident that John Allore, unlike the police, was trying to do something serious.
Canadian women should not have to feel this way. A sex-offender registry can only "register" as many offenders as the police are willing to catch, in effective collaboration with their victims.
I am very heartened to hear from sources that the Sûreté du Québec held a meeting last week to discuss ways to be more sensitive to the public. This is, I think, John Allore's most triumphant accomplishment on behalf of his sister Theresa. Consciousness-raising within law enforcement will surely play as crucial a part in protecting us from sex crimes as a computer data base sitting on desks.
Last week, provincial justice ministers conferred in Calgary about setting up a national sex-offender registry.
Good. The proposed Registration of Sex Offenders Information Act would go some way to protecting our citizenry by making the movement of convicted sex offenders transparent.
No rapist could slip out of jail after serving his paltry sentence and then disappear into the crowd, lurking there until he felt another predatory urge. The police would know where he lived, and would be notified if he moved, or changed his name.
Yet, the effectiveness of such an Act would be based entirely on the ability to enforce it, and that, in turn, would be based on a difficult blend of competence, resources and a willingness to take sex assault seriously.
Policing the pedophiles, but not the men who prey upon adult women -- including the prostitutes who disappeared for years from Vancouver's East Side before Robert Pickton was charged with murdering 15 of them -- would fall way short of understanding how violent and traumatic this crime is.
Only a fraction of rapists are actually caught and convicted, which also undermines the ideals of a registry.
This past year has been eye-ng for me in terms of how brutally common sexual assault is in Canada, and how ineptly and sometimes indifferently it is handled.
Investigating the unsolved sex murder of a friend's sister, which became a three-part series in this paper called "Who Killed Theresa?" was an object lesson in the manifold obstacles to developing a meaningful registry.
While the justice ministers were jawing over this issue in Calgary, John Allore was presenting some of our findings in his sister Theresa's murder case to two investigators at the Sûreté du Québec. The SQ had previously reacted to the National Post series by agreeing to review the files of Ms. Allore and two other murdered females in the Eastern Townships: Manon Dubé and Louise Camirand, whose deaths -- we had argued -- were connected.
But then the SQ announced that our evidence was not "new," and that they would do no further investigation. John Allore was obliged to file complaints with every level of bureaucracy he could think of in Quebec, as well as enlisting the assistance of two private investigators and of provincial Liberal leader Jean Charest.
I began interviewing women who had been stalked or assaulted in the area at the same time that the three victims died, and collaborated with a superb journalist for Radio-Canada, so that we could present the case on TV to the French-speaking citizenry on his show Justice.
At this point, the SQ phoned John Allore for the very first time, and agreed to meet with him and to solve these crimes. With the resources available to the SQ, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel with viable suspects emerging from the shadows.
What proved to be critical in our quest, however, were the 13 women who overcame their sense of privacy and provided us with accounts of assault that matched either our suspect or the very small geographic area in which Dubé, Camirand and Allore were killed. We were even able to procure a licence plate number, which the SQ is now tracing.
Only one of these 13 cases ever resulted in a conviction. In the other 12, the victims had been threatened into silence by their assailants, or kept quiet because they had escaped before harm came to them. Several did go to the police, only to have their allegations looked into lamely and then shelved.
All were aware that if they did procure a conviction, the sentence would be negligible and the assailant could seek revenge. (The one man who was convicted got out in under two years, and killed a waitress.) For years, some of these women have felt bitter regret that they could not prevent their attackers from striking again. Anxiety that the lack of resolution in their cases might have led to the deaths of Louise Camirand, Theresa Allore and Manon Dubé inspired them to contact us. At least, that was one source of inspiration. The second was that they felt confident that John Allore, unlike the police, was trying to do something serious.
Canadian women should not have to feel this way. A sex-offender registry can only "register" as many offenders as the police are willing to catch, in effective collaboration with their victims.
I am very heartened to hear from sources that the Sûreté du Québec held a meeting last week to discuss ways to be more sensitive to the public. This is, I think, John Allore's most triumphant accomplishment on behalf of his sister Theresa. Consciousness-raising within law enforcement will surely play as crucial a part in protecting us from sex crimes as a computer data base sitting on desks.
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
Justice avec Simon DurivageRadio-Canada5 Octobre, 2002
Un citoyen mène sa propre enquête
En 1979, Theresa Allore est retrouvée morte près de Sherbrooke. À l'époque, la police avait conclu que cette étudiante de 19 ans avait succombé à une overdose de drogues. Insatisfait des résultats de l'enquête, son frère John décide de réouvrir le dossier 23 ans plus tard. Selon lui, sa súur a plutÙt été victime d'un tueur en série. Un reportage de Jacques Taschereau.
Theresa Allore était une jeune femme sans histoire. De bons résultats scolaires, un petit copain, des amies... Elle a été aperçue vivante pour la dernière fois le 3 novembre 1978 à King's Hall, la résidence étudiante du Collège Champlain, à Lennoxville, où elle poursuivait ses études.
Cinq mois plus tard, son cadavre est retrouvé en bordure d'une route de campagne, à moins d'un kilomètre de là. Son visage fait face au sol et son corps est vêtu seulement de sous-vêtements. Il est dans un état de décomposition avancé. Une autopsie est pratiquée. Le rapport toxicologique est négatif. Le coroner conclut à une «mort violente de nature indéterminée».
Les policiers informent alors la famille de Theresa Allore que leur fille est probablement morte d'une overdose de drogues. Ils évoquent même ses tendances lesbiennes. Leur hypothèse est que la jeune femme a succombé à une overdose de drogues à la résidence étudiante et que son corps a été transporté jusqu'à la route de campagne par des étudiants paniqués à l'idée d'avoir à affronter cette réalité.
Une hypothèse différente
Son frère John, qui vit aux États-Unis, n'a jamais réellement cru à cette hypothèse. Au printemps 2002, il demande à la S¾reté du Québec de réouvrir l'enquête mais on refuse de donner suite à sa requête. John Allore décide alors de faire appel à une amie, journaliste du National Post qui est spécialisée dans les enquêtes criminelles. Depuis, ils essaient de retracer le fil des événements qui ont mené à la mort de Theresa Allore.
En effectuant ses recherches, John Allore découvre que deux autres femmes sont mortes à la même époque dans des circonstances similaires. Louise Camirand, 20 ans, est morte par strangulation après avoir été violée dans la région d'Austin, en mars 1977. Manon Dubé, 10 ans, est retrouvée sans vie dans le ruisseau qui se jette dans le lac Massawipi, dans la région de King's Croft, en mars 1978. Ainsi, trois jeunes femmes sont retrouvées mortes dans la même région en l'espace de 20 mois.
Mais ce n'est pas tout. John Allore découvre qu'il y aurait pu y avoir une quatrième victime. Un mois avant la disparition de Theresa, une jeune femme de 18 ans qui rentrait chez-elle à pied se fait couper la route par une voiture, entre Compton et Sherbrooke. Un homme en descend et marche vers elle. La femme sent le danger et s'enfuit en courant. Le hasard veut que des agents de la SQ passent à ce moment par là. Ils aperçoivent la voiture, interceptent l'homme en question puis le relâchent.
Le lendemain, la jeune femme porte plainte auprès de la police. Les agents réalisent alors que l'homme qu'il avait rel‚ché la veille avait déjà été accusé d'agression sexuelle dans l'Ouest canadien. Aucune suite n'est donnée à ce dossier. Les policiers n'ont jamais fait le lien entre tous ces événements. Mais pour Kim Rossmo, un profileur renommé de Washington, l'explication la plus plausible est celle d'un meurtrier en série.
Un citoyen mène sa propre enquête
En 1979, Theresa Allore est retrouvée morte près de Sherbrooke. À l'époque, la police avait conclu que cette étudiante de 19 ans avait succombé à une overdose de drogues. Insatisfait des résultats de l'enquête, son frère John décide de réouvrir le dossier 23 ans plus tard. Selon lui, sa súur a plutÙt été victime d'un tueur en série. Un reportage de Jacques Taschereau.
