Take 1977, a year which saw 91 murders in Montreal, and 179 across the province.
The victims were 116 male, and 63 females. About half of all killed were attacked in or near their homes. 52 of the 152 murders were unsolved as of early January 1978.
The 91 Montreal killings were typical of that era but are much lower than what we see today, as only 23 were killed in Montreal last year.
Causes for the drop off in murder are many.
There was more brain-damaging lead in the environment back then, more young people, more alcohol and drug use and drug trafficking then, more child abuse and fewer abortions, which meant more dysfunctional families, inefficient psychological treatment, more boredom as technology wasn't there to fill the void as it is now, and so forth.
One local news outlet recently stated that the drop in murders was a result of better emergency medical care, as people who might otherwise have died in past eras are surviving now.
But that explanation implies that there are just as many attempted murders and stabbings and shootings as before, something which hasn't been demonstrated.
Most shocking of all the 1977 murders are those involving young children, notably the newspaper delivery boy and the four-year-old girl who entered the wrong door.
There were also far more crimes of passion, men killing their exes because they can't continue without them, that sort of thing.
Some context: 1977 was one of the worst years for postwar Montreal, as the flow of cash that came through town prior to and during the 1976 Olympics was stemmed. Also there was a mass exodus of talented people as hundreds of thousands left for Toronto and other points west after the separatist Parti Quebecois and its regional agenda took power in the province.
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Jan. Marcel Girard was stabbed to death while watching a movie in Archambault prison. Another inmate was charged.
9 Jan. Wayne Hernandez, 25, strangled his wife Merle Hernandez, 24, at their home at 2145 Beaconsfield in NDG on a Sunday night at 10 pm. .
Jan John Wendell Hyppolite, 29, and Michael Daniel Myrmick, 18, and a teen from LaSalle killed John Frederick Jones, 16, of Toronto in a sugar shack in Sainte Madeleine.
6 Jan. Phillip Watts, 11, was stabbed to death at 7 a.m. while delivering Gazette newspaper. He was found behind 2010 Patricia in St. Laurent at 7 a.m.
Jan 15. Jacques Narbonne, 23, confessed to stabbing his uncle Ovila Leblanc, 53, dead at Leblanc's place on Chateauguay Street in Point St. Charles. He went to police voluntarily. He said that Leblanc had sexually molested him.
24 Jan. Marcel Lambert, 32, stabbed Nora Lambert 17 times, killing her in a car. They had just returned from watching a sado masochism show in Sept Iles.
27 Jan. 8 pm. Gerry Turenne, 48, a discotheque owner, was shot with two .22 calibre in the bathroom of his disco on Lajeunesse. Two in the head. He had been close to heroin king Lucien Rivard in the 1960s and had a private beach in Laval and owned the Cabaret Bobino in St Laurent and the Quebecois bar in Pont Viau. He was shot at 7:30 p.m. at the Maximum 10445 Lajuenesse in Ahuntsic. It might have had something to do with the ongoing take down of the Violi clan. Turenne had attempted to sue the Montreal Star the year prior for stating that he was part of the Canadian Connection that brought heroin into Canada.28 Jan. Daniel Desormeaux, 27, shot Arthur Pelletier, 68, dead three times in a farmhouse in Saint Calixte.
29 Jan Jacques Sauve, 22, killed his half brother Pierre Thibault, dead with three shots on Demontigny Street in Montreal. during a family quarrel.
29 Jan.Peter Yank, 25, killed fellow inmate Normand Piche, 20 with a metal bar inside the cells of the Archambault prison in Ste. Anne des Plaines at 6 p.m Yank was inside prison for killing Jean Vallieres, 45 in 1975 near St. Jovite. Piche had testified against Yank in court. Yank was in a halfway house in 1987 preparing to be released.
29 Jan Donald Dancause, 19, was charged with murder after Raould Michaud, 40, was found frozen dead in the snow in Matane. Michaud had been beaten to death and robbed and left out there after a dispute with Michaud.
