The most terrible thing that ever happened at Beaubien and St. Lawrence Main Street

Michel Charron, left and Yvan Ledoux

   Yvan Ledoux, a 27-year-old DJ from Granby, had no idea that something inconceivably and surrealistically awful was about to occur.
   He was standing on the sidewalk at about 3 a.m. on Wednesday 8 January 1986 at Beaubien and St. Lawrence.
   Ledoux was standing with his friend Michel Charron, 40.
   Charron lived at 28 Beaubien East in a building that has since been demolished and replaced. He had a criminal history for sexual assault among other crimes.

Yvan Ledoux in 1986

   Why Ledoux was friends with Charron, 13 years his elder, remains unknown.
   Indeed nobody should have been friends with Charron considering what was about to happen.
   As the two were standing on the wide sidewalk, a woman walked by them as she returned home.
   Charron intercepted the woman. He took out a knife and held it to her throat, forcing her to accompany him to his apartment.
   Ledoux watched on incredulously. He pleaded with Charron to reconsider.
   Charron ignored the counsel and threatened Ledoux with the knife while he continued abusing the woman for about an hour.
   Charron hit the woman and sexually abused her in unspeakable ways while Ledoux begged him to stop.
   After Charron undertook to perform yet another unspeakable sex act on the poor woman victim, Ledoux decided that he needed to finally act.
    Ledoux walked to Charron's kitchen and picked up a metal bar that he found.
   Charron, presumably distracted by his despicable undertaking, was oblivious that Ledoux had armed himself. 
   Ledoux approached Charron and slugged him on the head with the metal bar. 
   Charron was sufficiently dazed to allow the victim to push him off and escape.
   Ledoux accompanied her outside but returned soon after to see that Charron was back up and holding his knife.
   Ledoux hauled back and smacked Charron on the head again..and again..and again...
   Soon Charron lay dead on the floor. 
   Police soon came and took Ledoux into custody and released upon the promise to appear before a coroner one month later to determine whether he would be charged with the crime of killing his friend Charron.
   It would be safe to assume that Ledoux was never charged, as his name was never mentioned in local newspapers again.
   No word either, of course, about the victim of the dreadful assault. It's hoped that she was able to recover and cope following the harrowing event. 
   Beaubien and St. Lawrence is a corner unlike any other in the city, as its eastern side sits 80 metres south of its western counterpart.
   The building where the infamous event occurred has been demolished, as has the buildings across the street. The evil legacy of that fateful event has been erased in its bricks and mortar form but remains in memory.