Theresa Allore était une jeune femme sans histoire. De bons résultats scolaires, un petit copain, des amies... Elle a été aperçue vivante pour la dernière fois le 3 novembre 1978 à King's Hall, la résidence étudiante du Collège Champlain, à Lennoxville, où elle poursuivait ses études.
Cinq mois plus tard, son cadavre est retrouvé en bordure d'une route de campagne, à moins d'un kilomètre de là. Son visage fait face au sol et son corps est vêtu seulement de sous-vêtements. Il est dans un état de décomposition avancé. Une autopsie est pratiquée. Le rapport toxicologique est négatif. Le coroner conclut à une «mort violente de nature indéterminée».
Les policiers informent alors la famille de Theresa Allore que leur fille est probablement morte d'une overdose de drogues. Ils évoquent même ses tendances lesbiennes. Leur hypothèse est que la jeune femme a succombé à une overdose de drogues à la résidence étudiante et que son corps a été transporté jusqu'à la route de campagne par des étudiants paniqués à l'idée d'avoir à affronter cette réalité.
Une hypothèse différente
Son frère John, qui vit aux États-Unis, n'a jamais réellement cru à cette hypothèse. Au printemps 2002, il demande à la S¾reté du Québec de réouvrir l'enquête mais on refuse de donner suite à sa requête. John Allore décide alors de faire appel à une amie, journaliste du National Post qui est spécialisée dans les enquêtes criminelles. Depuis, ils essaient de retracer le fil des événements qui ont mené à la mort de Theresa Allore.
En effectuant ses recherches, John Allore découvre que deux autres femmes sont mortes à la même époque dans des circonstances similaires. Louise Camirand, 20 ans, est morte par strangulation après avoir été violée dans la région d'Austin, en mars 1977. Manon Dubé, 10 ans, est retrouvée sans vie dans le ruisseau qui se jette dans le lac Massawipi, dans la région de King's Croft, en mars 1978. Ainsi, trois jeunes femmes sont retrouvées mortes dans la même région en l'espace de 20 mois.
Mais ce n'est pas tout. John Allore découvre qu'il y aurait pu y avoir une quatrième victime. Un mois avant la disparition de Theresa, une jeune femme de 18 ans qui rentrait chez-elle à pied se fait couper la route par une voiture, entre Compton et Sherbrooke. Un homme en descend et marche vers elle. La femme sent le danger et s'enfuit en courant. Le hasard veut que des agents de la SQ passent à ce moment par là. Ils aperçoivent la voiture, interceptent l'homme en question puis le relâchent.
Le lendemain, la jeune femme porte plainte auprès de la police. Les agents réalisent alors que l'homme qu'il avait rel‚ché la veille avait déjà été accusé d'agression sexuelle dans l'Ouest canadien. Aucune suite n'est donnée à ce dossier. Les policiers n'ont jamais fait le lien entre tous ces événements. Mais pour Kim Rossmo, un profileur renommé de Washington, l'explication la plus plausible est celle d'un meurtrier en série.
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
Letter from former Champlain teacher Michael BenazonThursday, September 19, 2002
The news that the Sûreté de Québec has decided not to re the investigation into the tragic death of Theresa Allore will disappoint the many Canadians who have been following this case, and it will alarm hundreds of Townships residents who were hoping for some resolution to this sorry affair. Are we to be given no official explanation? Are we to understand that the investigation stands where it did 23 years ago with the absurd hypothesis that on the night of Nov. 3, 1978 Ms Allore overdosed on drugs and died, and that her friends and classmates instead of calling for an ambulance or for the police, stripped off her outer clothing, transported her body to a small creek about two kilometres away, and then several months later tossed her wallet into a farmer's field thirteen kilometres to the north? Given the failure of the police to come up with some substantiating evidence, this dubious story will only serve to nourish suspicions that the provincial police are shielding their colleagues at the local level who mishandled this case, and others, 23 years ago.
It is not that Townships residents are looking for scapegoats. They are worried that the same person who killed Theresa Allore also killed Manon Dubé in January of the same year, and Louise Camirand on March 19, 1977, and that the same person made an aborted attack on yet another young woman on Oct. 3, 1978 on Chemin MacDonald, all in the same area between Sherbrooke and Compton. The murderer is, as far as we know, still at large. If the provincial police are convinced that there is no link between these assaults and the recent deaths of two women, again in the Sherbrooke area, they should give their reasons in an official report at a public press conference where their findings can be challenged by family members and other interested parties. If it turns out that the earlier investigations were mishandled by the local police, the public needs to be informed what measures have been taken to improve police efficiency and professional competence in the Sherbrooke region. Without these reassurances, young women will be afraid to go out alone at night, to walk to school, to hike, jog, cycle, or ski unless accompanied by others. An atmosphere of apprehension and fear is not conducive to leisure industries, tourism, and to the creation of proper study conditions on the various campuses in Sherbrooke and Lennoxville. And needless to say, people will lose their trust in the ability of local police forces to protect them.
The second issue has to do with the attitude of Champlain College. The present campus director has stated that the college fully co-operated with the police in the past and that "it intends to do so again when and if the investigation is red." Although it devolves upon the provincial police to carry out the criminal investigation, the directors of Champlain College also have a responsibility to clarify their role in the aftermath of Ms Allore's disappearance on the night of Nov. 3, 1978. Now that the police have decided not to rethe case, Champlain College would be well advised to hold an enquiry of its own and make its findings public. It is highly unlikely that the College could have prevented Ms Allore's abduction, if that indeed was what happened. However, the College should explain to the public its role in three areas:
1. Why did the College decide to establish a residence in Compton? How many students were in residence there? How many staff members were placed in charge, and what was their professional training? Was it wise to place such a large number of adolescents, many of whom had never lived away from home, in a residence located 15-20 kilometres from the main campus? How much money was allocated by the Ministry of Education for staffing the residence? Did the College fully use its allocation, or did College officials feel that the Ministry of Education was not providing enough money for staffing? If the latter, did they communicate their staffing concerns to the provincial government? What action did the College take to reports that underage drinking and consumption of illegal drugs were taking place at the Compton residence? Was the shuttle-bus service adequate? What response did the College make to complaints Touchstone, the student newspaper?
2. Why did it take so long for the College to discover that Ms Allore was missing? What measures are now in place to report if a student is missing from the residence? These questions, if fully and honestly answered, should reassure the public that the College now takes adequate measures to ensure the safety and welfare of its students in residence. 3. What, precisely, was the source of the apparently slanderous remarks made about Ms Allore following her disappearance?
These remarks, as reported by Ms Pearson in her series of three articles in the National Post, added grievous insult to the terrible injury inflicted on the Allore family. They also appear to have served as an excuse for the police and the College to dismiss the suggestion, apparently made by more than one person at the time, to undertake a comprehensive search of the fields between Compton and Lennoxville. While a search could not have saved Ms Allore, it could have provided immediate conclusive proof that a murder had taken place. Has the College apologized to the Allores for the inappropriate remarks made by a Champlain official to family members on the character of Theresa? An early and forthright report to the public will do much to refute most of the rumours floating around. It will also clear the Compton students of the time from the apparently slanderous charges that they were somehow implicated in Ms Allore's disappearance.
Michael Benazon
Massawippi
The news that the Sûreté de Québec has decided not to re the investigation into the tragic death of Theresa Allore will disappoint the many Canadians who have been following this case, and it will alarm hundreds of Townships residents who were hoping for some resolution to this sorry affair. Are we to be given no official explanation? Are we to understand that the investigation stands where it did 23 years ago with the absurd hypothesis that on the night of Nov. 3, 1978 Ms Allore overdosed on drugs and died, and that her friends and classmates instead of calling for an ambulance or for the police, stripped off her outer clothing, transported her body to a small creek about two kilometres away, and then several months later tossed her wallet into a farmer's field thirteen kilometres to the north? Given the failure of the police to come up with some substantiating evidence, this dubious story will only serve to nourish suspicions that the provincial police are shielding their colleagues at the local level who mishandled this case, and others, 23 years ago.