1 Feb. Gerald Cournoyer, 52, was killed during a robbery in a restaurant in Point St. Charles. They shot him twice after he made a movement that left the robbers feeling uncomfortable. The thieves took $500 from the small restaurant.
2 Feb. Jean Lapointe was found dead with a .38 bullet in his head in a tavern on St. Hubert street. He had been hired as manager with the task of cleaning up the place of crime.
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| Andrade |
3- Feb Ludvig Anders Olsson, 89, killed his wife Olive Olsson, 84, beating her with a rolling pin on Westhill Ave. He was charged with two years for manslaughter. He was not imprisoned. He killed her due to her health issues.
5 Feb Giseppe Bucci, 42 was found in the trunk of his car wrapped in a blanket on Gouin boulevard.
8 Feb. Taxi driver Richard Dubuc, 22, shot and killed Raymond McNaughton, 22 and Carole Bosse, 19 while they slept at 6235 Drolet. The two were staying at Normand McNaughton's place, who was the brother of one victim and the boyfriend of the other victim. After the shooting Dubuc drove Norman McNaughton around as if he was planning to kill him, eventually telling him that he owed him $5,000. An accomplice Gilles Cote, 23, was acquitted.8 Feb. Francesco Violi, 38 was killed in his office in RDP at 7 p.m. He was the brother of Paolo Violi.
8 Feb. Gaetan Gadoury, 23, stabbed Danielle Vallee, 17, 23 times in Notre Dame des Laurenties on Erables Street. He was given 10 years for manslaughter.
10 Feb. Jean Audette, aka Jean Haddad, 47, was shot seven times with a .22 at his home in Lac Jolicoeur by a masked men at 1:20 p.m. While his girlfriend was tied up and watched on. Audette's kids saw their father's dead body when they returned from school. Audette was a master fraud artist
13 Feb. Roger Chamberland, 21, killed Francois Couture, 51, with a knife and a hammer on Brebeuf Street in Montreal. It was a drug deal gone bad. Chamberland was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years.
14 Feb. Leo Paul Cote, 49, was found shot dead on Talbot Boulevard. in Jonquiere at 7 a.m. No suspects or possible motive. He lived alone.
Feb. Walter Maciura, 50, beat his father Andre Maciura, 72, to death in Point St. Charles. The two had been drinking.
17 Feb. Jean Lamothe, 20, shot Clement Dupuis, 25, dead in a the Le Cocotier Bar in Drummondville at 1:40 a.m. for trivial reasons.
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| Binette |
26 Feb. Francine Binette, 23, a stripper, was found dead with five bullets in the face at 6224 Chabot Street Montreal. at about 6 p.m. it was considered an underworld settling of accounts. She was describe as a "cat lady."
26 Feb. A 17-year-old who had escaped and was drunk stabbed Suzanne Gregoire, 29, 80 times, killing her on St. Denis Street. She was a student. Her body was found the next day.
23 Jan. Regent Gagne, 18, Daniel Perriere, 18, and Victor Morin, 25, were arrested for killing Georges Richard Gallaghan, 51. The three had beaten and robbed him in a nightclub.
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| Martel |
4 March Philippe Warren, 22, shot and killed Real Gregoire, 33 while robbing a tavern on Papineau. Gregoire was the manager. Warren killed himself in prison soon after being sentenced to 14 years.
12 March Michel Mitchell, 26, died after being beaten to death on Notre Dame Street in Ville St. Pierre in an underworld slaying.
March A lone gunman killed Michel Arsenault, 40, Monique Renaud, 34, Ginette Adams, 25, Jaques Fortin, 42 and Michel Chorel, 19 in a bar on Belanger Street.
13 March A 17-year-old stabbed Gerard Tremblay, 46, to death in his apartment on Moreau Street in Montreal at 2:45 p.m. They had been quarreling.
14 March Pierre Lanctot, 59, killed his wife Monique, 39 in Malatric.
24 March Lambert Choquette, 34, killed Maurice Gagnon, 48, stuffing a pair of scissors in his eyes on in his apartment on Rachel Street in Montreal. The two had only met a few hours earlier.
