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| Ill-fated Donna Andrade and Teddy Thompson in court, 1975 |
Donna Andrade was a fashion model and Teddy Thompson toiled as a fashion designer. The lovers had lived together for two years at 1250 St. Matthew, corner Tupper.
Teddy had previously fathered three children with Diane Juteau, 25, who was living nearby at the high-rise at 1444 Mackay.
Donna and Teddy engaged in an argument in the middle of the night on Wednesday 9 August 1974. Donna objected to Teddy's relationship with his ex, Juteau, which she considered too cozy.
Donna told Teddy that she was going to leave him. Teddy became highly emotional and threatened to kill himself with a .357 Magnum he was wielding in his hand.
Donna later told a courtroom: "I told him that I loved him but had to leave him because our relationship wasn't working out and I was very unhappy. Teddy asked me not to leave him and said if I didn't stay with him he would blow his brains out."
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| Donna Andrade |
Donna then called Diane Juteau to ask her to come by and talk to Teddy. Diane Juteau left her home soon after at around 5 a.m. and embarked on the brief six-minute walk from Mackay to St. Matthew.
Diane Juteau entered the apartment and engaged in a discussion with Teddy while Donna left the room. Donna returned to put a record on in an attempt to ease the mood.
Thompson, standing about three feet from Diane Juteau, once again threatened to shoot himself but sounded more serious this time. Donna, by this point, was standing about a foot away from Teddy when he stepped back and lost his balance. Teddy's gun went off and Diane Juteau was struck with a bullet.
Thompson, shocked that he had just unintentionally shot the mother of his children, attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He then ran out and screamed for the police to come. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! It's an accident! Don't let her die on me!"
"He was hysterical" a police officer later said.
Police initially charged Teddy Thompson with murder but his lawyer Sidney Leithman entered a not-guilty plea and a prosecutor then lessened the charge to manslaughter.
Teddy's father posted his $15,000 bail and Teddy pled guilty. On 20 January 1975 a judge sentenced Teddy Thompson to three years for manslaughter.
In mid-1976 Donna Andrade moved to a 3 1/2 apartment on the fifth floor of Haddon Hall, a relatively upscale older apartment building at 2150 Sherbrooke just east of Atwater.
Andrade kept busy modelling and doing other gigs, such as teaching people to disco dance The Hustle at Eaton's department store on Saturdays. She visited to New York City that same year and was out dining with her friend Ivanka when Donald Trump sent champagne to their table. Trump introduced himself. Donald Trump later married Ivanka.
Thompson was released from prison in the autumn of 1976 and moved in with Donna Andrade.
On Tuesday 1 February 1977 at about 11:30 pm, Thompson, now 31, and Andrade, now 29, were at home with guest Antonio Sorgente, 29.
Antonio Sorgente was the eldest of a large 11-child Little Burgundy family led by father Palmerino, a well-known Italian immigrant known as an offbeat artist and local oddball character.
Antonio Sorgente, while praised and loved by his siblings, had also served time in prison at the age of 18 for partaking in armed a gang that held up several commercial establishments.
Sorgente and Thompson had met in prison and remained friends after their release.
Sorgente was in the parlor near the entry door to the apartment when a gunman walked in and shot him dead. The shooter then proceeded to the bedroom where he came across Teddy Thompson outside the door. Thompson, police posited, had left the bedroom to investigate after hearing the first gunshots.
The gunman shot Thompson dead and then entered the bedroom and shot Donna Andrade dead.
Newspaper reports did not mention how the gunman entered the apartment. It can be assumed that Sorgente opened the door, unaware of the threat. One unconfirmed report has it that the gunman shot Sorgente only once but shot Thompson and Andrade multiple times.
The victims were found dead about 12 hours later when Sorgente's brother came to investigate why nobody was answering the phone.
Police told reporters that they believed the triple murder was a "settling of accounts." Police never solved the case and no more reports appeared about it in print following the initial reporting.
One possible explanation would be that friends or relatives of the initial victim, Diane Juteau, might have been behind the shooting, with the motive being revenge for the 1974 incident.
That explanation, however, suffers from one flaw: by killing Thompson, the gunman also hurt Juteau's children, as they both became parentless orphans.
It's also possible that the three were killed for some other unrelated reason, such as a drug debt or something else along those lines.
The triple murder could likely have been the work of a professional killer as it was apparently executed in an efficient manner.
Two of Sorgente's family members interviewed for this article report that his death caused profound sadness and suffering among his family. The same can be assumed for all of those close to all four of the victims.