It is not that Townships residents are looking for scapegoats. They are worried that the same person who killed Theresa Allore also killed Manon Dubé in January of the same year, and Louise Camirand on March 19, 1977, and that the same person made an aborted attack on yet another young woman on Oct. 3, 1978 on Chemin MacDonald, all in the same area between Sherbrooke and Compton. The murderer is, as far as we know, still at large. If the provincial police are convinced that there is no link between these assaults and the recent deaths of two women, again in the Sherbrooke area, they should give their reasons in an official report at a public press conference where their findings can be challenged by family members and other interested parties. If it turns out that the earlier investigations were mishandled by the local police, the public needs to be informed what measures have been taken to improve police efficiency and professional competence in the Sherbrooke region. Without these reassurances, young women will be afraid to go out alone at night, to walk to school, to hike, jog, cycle, or ski unless accompanied by others. An atmosphere of apprehension and fear is not conducive to leisure industries, tourism, and to the creation of proper study conditions on the various campuses in Sherbrooke and Lennoxville. And needless to say, people will lose their trust in the ability of local police forces to protect them.
The second issue has to do with the attitude of Champlain College. The present campus director has stated that the college fully co-operated with the police in the past and that "it intends to do so again when and if the investigation is red." Although it devolves upon the provincial police to carry out the criminal investigation, the directors of Champlain College also have a responsibility to clarify their role in the aftermath of Ms Allore's disappearance on the night of Nov. 3, 1978. Now that the police have decided not to rethe case, Champlain College would be well advised to hold an enquiry of its own and make its findings public. It is highly unlikely that the College could have prevented Ms Allore's abduction, if that indeed was what happened. However, the College should explain to the public its role in three areas:
1. Why did the College decide to establish a residence in Compton? How many students were in residence there? How many staff members were placed in charge, and what was their professional training? Was it wise to place such a large number of adolescents, many of whom had never lived away from home, in a residence located 15-20 kilometres from the main campus? How much money was allocated by the Ministry of Education for staffing the residence? Did the College fully use its allocation, or did College officials feel that the Ministry of Education was not providing enough money for staffing? If the latter, did they communicate their staffing concerns to the provincial government? What action did the College take to reports that underage drinking and consumption of illegal drugs were taking place at the Compton residence? Was the shuttle-bus service adequate? What response did the College make to complaints Touchstone, the student newspaper?
2. Why did it take so long for the College to discover that Ms Allore was missing? What measures are now in place to report if a student is missing from the residence? These questions, if fully and honestly answered, should reassure the public that the College now takes adequate measures to ensure the safety and welfare of its students in residence. 3. What, precisely, was the source of the apparently slanderous remarks made about Ms Allore following her disappearance?
These remarks, as reported by Ms Pearson in her series of three articles in the National Post, added grievous insult to the terrible injury inflicted on the Allore family. They also appear to have served as an excuse for the police and the College to dismiss the suggestion, apparently made by more than one person at the time, to undertake a comprehensive search of the fields between Compton and Lennoxville. While a search could not have saved Ms Allore, it could have provided immediate conclusive proof that a murder had taken place. Has the College apologized to the Allores for the inappropriate remarks made by a Champlain official to family members on the character of Theresa? An early and forthright report to the public will do much to refute most of the rumours floating around. It will also clear the Compton students of the time from the apparently slanderous charges that they were somehow implicated in Ms Allore's disappearance.
Michael Benazon
Massawippi
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
Pearson National Post Thursday, September 19, 2002
Sometimes I wonder: am I in Canada, or one of Kafka's dreamlike mazes? I watch events unfold with growing amazement. A young Canadian woman dies. The family wishes to know why, what happened, what fate befell their beloved child. The police decide that she died of a drug overdose. They provide no evidence. They refuse to share with the family the results of their investigation. The family must hire a private investigator. Building on the man's work, they investigate with a journalist. Building on this publicity, they come to rely on the kindness of fellow citizens, who write to them with tips and information. The police do not receive this information with interest. They will not share with this family their reasons why not, nor investigate what information the family can scrounge up on its own. The family appeals to the bureaucrats who oversee the police. The bureaucrats respond that they have referred the matter to the police for review. The family appeals to the provincial coroner to start an inquiry. The coroner responds that the case must be closed before an inquiry begins. The police will not close the case. The family drifts round and round, round and round, in a baffling circle. "There isn't enough new evidence to restart the investigation."
So said Constable Jimmy Potvin of the Surete du Quebec's Eastern Townships detachment on Tuesday, in response to a five-month investigation conducted by myself, and John Allore, into the supposed drug overdose death of his nineteen-year-old sister Theresa. Here is what evidence the Allore family were told about by the Surete du Quebec in 1979, when Theresa's body was found face-down in a creek, clad in her bra and underwear, one kilometer from her student residence at Champlain Regional College: none. Here is the evidence that the Allores were provided to support a drug overdose theory: none. I phone Constable Potvin and ask him for the evidence of drug overdose. He says he'll check. For one reason or another, he never quite manages to get back to me. I'll let readers know what he says just as soon as I hear. Here is the evidence that John Allore and I uncovered in a few short months that has been deemed irrelevant: Theresa Allore's toxicology report turned up no traces of drugs, legal or illicit. Her scarf was found near the body, torn in two. The initial coroner's report described strangulation marks, observed on the body by Corporal Roch Goudreault of the S.Q. Two other young women were abducted and killed in the area in eighteen months. One, Louise Camirand, was found strangled within a stone's throw of the siting of clothes that may have belonged to Theresa Allore. The other victim, Manon Dube, was found within a minute's drive of Theresa Allore's body, also face-down in a creek. Theresa Allore's wallet was tossed alongside the property of a girl her age and appearance, who had been chased and almost-abducted exactly one month before Theresa disappeared. The woman described her assailant to us as noticeably short. The police at the time intercepted the man, ran a vehicle check, and determined that he had a prior sex offence conviction from out west. In 1980, a young woman of Theresa Allore's age and appearance was stalked and then almost forced into a car by a very short man, at precisely the intersection where Manon Dube was abducted two years earlier. In 1981, a Sherbrooke woman was raped and strangled (but survived). Her attacker was a very short man who, like the assailant near where Theresa Allore's wallet was found, was found to have lived out west. We have learned of two other women who were abducted but escaped the car and the attacker, both in the area, both in the late 1970s. We are trying to locate them in order to see if the description of the assailant matches. We should not be doing this, the police should be doing this. But they are not. According to Kim Rossmo, an internationally respected investigator at the Police Foundation in Washington, the geography of these attacks suggests a serial offender, not a series of coincidental sexual attacks and murders on the southern fringes of a small Canadian city. This is not the Red Light District of Amsterdam.
Rossmo suggested that the offender was living in south Sherbrooke. The man who raped and attempted to strangle the woman in 1981 lived in South Sherbrooke, along the route of all of the attacks. We brought him to the attention of the Surete du Quebec. As far as we know, this is part of the evidence that they did not consider to be evidence. "We don't even know how you came up with this guy," one SQ investigator told me, when I asked why they hadn't checked him out. I'm sorry, I thought I'd explained.
Was any of our analysis followed up by the Surete?. As of last week, the victim on Macdonald Road had not been interviewed. Was the old police record on her assailant checked? The files of Louise Camirand and Manon Dube were not reviewed alongside Theresa Allore's. The wallet and watch, which have remained in their evidence bags for twenty-three years and could now be combed over for droplets of blood or strands of hair belonging to an assailant and tested for DNA, have not been requested.