24 March Guy Gloutnez, 19, killed his father Bernard Gloutnez, 50 with a knife in Ville La Salle.
25 March Louise Camirand, 20, was found dead on a country road in Austin in the Eastern Townships. She had been raped and strangled after disappearing two days earlier.
26 March Richard Villeneuve, 29, killed his 2-year-old child Marc Villeneuve. He killed himself with a knife and set fire to his home in Joniquiere at 830 a.m. His wife exited safely.
28 March An unidentified vagrant was found in a burnt car in Longueuil. It was thought it might be Roger Brisson, 43, a grocer from Brossard. But Brisson was arrested for the killing when he returned to Canada. It was an attmept to get rid of his debts.
25 March Georges Duran, 31, killed his wife Myrian Durand, 22 in St. Jean de Matha. She wanted to leave her. He shot her with three 22 bullets. Found guilty of murder.
March Roger Duhamel, 29, Thomas Guay, 35 and Reginald Berger, 29, were charged
1 April Michel Lepine, 29, was found dead in an apartment on Iberville. He was shot in the face. Lepine was a tough guy who had survived a previous attempted murder.
1 April Gaetan Gosselin, 21, and Daniel Cote, 22, killed Roland Cloutier, 56 over a $2 billiard debt in a downtown alley. Both were sentenced to 12 years.
2 April A woman aged between 18 and 25 was found wrapped in a blanket in a dump in Longueuil. She was never identified.
4 April Yvette Roy-Bisson, 38, killed Claude Pellieter with a .12 calibre at her friends house on Rivard Street in Montreal.
5 April Hermel Lachance, 25, killed Lucien Saint Hilaire, 44, dead with two punches in a cafe on Gouin Boulveard in Montreal.
12 May Jacques Saint-Louis, 34, shot and killed his wife of five years Nicole Saint-Louis, 25, and killed himself after on Berthiaume Street in Contrecoeur.
20 May Two teens were charged with the murder of Martha Brown, 37, whose body was found behind her home in Ville Emard. She was found stabbed to death at 3 pm on May 20 at the foot of a staircase.
27 May Irene Taylor, 65, was found dead with a knife in her ear on Masson Street on 26 May. The killer did not steal her money. Her body had been rotting for some time before found.
27 May Revie Willette, 32, of Saint Jules de Cascapedia in the Gaspe, killed his wife Catherine Willette, 26, and three children Shelly, 7, Stephanie, 2, and Scott, 5, before killing himself at around 9 a.m. on 27 May. They were all shot with a bullet to the head. Nothing in his behavior had hinted at such an outcome.
30 May Jacques Paradis, 26, was killed by two men, one black and one white near the Jacques Cartier Plaza in Old Montreal around 10:30 p.m. He was a drug dealer.
May Charles Jackson, 18, Sandy Brown, 26, and James Wilson, 26, were charged with killing Randal Ross Gagnon, 16, who was shot in the back in Abercorn in the Eastern Townships. The three believed he had ratted them out.
17 June Jean-Guy Decarie, 31, shot his ex-wife Danielle Decarie, 24, in the head twice on Darveau Street at 10 pm. The two had been recently separated and were arguing over their two year old child. Decarie also shot himself in the head and died four days later.
19 June Alain Bujold, was playing with a firearm when he shot his friend Michel Gill, 17, dead in the street in St. Francois Laval at about 12:20 p.m. Bujold shot himself dead immediately after realizing what he had done.
29 June Louis Bedard, 38, was strangled in her apartment on St. Denis in Montreal at around 2:30 a.m. Reasons unknown.
2 July A 17-year-old was charged with murder after killing Pierre Boisvert, 19, with an axe in Disraeli.
5 July Sex pervert Roger Dubois, 38, raped and murdered Melanie Casselman, 4, after she went
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| Melanie Casselman,4 |
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| Dubois |
8 July Denis Lafontaine, 22, shot Richard Turcot, 35, dead with a bullet to the head in a restaurant on Gouin at 4:30 a.m. on July 8.