No one in the Surete du Quebec phoned the Allore family to announce the lack of new evidence. Instead, they placed an unsolicited call to the Sherbrooke Record. This is no way for the families of crime victims in Quebec to be treated. The secrecy is appalling. The accountability is awful. The Privacy Laws in place to protect that province's citizens by restricting access to virtually all information in police investigations have the second, unintended effect of protecting the police.What the SQ has done, in effect, is to shut the Allore and Dube and Camirand families down once again. We don't know their reasoning, because they won't tell us, and the privacy laws enable them to stay mum. Thank god, there are other citizens in this nation who want to assist these victims. John Allore is immensely grateful to the women who have come forth with their own painful memories of stalking and assault, in the hope that their observations of the attacker can be of help to his sister's case. He and I both are equally grateful to the people in the criminal justice community outside of the Surete who have volunteered information, done continuing research and offered analysis that might break the case. We are grateful to the journalists -- to Jacques Taschereau of Radio Canada, whose investigation will be broadcast on September 28th on the show Justice, to Sharon McCully of the Sherbrooke Record and to Paul Cherry of the Montreal Gazette, to the free-lance journalists digging up their own clues who prefer to remain anonymous for the time being -- to everyone who has taken our investigation seriously, and furthered it. Together we can hope to solve these crimes.
Sometimes I wonder: am I in Canada, or one of Kafka's dreamlike mazes? I watch events unfold with growing amazement. A young Canadian woman dies. The family wishes to know why, what happened, what fate befell their beloved child. The police decide that she died of a drug overdose. They provide no evidence. They refuse to share with the family the results of their investigation. The family must hire a private investigator. Building on the man's work, they investigate with a journalist. Building on this publicity, they come to rely on the kindness of fellow citizens, who write to them with tips and information. The police do not receive this information with interest. They will not share with this family their reasons why not, nor investigate what information the family can scrounge up on its own. The family appeals to the bureaucrats who oversee the police. The bureaucrats respond that they have referred the matter to the police for review. The family appeals to the provincial coroner to start an inquiry. The coroner responds that the case must be closed before an inquiry begins. The police will not close the case. The family drifts round and round, round and round, in a baffling circle. "There isn't enough new evidence to restart the investigation."
So said Constable Jimmy Potvin of the Surete du Quebec's Eastern Townships detachment on Tuesday, in response to a five-month investigation conducted by myself, and John Allore, into the supposed drug overdose death of his nineteen-year-old sister Theresa. Here is what evidence the Allore family were told about by the Surete du Quebec in 1979, when Theresa's body was found face-down in a creek, clad in her bra and underwear, one kilometer from her student residence at Champlain Regional College: none. Here is the evidence that the Allores were provided to support a drug overdose theory: none. I phone Constable Potvin and ask him for the evidence of drug overdose. He says he'll check. For one reason or another, he never quite manages to get back to me. I'll let readers know what he says just as soon as I hear. Here is the evidence that John Allore and I uncovered in a few short months that has been deemed irrelevant: Theresa Allore's toxicology report turned up no traces of drugs, legal or illicit. Her scarf was found near the body, torn in two. The initial coroner's report described strangulation marks, observed on the body by Corporal Roch Goudreault of the S.Q. Two other young women were abducted and killed in the area in eighteen months. One, Louise Camirand, was found strangled within a stone's throw of the siting of clothes that may have belonged to Theresa Allore. The other victim, Manon Dube, was found within a minute's drive of Theresa Allore's body, also face-down in a creek. Theresa Allore's wallet was tossed alongside the property of a girl her age and appearance, who had been chased and almost-abducted exactly one month before Theresa disappeared. The woman described her assailant to us as noticeably short. The police at the time intercepted the man, ran a vehicle check, and determined that he had a prior sex offence conviction from out west. In 1980, a young woman of Theresa Allore's age and appearance was stalked and then almost forced into a car by a very short man, at precisely the intersection where Manon Dube was abducted two years earlier. In 1981, a Sherbrooke woman was raped and strangled (but survived). Her attacker was a very short man who, like the assailant near where Theresa Allore's wallet was found, was found to have lived out west. We have learned of two other women who were abducted but escaped the car and the attacker, both in the area, both in the late 1970s. We are trying to locate them in order to see if the description of the assailant matches. We should not be doing this, the police should be doing this. But they are not. According to Kim Rossmo, an internationally respected investigator at the Police Foundation in Washington, the geography of these attacks suggests a serial offender, not a series of coincidental sexual attacks and murders on the southern fringes of a small Canadian city. This is not the Red Light District of Amsterdam.
Rossmo suggested that the offender was living in south Sherbrooke. The man who raped and attempted to strangle the woman in 1981 lived in South Sherbrooke, along the route of all of the attacks. We brought him to the attention of the Surete du Quebec. As far as we know, this is part of the evidence that they did not consider to be evidence. "We don't even know how you came up with this guy," one SQ investigator told me, when I asked why they hadn't checked him out. I'm sorry, I thought I'd explained.
Was any of our analysis followed up by the Surete?. As of last week, the victim on Macdonald Road had not been interviewed. Was the old police record on her assailant checked? The files of Louise Camirand and Manon Dube were not reviewed alongside Theresa Allore's. The wallet and watch, which have remained in their evidence bags for twenty-three years and could now be combed over for droplets of blood or strands of hair belonging to an assailant and tested for DNA, have not been requested.
No one in the Surete du Quebec phoned the Allore family to announce the lack of new evidence. Instead, they placed an unsolicited call to the Sherbrooke Record. This is no way for the families of crime victims in Quebec to be treated. The secrecy is appalling. The accountability is awful. The Privacy Laws in place to protect that province's citizens by restricting access to virtually all information in police investigations have the second, unintended effect of protecting the police.What the SQ has done, in effect, is to shut the Allore and Dube and Camirand families down once again. We don't know their reasoning, because they won't tell us, and the privacy laws enable them to stay mum. Thank god, there are other citizens in this nation who want to assist these victims. John Allore is immensely grateful to the women who have come forth with their own painful memories of stalking and assault, in the hope that their observations of the attacker can be of help to his sister's case. He and I both are equally grateful to the people in the criminal justice community outside of the Surete who have volunteered information, done continuing research and offered analysis that might break the case. We are grateful to the journalists -- to Jacques Taschereau of Radio Canada, whose investigation will be broadcast on September 28th on the show Justice, to Sharon McCully of the Sherbrooke Record and to Paul Cherry of the Montreal Gazette, to the free-lance journalists digging up their own clues who prefer to remain anonymous for the time being -- to everyone who has taken our investigation seriously, and furthered it. Together we can hope to solve these crimes.
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
John AlloreResponse to the SûretéWednesday, September 18, 2002
Law enforcement, school administrators, and the people of Quebec can breathe a collective sigh of relief. The Sûreté du Quebec has looked into the matter of the death of my sister, Theresa Allore, and concluded that there is no new evidence to justify a reinvestigation of her death. There's no sexual predator stalking the citizens of the Eastern Townships, and everyone has done their jobs. Nosy Canadian ex-patriots go home and get a life.
Not just yet. I have said all along that if the Sûreté made a thorough examination of the files of Louise Camirand, Manon Dube and Theresa Allore, if they looked at these files in comparison to one another, then this might restore my faith in Quebec law enforcement.
This was not done. For the past four weeks I have been in touch with the Montreal Sûreté on a weekly basis regarding this investigation. We provided the Sûreté with all of the new information we had discovered over the course of our work. The Sûreté ignored it. The investigator who reviewed Theresa's file only looked at the old information. In addition, this investigator never laid eyes on the files of Louise Camirand and Manon Dube. Further, in reviewing my sister's file, this investigator was viewing the information with the narrowest of agendas: to see if Theresa's file would bare any evidence to further incriminate one specific murder suspect that the Sûreté currently has in custody, and who goes to trial in November.
Here's what the Sûreté did not do:
They did not pursue the information we provided on the two suspects currently in custody.
They did not interview the woman who was almost abducted on MacDonald road on the night of October 3, 1978; one month prior to my sister's death.
They did not drive the geographic profile route linking the residences, places of employment, places of last sightings, and dump sights for Camirand, Dube and Allore.
They did not interview four new witnesses who have come forward to say they were raped, or violently assaulted at the same time, and in the same places that Camirand. Dube and Allore disappeared.
So the Sûreté du Quebec announces they see no reason to reinvestigate my sister's death. I say to the Sûreté, what new information leads you to conclude that the matter does not warrant further investigation?
Do you know that the Sûreté won't even bother to tell me what they found? That is classified information. It is classified because, as an unsolved case, the case remains active. Active, but not aggressively worked. Once the case is solved, however, only then will the files' contents be unclassified so that I can review the information. But how is it to be solved unless it is aggressively worked? The Sûreté can go on like this for eternity; never solving the case and never releasing any information.
I have contested this situation to the Ministere de la Securite Publique, and they agree with the Sûreté: I am not allowed to know the contents of the file. I have provided substantial evidence that my sister was murdered: the initial coroner's reported noted marks of strangulation, the toxicological report noted no sign of drug use. Nevertheless, the Sûreté can continue to conclude that she died of a drug overdose, without having to produce a shred of evidence to the family or the public.I have appealed the decision of the Ministere to the Commission d'Access a L'Information, asking them to release to me all the information in the file of Theresa Allore. I can only hope that they will be able to grasp the extreme injustice my family has suffered.
In addition I have asked for inquires and investigations to be made on the conduct of both the Sûreté du Quebec and Champlain Regional College from the following agencies:The Minister of JusticeThe Minister of EducationThe Federation of CegepsCommissaire a la deontologue policiereMinistere de la Security Publique (for the Sûreté's recent conduct)Le Protecteur du CitoyenThe Board of Governors of Champlain College
I continue to have the support of two private detective agencies in Quebec who have offered their services 'pro bono'. I am also fortunate to have the support of American law enforcement agencies. These people see that an injustice has been done, and they want to assist in any way possible.
In addition, two weeks ago I was contacted by the producers of 'Cold Case Files', an American criminal investigation show on A&E, and they are interested in doing a segment on all three cases; Camirand, Dube Allore. I spoke with the producers this morning; despite the Sûreté's announcement, they are still interested in profiling all three cases. You see, unlike the Sûreté, these people have actually reviewed the evidence and want to help.
If anyone else would like to help, contact www.whokilledtheresa.com
John AlloreChapel Hill, North Carolina
Law enforcement, school administrators, and the people of Quebec can breathe a collective sigh of relief. The Sûreté du Quebec has looked into the matter of the death of my sister, Theresa Allore, and concluded that there is no new evidence to justify a reinvestigation of her death. There's no sexual predator stalking the citizens of the Eastern Townships, and everyone has done their jobs. Nosy Canadian ex-patriots go home and get a life.
Not just yet. I have said all along that if the Sûreté made a thorough examination of the files of Louise Camirand, Manon Dube and Theresa Allore, if they looked at these files in comparison to one another, then this might restore my faith in Quebec law enforcement.
This was not done. For the past four weeks I have been in touch with the Montreal Sûreté on a weekly basis regarding this investigation. We provided the Sûreté with all of the new information we had discovered over the course of our work. The Sûreté ignored it. The investigator who reviewed Theresa's file only looked at the old information. In addition, this investigator never laid eyes on the files of Louise Camirand and Manon Dube. Further, in reviewing my sister's file, this investigator was viewing the information with the narrowest of agendas: to see if Theresa's file would bare any evidence to further incriminate one specific murder suspect that the Sûreté currently has in custody, and who goes to trial in November.
Here's what the Sûreté did not do:
They did not pursue the information we provided on the two suspects currently in custody.
They did not interview the woman who was almost abducted on MacDonald road on the night of October 3, 1978; one month prior to my sister's death.
They did not drive the geographic profile route linking the residences, places of employment, places of last sightings, and dump sights for Camirand, Dube and Allore.
They did not interview four new witnesses who have come forward to say they were raped, or violently assaulted at the same time, and in the same places that Camirand. Dube and Allore disappeared.
So the Sûreté du Quebec announces they see no reason to reinvestigate my sister's death. I say to the Sûreté, what new information leads you to conclude that the matter does not warrant further investigation?
Do you know that the Sûreté won't even bother to tell me what they found? That is classified information. It is classified because, as an unsolved case, the case remains active. Active, but not aggressively worked. Once the case is solved, however, only then will the files' contents be unclassified so that I can review the information. But how is it to be solved unless it is aggressively worked? The Sûreté can go on like this for eternity; never solving the case and never releasing any information.
I have contested this situation to the Ministere de la Securite Publique, and they agree with the Sûreté: I am not allowed to know the contents of the file. I have provided substantial evidence that my sister was murdered: the initial coroner's reported noted marks of strangulation, the toxicological report noted no sign of drug use. Nevertheless, the Sûreté can continue to conclude that she died of a drug overdose, without having to produce a shred of evidence to the family or the public.I have appealed the decision of the Ministere to the Commission d'Access a L'Information, asking them to release to me all the information in the file of Theresa Allore. I can only hope that they will be able to grasp the extreme injustice my family has suffered.
In addition I have asked for inquires and investigations to be made on the conduct of both the Sûreté du Quebec and Champlain Regional College from the following agencies:The Minister of JusticeThe Minister of EducationThe Federation of CegepsCommissaire a la deontologue policiereMinistere de la Security Publique (for the Sûreté's recent conduct)Le Protecteur du CitoyenThe Board of Governors of Champlain College
I continue to have the support of two private detective agencies in Quebec who have offered their services 'pro bono'. I am also fortunate to have the support of American law enforcement agencies. These people see that an injustice has been done, and they want to assist in any way possible.
In addition, two weeks ago I was contacted by the producers of 'Cold Case Files', an American criminal investigation show on A&E, and they are interested in doing a segment on all three cases; Camirand, Dube Allore. I spoke with the producers this morning; despite the Sûreté's announcement, they are still interested in profiling all three cases. You see, unlike the Sûreté, these people have actually reviewed the evidence and want to help.
If anyone else would like to help, contact www.whokilledtheresa.com
John AlloreChapel Hill, North Carolina
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SIDHARTHA BANERJEEThe GazetteWednesday, September 18, 2002
Murder case stays on hold'Not enough new evidence' to relaunch probe into 1978 case, Sûreté says
John Allore hasn't given up hope that his sister Theresa's killer will be found, but the Sûreté du Québec said yesterday they will not reinvestigate the 23-year-old murder case. After a three-week analysis of Theresa Allore's case file by investigators from the Sûreté's Montreal-based crimes-against-persons unit, it was decided there wasn't enough new evidence to rethe case.
"A complete analysis was made after the allegations made by the brother of the victim in the National Post," said Constable Jimmy Potvin of the Sûreté's Eastern Townships detachment. "But there isn't enough new evidence to restart the investigation. The file is stilland active but there isn't any new development or evidence to further our investigation."
The SQ had said they would rethe Allore case and two other unsolved violent deaths in the Townships between 1977 and '79 that John Allore believes may have been linked to his sister's death. The other victims were Louise Camirand, 20, of Sherbrooke, who was raped and strangled in 1977, and Manon Dube, 10, whose body was found in Ayer's Cliff soon after she was reported missing in Sherbrooke in 1978. Potvin said he didn't know whether there were any new details on the other cases. "The only case I know about is the case of Theresa Allore." John Allore expressed frustration with the SQ, saying they didn't keep their promise of three weeks ago.
'Last six months'"The new evidence isn't anything in the old case file; it's what we've discovered in the last six months," Allore said in a telephone interview from Durham, N.C., yesterday. "What they said they were going to do was review all three cases, but they looked at Theresa's file and not the other two." Theresa Allore was reported missing on Nov. 3, 1978, while a student at Champlain College in Lennoxville. Her body was found in the Coaticook River on April 13, 1979, about one kilometre from Compton, the village where she had been living. The coroner who filed the report on Theresa Allore's death in 1979 said water had damaged the body, making it difficult to establish the exact cause of death, but the same report suggested the 19-year-old had been strangled.