July Douglas Foreman, 20, and a young man under the age of 18 went to rob the home of Ghislaine Desormier, 27, at 3430 Sainte Famille on the pretext of having an orgy. They drank and did cocaine but instead of having sex, they robbed and killed Desormier, as they hoped to go together to San Francisco with the stolen cash. Foreman was sentenced to prison and returned several times behind bars and became an advocate for prisoners stricken with HIV and hepatitis. He noted in a 2012 recent interview that since cigarettes were abolished in Quebec prisons, sexual favours have become a more common form of payment. Foreman died in a B.C. prison in 2014.
10 July Pierre Paquette, 28, met Lise Coutu, 21, on St. Denis Street. He killed her and disposed of her body in a dump. Police could never find the body but Paquette confessed to the killing as well as another woman killed July 23. He was sentenced to life in prison.
21 July Lawrence Carpman, 27, was found dead on July 21 in a quarry in Saint Canut. He had been shot in the face in what's believed to be an underworld settling-of-accounts.
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| Paquette |
14 July Taxi driver Andre Desmarais, 48, was found with a cord around his neck and a bullet in the back on his head after his car was found at the bottom of the Chamblay Canal near St. Luc. Desmarais was a loan shark.
18 July Jean Carbonneau, 39, was found dead in his apartment on Rachel shot several times in the head. His body had been there for some time.
25 July Denis Labelle, 20 and Robert Pelletier, 25, were charged with murdering Daniel Thierry, 23 on 25 July at 8 p.m. inside the Archambault Prison. Thierry had refused their sexual advances.
See also: Archambault prison's bloody, brutal history
27 July Frank Smoke, 29, and Karen Borden, 22, were sentenced to life and 10 years in prison after killing Veronica Parent, 23, on Biret Street in Ville St Laurent in a carjacking. Smoke had been getting into trouble since 1963, for assaulting police, escape, illegal weapons and so forth. He had only been recently released from prison. Borden only knew him for three weeks when he came to her home at 630 Ste. Croix with a gun. They first carjacked a Cadillac. A third person, named Linda managed to get away as they drove near the river. After jacking Parent's car and killing her, they robbed the bank at 1110 Laurentian Blvd. They were caught within 48 hours.
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| Poirier |
27 JulyClaudette Poirier, 15, went missing from her home in Drummondville, her bicycle found on the road to Hemming Street in Drummondville. Her remains would be found nine years later.
29 July Chantal Tremblay went missing from Rosemere and her remains found two years later.
31 July Robert Hartuk, 24, was found dead in his apartment on Pie Ix on 31 July. A bullet had been shot through his head.
1 Aug. Michel Gervais, 27 and Ginette Raymond, 25 were found shot dead on Champlain Street in Montreal on August 1. Police considered it a settling of accounts.
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| Dorion |
13 Aug. Viviane Laliberte, 26, suffocated her child Alexandre Laliberte, aged 16 months, in Charlemagne. The mother was mentally deficient.
Aug. Paul Christie, 33, stabbed fellow drunk Gerald Gagnon, 39, in the thigh in a Montreal park. Gagnon died. Christie was sentenced to five years for manslaughter.
Aug. Car salesman Pierre Loiselle, 23, killed his girlfriend Danielle Cardinal, 16, as well as her father Maurice Cardinal, 41 in Valleyfield. He shot them both with a .12 then tried to kill himself after. He was charged with murder after his release from hospital.
20. Aug. Roland Cholette, 53, was shot dead as was his daughter Helene Cholete, 14. They were found at 7 p.m. on August 20 near their home in St. Eustache. No motives or suspects.
22 Aug. Marcel Dion, 26, a drug dealer, was shot dead with two .32 in the head in an apartment on Claude Legault in Montreal North at 10:30 a.m.
27 Aug. Peter Joe Price, 45, shot and killed his wife Marguerite Price, 43, in their home on Souvenir Street in Chomedey Laval at 9:45 a.m. The husband didn't want to give up his home, as they went through a divorce.