"I'm forced to carry on my own personal investigation, which is preposterous," Allore said. "But what am I supposed to do - just drop it?"
Allore had been persistent in his pursuit of Theresa's murderer, repeatedly calling on the SQ to rethe case.His efforts were the subject of a series of stories in the National Post.
"In the last month we've made significant progress and we'll stay on it, and if the Sûreté du Québec doesn't want to help us, that's fine," Allore said, "We've got private investigators and law enforcement in the U.S. who are willing to ... and that's a hell of a thing to say for victims in Quebec, that I have to go to American law enforcement to help me solve this crime."
- Anyone with information on any of these three homicides can contact the Sûreté du Québec at (819) 572-6039.- John Allore's Web site is at www.whokilledtheresa.com
Murder case stays on hold'Not enough new evidence' to relaunch probe into 1978 case, Sûreté says
John Allore hasn't given up hope that his sister Theresa's killer will be found, but the Sûreté du Québec said yesterday they will not reinvestigate the 23-year-old murder case. After a three-week analysis of Theresa Allore's case file by investigators from the Sûreté's Montreal-based crimes-against-persons unit, it was decided there wasn't enough new evidence to rethe case.
"A complete analysis was made after the allegations made by the brother of the victim in the National Post," said Constable Jimmy Potvin of the Sûreté's Eastern Townships detachment. "But there isn't enough new evidence to restart the investigation. The file is stilland active but there isn't any new development or evidence to further our investigation."
The SQ had said they would rethe Allore case and two other unsolved violent deaths in the Townships between 1977 and '79 that John Allore believes may have been linked to his sister's death. The other victims were Louise Camirand, 20, of Sherbrooke, who was raped and strangled in 1977, and Manon Dube, 10, whose body was found in Ayer's Cliff soon after she was reported missing in Sherbrooke in 1978. Potvin said he didn't know whether there were any new details on the other cases. "The only case I know about is the case of Theresa Allore." John Allore expressed frustration with the SQ, saying they didn't keep their promise of three weeks ago.
'Last six months'"The new evidence isn't anything in the old case file; it's what we've discovered in the last six months," Allore said in a telephone interview from Durham, N.C., yesterday. "What they said they were going to do was review all three cases, but they looked at Theresa's file and not the other two." Theresa Allore was reported missing on Nov. 3, 1978, while a student at Champlain College in Lennoxville. Her body was found in the Coaticook River on April 13, 1979, about one kilometre from Compton, the village where she had been living. The coroner who filed the report on Theresa Allore's death in 1979 said water had damaged the body, making it difficult to establish the exact cause of death, but the same report suggested the 19-year-old had been strangled.
"I'm forced to carry on my own personal investigation, which is preposterous," Allore said. "But what am I supposed to do - just drop it?"
Allore had been persistent in his pursuit of Theresa's murderer, repeatedly calling on the SQ to rethe case.His efforts were the subject of a series of stories in the National Post.
"In the last month we've made significant progress and we'll stay on it, and if the Sûreté du Québec doesn't want to help us, that's fine," Allore said, "We've got private investigators and law enforcement in the U.S. who are willing to ... and that's a hell of a thing to say for victims in Quebec, that I have to go to American law enforcement to help me solve this crime."
- Anyone with information on any of these three homicides can contact the Sûreté du Québec at (819) 572-6039.- John Allore's Web site is at www.whokilledtheresa.com
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
Letter to the EditorSherbrooke RecordAugust 28, 2002
Champlain must become part of the solutionDear Editor,The more I've read about the Allore et al case, the more troubled I am by what seems to have been the uncaring attitude shown by the police. This we might regrettably be forced to accept, but it appears certain former Champlain authorities are being shielded from legitimate accountability -- which would be truly a travesty."We have no desire to get involved in a point-by-point discussion of Mr. Allore's argument."How else can this statement (The Record August 26) by Bertrand Daigneault be interpreted other than they'll not respond to the call for accountability? Is this not a classic deniability response doing little to assuage what is now increasingly becoming grounds for reasonable doubt -- as already clearly suggested by Patricia Pearson's mid-August story in the National Post, and followed by The Record (Aug. 19).Surely finding out the truth with respect to who, if anyone, may have dropped the ball would do much to assure us that such a thing would not happen in this era. So although Champlain personnel may not have been "part of the problem" it still would be comforting to know whey might still become "part of the solution" which is to leave no possibility unexplored in the hopes of closure.Attacking John Allore for his legitimate outspokenness sidesteps due process. The Police, to their credit, believed there were sufficient questions to re the triple murder investigation. Answers from anywhere are made more necessary than ever by recent unsolved cases, since even the most remote possibility of a connection to this gruesome past should be seen as a deadly serious cause for concern.Ray TylerLennoxville, Quebec
Champlain must become part of the solutionDear Editor,The more I've read about the Allore et al case, the more troubled I am by what seems to have been the uncaring attitude shown by the police. This we might regrettably be forced to accept, but it appears certain former Champlain authorities are being shielded from legitimate accountability -- which would be truly a travesty."We have no desire to get involved in a point-by-point discussion of Mr. Allore's argument."How else can this statement (The Record August 26) by Bertrand Daigneault be interpreted other than they'll not respond to the call for accountability? Is this not a classic deniability response doing little to assuage what is now increasingly becoming grounds for reasonable doubt -- as already clearly suggested by Patricia Pearson's mid-August story in the National Post, and followed by The Record (Aug. 19).Surely finding out the truth with respect to who, if anyone, may have dropped the ball would do much to assure us that such a thing would not happen in this era. So although Champlain personnel may not have been "part of the problem" it still would be comforting to know whey might still become "part of the solution" which is to leave no possibility unexplored in the hopes of closure.Attacking John Allore for his legitimate outspokenness sidesteps due process. The Police, to their credit, believed there were sufficient questions to re the triple murder investigation. Answers from anywhere are made more necessary than ever by recent unsolved cases, since even the most remote possibility of a connection to this gruesome past should be seen as a deadly serious cause for concern.Ray TylerLennoxville, Quebec
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Response from Champlain CollegeAugust 26, 2002
Dear Editor, Subject Mr. John Allore's Letter The management of Champlain Regional College was stunned by the allegations made by John Allore in a letter published in your paper on August 21.The College sympathizes deeply with Mr. Allore and his family for the loss of their sister and daughter, Theresa, in 1978. We cannot, however, remain silent about remarks Mr. Allore makes about the College, which are patently defamatory and go well beyond any inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Theresa Allore's disappearance. In essence, it is tantamount to putting our institution on trial.We have no desire to get involved in a point-by-point discussion of Mr. Allore's argument. We do feel that it is important to point out that the College management stated on numerous recent occasions that it had cooperated with the police at the time of the event and that it intends to do so again when and if the investigation is red.A teaching institution such as Champlain Regional College has an abiding respect for freedom of expression. Statements such as those made by Mr. Allore in his letter published August 21, intended more to harm the College's reputation than to make headway in the case, are something altogether different.Champlain Regional College will not tolerate this gratuitous, unfounded and untruthful attack on a sterling reputation that has been carefully developed during the past 30 years and is acknowledged by the Eastern Townships community, the rest of Quebec and well beyond its borders. That is why we are today bringing this letter to your readers' attention.Yours trulyBertrand DaigneaultDirector / Champlain-Lennoxville
Dear Editor, Subject Mr. John Allore's Letter The management of Champlain Regional College was stunned by the allegations made by John Allore in a letter published in your paper on August 21.The College sympathizes deeply with Mr. Allore and his family for the loss of their sister and daughter, Theresa, in 1978. We cannot, however, remain silent about remarks Mr. Allore makes about the College, which are patently defamatory and go well beyond any inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Theresa Allore's disappearance. In essence, it is tantamount to putting our institution on trial.We have no desire to get involved in a point-by-point discussion of Mr. Allore's argument. We do feel that it is important to point out that the College management stated on numerous recent occasions that it had cooperated with the police at the time of the event and that it intends to do so again when and if the investigation is red.A teaching institution such as Champlain Regional College has an abiding respect for freedom of expression. Statements such as those made by Mr. Allore in his letter published August 21, intended more to harm the College's reputation than to make headway in the case, are something altogether different.Champlain Regional College will not tolerate this gratuitous, unfounded and untruthful attack on a sterling reputation that has been carefully developed during the past 30 years and is acknowledged by the Eastern Townships community, the rest of Quebec and well beyond its borders. That is why we are today bringing this letter to your readers' attention.Yours trulyBertrand DaigneaultDirector / Champlain-Lennoxville