2 Sept Prison escapee Michel Belley, 43, shot Monique Marchand, 34, dead with a bullet to the face at her husband's grocery store in East Hereford in the Eastern Townships. Dion then got in an accident that caused four deaths in Montreal and was arrested.
4 Sept. Denise Saint Maurice, 61, killed her husband Florient Saint Maurice, 66, with a .410 in the head at 6 :00 a.m. The victim had severe health problems.
7 Sept. David William Foster, 26, killed Kevin O'Brien, 22, as he was sleeping inside his cell in Saint Anne Des Plaines on 7 September.
7 Sept. Robert Richard, 25, shot Sylvia Coupal, 20, a barmaid who dabbled in prostitution, dead in Laval.
10 Sept. Marcel Carriere, 50, killed his girlfriend Helene Cutler, 30, on 10 September. Carriere was drunk and Cutler had described herself as a "femme de gaffe," which means party animal or worse.
10 Sept. Robert Cormier, 27, was found shot dead near Rawdon. Cormier hung out with a rough crowd as his girlfriend's two brothers had been killed two years earlier.
11 Sept.Helen Monast was found half naked on her 18th birthday at 8:20 a.m. in a park near the
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| Monast |
15 Sept. George Sievright, 39, died after getting a beating in a bar in Alexis Nihon. Daniel Sullivan, 35, and David Morrison, 38, were questioned and held responsible by a coroner but no charges were laid. The victim had apparently spat in somebody's face.
10 Oct. Slvain Aubut, 19, killed Maurice Fiset, 38, with a knife on St. Hubert Street. Aubut was a grocery delivery boy and the affair was deemed a homosexual thing.
10 Oct. Roger Brosseau, 61, killed Isabelle Brousseau, 60, with two bullets in the mouth on Oblats Street in Quebec City. He set fire to the house afterwards. The killer was badly burned and confessed later.
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| Laudi |
14 Oct Roger Courchesne, 40, was charged with killing Ginette Lyrette, 342 in Rouyn. He shot her several times.
14 Oct. Derek Charlton, 30, was charged with killing Louise Laudi, 41, beating her with an iron bar in St. Calixte. He was mentally deficient.
14 Oct. Inmate Luc Chounard, 20, had his throat slashed in Sainte Anne des Plaines prison. Nobody was arrested.
15 Oct. Gerald Papatie, 26, ran over Jeannette Papatie, 26, in La Verendrye Pak. He was charged with murder.
19 Oct. Gerald Lambert, 25, was found dead after an orgy in his apartment on Bruchesi Street in Montreal. He had been stabbed to death.
20 Oct.Chrstian Sullica, 21 and Daniel Cayer, 19, killed Peter Petrouilias, 46, stabbing him at his restaurant on St. Dominique in an attempted robbery.
20 Oct. Denis Fortin, 30, a mentally deficient man, strangled Gisele Fortin dead in St. Lambert near Quebec City.
21 Oct. Jeanne Denis, 64, was killed at her home on Prieur Street for reasons unknown. She was battered in the head.
Oct. Hector Napoleon Romero, 31, and Gustavo Jamarillo, 30, were charged with stabbing to death janitor Gilles Levesque, 34, at his apartment on St. Denis Street in Montreal
23 Oct. Claude Beland, 30, killed his family: Ginette Beland, 30, Eric Beland, 3, and Thierry Beland, 8 months to death with an axe and then drove to his death off a bridge in Buckingham.
24 Oct. Denise Bazinette, 23, was found naked and strangled to death by a road in St. Luc She was a cashier at a restaurant. No motive known.
27 Oct Guy Belanget, 26, was charged with killing Jean Pierre Labelle, 33, stabbing him 57 times with a knife in a home for invalids. Both were nurses.
31 Oct. Paolo Ciccarone, 38, was charged with killing Maria Ciccarone, 36, stabbing her to death at their apartment on Papineau in Montreal. The two were separated.
Oct. Francois Boucher, 31, was charged with killing an ad salesman Jean Leblanc, 29, in his apartment on Fullum. His body was never found.
1 Nov. Gerard Auger, 56, was held criminally responsible for killing Roland Genereux, 51, killing him with a punch in a restaurant on Notre Dame Street in Montreal.
3 Nov Raymond Bolduc, 31, a butcher, was charged with strangling Marcel Auger, 36, to death on Chagnon Street in Sherbrooke at 7 pm. in a drunken quarrel.
4 Nov. A 14-year-old was arrested for killing Denise Messier, 36, with a bullet in the back of the head while they were lying down and reading at her place on Caumartin Street in St. Hubert at 10 pm .
6 Nov Paul Lafleur, 39, was charged with strangling Anna Maria Oborowska, 24, at her apartment on Pine Ave. in Montreal.
10 Nov. John Cross, 24, was found dead in a parking lot on Montcalm Street at 6 30 a.m. He was a native from Kahnawake.
12 Nov. Maurice Goyette, 23, confessed to killing Laureir Durand, 23, in a fight in St Gabriel de Brandon.
15 Nov. Louis Steven Hamilton, 53, strangled Valerie Hamilton, 43, with an electrical cord on Prud'homme Ave, The two were separated.
15 Nov. Maxwell Bergon, 40, was strangled by is own tie in his car near a bar on Charland Street in Montreal. He was under police protection at the time.
22 Nov Francine Beaudoin, 21, was charged with stabbing her boyfriend Michel Levesque, 27, to death on Boulveard Hamel in Quebec City She had only wanted to scare him she said. He died with one stab wound.
28 Nov. Jean Shaker, 21, was charged with shooting Alphonse Faucher, 41, dead. on Richelieu Street in Quebec City. Faucher had apparently ratted out his friends.
Nov. Charles Havell, 52, was arrested after Pierre Galipeau, 19 was killed with three .303 bullets on 14th Avenue in Lachine. Havell was unhappy with the smell of frying foods coming from Galipeau's place.
5 Dec. Jean Paul Collin, 58, confessed to killing his wife Leona Collin, 57, beating her to death in Montreal. She had turned off the television three times, provoking his anger.
7 Dec. Real Beaudette, 36, a bachelor and former priest was found dead in his apartment on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal at 11 pm. His hands had been tied and his was stabbed to death.
11 Dec. Denis Paquin set a fire that killed Steve Desaulniers, 2 and a half years old. He was seeking revenge on an ex and was charged with murder and arson.
12 Dec. Denis Therrien, 26, confessed to killing Raymond Faille, 38. They were roommates at St. Barthelemey. Faille had been cruel to his roommate Therrien apparently. His body was found about 1,000 feet away from the home.
12 Dec. A teenager, 16, allegedly killed Jacques Coutu, 32, at in an English school on Papineau Street. The janitor supposedly caught him stealing copies of a French exam.
18 Dec. Clement Dionn, 28, was shot dead in St. Philippe de Neri. Cause unknown, he was a logger
15 Dec William Dumas, 56, killed Mario Blain, 29, with a gun at 12:30 a.m. because he insulted a woman with a sex joke in a bar in St. Amable.
18 Dec. Jean Dessureault, 18, was found in a pit in Laval with two bullets in the head.
22 Dec. Elisabeth Wright, 37, and Lucien Papin, 51, were shot in the face during a robbery in an apartment on Galt street in Cote St. Paul.
24 Dec. Rose Aimee Ethier, 54, attempted to kill herself after murdering her husband Yvon Ethier, 54, in a family argument at 8:30 a.m in Laval.
24 Dec. Barton McGlynn, 38, was arrested after Barbara McGlynn, 34, was shot dead on Evangeline Street apartment in Verdun. They had been separated for a month
25 Dec.Denis Paquette, 21, was arrested after Rene Cote, 22, was stabbed to death in an apartment on Tilleuls in Montreal after a jealous fight.
28 Dec. Guy Field, 44, was arrested while praying in church after he murdered Brigitte Roberge, 7, strangled and raped her in Levis.
30 Dec. Claude Larochelle killed his wife Lois Larochelle, 26, with a gun at a hunting lodge in St. Francois Xavier de Brampton, near Sherbrooke Quebec.