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Sherbrooke RecordLetter to the EditorAugust 21st, 2002
In reference to the article in the Sherbrooke Record about the death of my sister Theresa Allore while a student at Champlain college in 1978, on behalf of my entire family, I would like to say that we find the current actions of the School, and the comments of its Director, Bertrand Daignault, insensitive, insulting and offensive.Mr. Daigneault states that the school provided a shuttle bus service to/from Compton and if students hitchhiked, it was a personal decision. To be precise, Champlain offered a mere 10 shuttle buses per day, and if you missed one of these buses you were out of luck. Allow me to pose a question to you Mr. Daigneault: Theresa missed the 6:00 PM shuttle bus from Lennoxville to Compton on Friday, November 3, 1978, the day she died. The next bus wasn't scheduled until 11:00 PM. How was she supposed to get back to her home? The only options the school left her were to wait around for five hours, idling until close to midnight, or to hitchhike. Nevertheless, twenty-three years later the School is still making the same implication: Theresa made a "personal decision" and got what was coming to her.Shuttle buses and hitchhiking are secondary to the main issue. The fact is Theresa was last seen at a Champlain facility, and her body was found less then a mile from that facility. Champlain's "mission" may be to offer courses, but as a boarding facility it has a custodial responsibility to protect the young students that make up its membership. Was it prudent not to warn anyone that there where sexual assaults taking place at your School two weeks prior to Theresa's death? Was it prudent not to take seriously the two editorials in student newspapers in February and November of 1978 concerning violence against women on campus? Former administrator, Tom Cavanagh, states that "violence wasn't on the radar screen"? It was screaming for close to a year, "red alert! red alert!"In the Record's article a former teacher states that, at the time of Theresa's disappearance, he tried to persuade School administration to search for her, but the School refused. Where have I heard this before? Seven days after my sister went missing some students, including my brother, went to Dr. Matson, then a Director at Champlain, and urged him to organize a search party. Dr. Matson's response was, "I'm not going to turn this School upside-down for some kid." Apalling.Clearly Champlain has some questions to answer. Yet, last week Mr. Daigneault issued a "gag-order," and indicated that the School would talk to no one but the Police, and then would only address aspects specific to an "official" investigation into Theresa's death. Well, there should be an investigation, and what should be investigated is Champlain's conduct at the time of my sister's death, and their attempts in the aftermath to go to any length to protect the School's reputation.The more Champlain refuses to answer questions, the more they look like they have something to hide. The longer they remain silent, the longer these questions will drag on, well into the School year, right into registration for next fall's classes.John AlloreChapel Hill, North Carolina
In reference to the article in the Sherbrooke Record about the death of my sister Theresa Allore while a student at Champlain college in 1978, on behalf of my entire family, I would like to say that we find the current actions of the School, and the comments of its Director, Bertrand Daignault, insensitive, insulting and offensive.Mr. Daigneault states that the school provided a shuttle bus service to/from Compton and if students hitchhiked, it was a personal decision. To be precise, Champlain offered a mere 10 shuttle buses per day, and if you missed one of these buses you were out of luck. Allow me to pose a question to you Mr. Daigneault: Theresa missed the 6:00 PM shuttle bus from Lennoxville to Compton on Friday, November 3, 1978, the day she died. The next bus wasn't scheduled until 11:00 PM. How was she supposed to get back to her home? The only options the school left her were to wait around for five hours, idling until close to midnight, or to hitchhike. Nevertheless, twenty-three years later the School is still making the same implication: Theresa made a "personal decision" and got what was coming to her.Shuttle buses and hitchhiking are secondary to the main issue. The fact is Theresa was last seen at a Champlain facility, and her body was found less then a mile from that facility. Champlain's "mission" may be to offer courses, but as a boarding facility it has a custodial responsibility to protect the young students that make up its membership. Was it prudent not to warn anyone that there where sexual assaults taking place at your School two weeks prior to Theresa's death? Was it prudent not to take seriously the two editorials in student newspapers in February and November of 1978 concerning violence against women on campus? Former administrator, Tom Cavanagh, states that "violence wasn't on the radar screen"? It was screaming for close to a year, "red alert! red alert!"In the Record's article a former teacher states that, at the time of Theresa's disappearance, he tried to persuade School administration to search for her, but the School refused. Where have I heard this before? Seven days after my sister went missing some students, including my brother, went to Dr. Matson, then a Director at Champlain, and urged him to organize a search party. Dr. Matson's response was, "I'm not going to turn this School upside-down for some kid." Apalling.Clearly Champlain has some questions to answer. Yet, last week Mr. Daigneault issued a "gag-order," and indicated that the School would talk to no one but the Police, and then would only address aspects specific to an "official" investigation into Theresa's death. Well, there should be an investigation, and what should be investigated is Champlain's conduct at the time of my sister's death, and their attempts in the aftermath to go to any length to protect the School's reputation.The more Champlain refuses to answer questions, the more they look like they have something to hide. The longer they remain silent, the longer these questions will drag on, well into the School year, right into registration for next fall's classes.John AlloreChapel Hill, North Carolina
archive of original WKT website 2001-01
Montreal Gazette articleAugust 21, 2002
Cold cases' red by SQThe killings of three females in the Townships are being investigated again after the brother of one of them brought up new allegations.Paul Cherry / Montreal GazetteWednesday, August 21, 2002The Sûreté du Québec have red investigations into the cases of two women and a child whose violent deaths in the Eastern Townships have gone unsolved for decades. Spokesman Cpl. Jean Finet confirmed yesterday that two investigators from the SQ's Montreal-based crimes-against-persons unit will be assigned to a review of the three cases, involving women who died between 1977 and possibly 1979. The investigators will review the cases with their Sherbrooke-based colleagues. The renewed interest in the cases was sparked by what Finet referred to as "new allegations" pertaining to the cases. "I should say that allegations are different from having new evidence in a case," Finet said. John Allore, the brother of one of the victims, has been in contact with the SQ in recent months and persistently requested that the unsolved cases be reviewed. Allore's sister Theresa was reported missing on Nov. 3, 1978, while she was a student at Champlain College in Lennoxville. Her body was found in the Coaticook River on April 13, 1979, one kilometre from Compton, the village where she was boarding.The coroner who filed the report on Theresa Allore's death in 1979 said water had caused too much damage to her body to determine the exact cause of death. But the same report suggests the 19-year-old woman was strangled. The SQ interviewed 200 witnesses as part of their investigation. John Allore asked the SQ to look into whether his sister's homicide could be tied to the deaths of Manon Dubé, a 10-year-old girl whose body was discovered in Ayer's Cliff shortly after she was reported missing in Sherbrooke in 1978, and Louise Camirand, a 20-year-old Sherbrooke woman who was raped and strangled in 1977.Allore's desire to see his sister's case solved was renewed in February with the arrest of man suspected of murdering a 16-year-old girl who was abducted in Longueuil. That case had remained unsolved since 1987. The man, charged in February, has yet to be tried for the murder. Finet declined to say whether the man is considered a suspect in the three other homicides. But for the past few months John Allore has been persistent in pursuing new leads in his sister's case. His efforts were the subject of a series of articles recently published in the National Post newspaper "I think it's positive and I'm hopeful, however just investigating it is not everything. I hope that they will be thorough in their revision of the files," Allore said yesterday when told of the new development. Finet said the investigators involved have a lot of work ahead of them but that new technology and crime databases that were not available to investigators during the 1970s might make a difference this time around. He estimated the work will take between about four weeks.© Copyright 2002 Montreal Gazette
Cold cases' red by SQThe killings of three females in the Townships are being investigated again after the brother of one of them brought up new allegations.Paul Cherry / Montreal GazetteWednesday, August 21, 2002The Sûreté du Québec have red investigations into the cases of two women and a child whose violent deaths in the Eastern Townships have gone unsolved for decades. Spokesman Cpl. Jean Finet confirmed yesterday that two investigators from the SQ's Montreal-based crimes-against-persons unit will be assigned to a review of the three cases, involving women who died between 1977 and possibly 1979. The investigators will review the cases with their Sherbrooke-based colleagues. The renewed interest in the cases was sparked by what Finet referred to as "new allegations" pertaining to the cases. "I should say that allegations are different from having new evidence in a case," Finet said. John Allore, the brother of one of the victims, has been in contact with the SQ in recent months and persistently requested that the unsolved cases be reviewed. Allore's sister Theresa was reported missing on Nov. 3, 1978, while she was a student at Champlain College in Lennoxville. Her body was found in the Coaticook River on April 13, 1979, one kilometre from Compton, the village where she was boarding.The coroner who filed the report on Theresa Allore's death in 1979 said water had caused too much damage to her body to determine the exact cause of death. But the same report suggests the 19-year-old woman was strangled. The SQ interviewed 200 witnesses as part of their investigation. John Allore asked the SQ to look into whether his sister's homicide could be tied to the deaths of Manon Dubé, a 10-year-old girl whose body was discovered in Ayer's Cliff shortly after she was reported missing in Sherbrooke in 1978, and Louise Camirand, a 20-year-old Sherbrooke woman who was raped and strangled in 1977.Allore's desire to see his sister's case solved was renewed in February with the arrest of man suspected of murdering a 16-year-old girl who was abducted in Longueuil. That case had remained unsolved since 1987. The man, charged in February, has yet to be tried for the murder. Finet declined to say whether the man is considered a suspect in the three other homicides. But for the past few months John Allore has been persistent in pursuing new leads in his sister's case. His efforts were the subject of a series of articles recently published in the National Post newspaper "I think it's positive and I'm hopeful, however just investigating it is not everything. I hope that they will be thorough in their revision of the files," Allore said yesterday when told of the new development. Finet said the investigators involved have a lot of work ahead of them but that new technology and crime databases that were not available to investigators during the 1970s might make a difference this time around. He estimated the work will take between about four weeks.© Copyright 2002 Montreal Gazette
archive of original WKT website 2001-02
LettersNational PostThursday, August 15, 2002
I would like to clarify the final message in the three-part article about my sister, Theresa Allore (Evidence Points to a Serial Killer, Aug. 13). Patricia Pearson has stated that our information will be turned over to law enforcement authorities in Quebec. This action should be taken. Investigators need to take the files of Camirand, Dubé and Allore, put them side by side, and go over them thoroughly.Nevertheless, if information is to be disclosed to Quebec law enforcement, it will be forwarded by Ms. Pearson, not by me. The Sûreté du Québec did not, has not, and, I anticipate, will never do anything significant to help my family in this matter. In fact, they continue to deny me access to the full contents of their police file on Theresa. They act as custodians of this information. They have treated myself and my family like children. I believe I have a personal right to know absolutely everything about the events surrounding Theresa's disappearance and death. When the Sûreté is ready to grant me 100% access to that information, I will be more than happy to share with them the contents of my investigation.Today I have learned that the Sûreté is looking into the possibility of putting an officer on this case to look into the matter of Camirand/Dubé/Allore. If they are doing this in response to public pressure, I say, "why bother." You're too late. Instead, take that officer and dedicate him to the Julie Boisvenu investigation.What is past is prologue. My sister died over 20 years ago, and her murder will most likely never be solved. But there is much to be learned from this affair. A young woman, Julie Bureau, went missing in Coaticook in September of 2001. She has yet to be found. As was the case with my sister, in the initial months of Bureau's disappearance, one of the biggest obstacles her family faced was convincing the authorities that she was not a runaway.The French community in Sherbrooke remains unaware of the story of Theresa Allore, just as no English resident has knowledge of Manon Dubé, a francophone. This despite the fact that Dubé made front page news in the French press last year when her case was red by the Sherbrooke municipal police.Theresa's story is not some '70s cultural artifact. It resonates today. I hope individuals in positions of authority in Canada will hear it.John Allore, Chapel Hill, N.C.
I would like to clarify the final message in the three-part article about my sister, Theresa Allore (Evidence Points to a Serial Killer, Aug. 13). Patricia Pearson has stated that our information will be turned over to law enforcement authorities in Quebec. This action should be taken. Investigators need to take the files of Camirand, Dubé and Allore, put them side by side, and go over them thoroughly.Nevertheless, if information is to be disclosed to Quebec law enforcement, it will be forwarded by Ms. Pearson, not by me. The Sûreté du Québec did not, has not, and, I anticipate, will never do anything significant to help my family in this matter. In fact, they continue to deny me access to the full contents of their police file on Theresa. They act as custodians of this information. They have treated myself and my family like children. I believe I have a personal right to know absolutely everything about the events surrounding Theresa's disappearance and death. When the Sûreté is ready to grant me 100% access to that information, I will be more than happy to share with them the contents of my investigation.Today I have learned that the Sûreté is looking into the possibility of putting an officer on this case to look into the matter of Camirand/Dubé/Allore. If they are doing this in response to public pressure, I say, "why bother." You're too late. Instead, take that officer and dedicate him to the Julie Boisvenu investigation.What is past is prologue. My sister died over 20 years ago, and her murder will most likely never be solved. But there is much to be learned from this affair. A young woman, Julie Bureau, went missing in Coaticook in September of 2001. She has yet to be found. As was the case with my sister, in the initial months of Bureau's disappearance, one of the biggest obstacles her family faced was convincing the authorities that she was not a runaway.The French community in Sherbrooke remains unaware of the story of Theresa Allore, just as no English resident has knowledge of Manon Dubé, a francophone. This despite the fact that Dubé made front page news in the French press last year when her case was red by the Sherbrooke municipal police.Theresa's story is not some '70s cultural artifact. It resonates today. I hope individuals in positions of authority in Canada will hear it.John Allore, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Archive of original WKT Website 2001-02
Hi. Welcome to "WhoKilledTheresa.com". This site tells the story of the death of my sister, Theresa Allore, whodisappeared from Compton, Quebec in 1978. It is also a tool to help me answer the question, Who Killed Theresa? If you have information that may help me in answering this question please leave a message.
When my 19-year-old sister went missing from Champlain College and then turned up dead on a country road, Quebec police led my family to believe she had died of a drug overdose. In the spring of 2002, myself and National Post reporter Patricia Pearson began an investigation into Theresa's disappearance. This site includes the entire article by Patricia Pearson. Our story probes the death of my sister, which may have been a murder by a serial killer who is still at large.
If you are unfamiliar with Theresa's story, you will be able to read the entire National Post article which was featured in three installments beginning on August 10th, 2002. For those of you who have read the story, this site features updates to the case as they are revealed. There is also an email link where you can contact me with your tips, stories, reminiscences of Theresa or general comments and suggestions. Thank you for visiting this site.
When my 19-year-old sister went missing from Champlain College and then turned up dead on a country road, Quebec police led my family to believe she had died of a drug overdose. In the spring of 2002, myself and National Post reporter Patricia Pearson began an investigation into Theresa's disappearance. This site includes the entire article by Patricia Pearson. Our story probes the death of my sister, which may have been a murder by a serial killer who is still at large.
If you are unfamiliar with Theresa's story, you will be able to read the entire National Post article which was featured in three installments beginning on August 10th, 2002. For those of you who have read the story, this site features updates to the case as they are revealed. There is also an email link where you can contact me with your tips, stories, reminiscences of Theresa or general comments and suggestions. Thank you for visiting this site.
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