July 10, 1999. Pierrefonds, Quebec. 42-year old Janet Kuchinsky leaves her residence in order to go out for a walk, but never returns. The following morning, Janet’s body is found in a wooded area next to a bicycle path located one kilometre from her home and she has been bludgeoned to death by a blunt instrument. Months later, a serial killer named William Patrick Fyfe is charged with the murders of a number of other women which also happened to occur in the West Island region of Montreal during this time period, but no evidence links him to Janet’s death and the crime is never solved.

April 29, 1996. Senneville, Quebec. 51-year old Andre Lalonde, a veteran constable with the Montreal Urban Community Police, pulls over a Ford Tempo with a noisy muffler for a seemingly routine traffic stop before he is fatally shot by the driver. It turns out the vehicle was stolen and it is later found abandoned in an industrial section of Montreal after having been set on fire. There is speculation that in the weeks prior to Lalonde’s murder, the Tempo may have been used during a series of bank robberies, but while investigators believe they have a potential suspect in the shooting, they lack the evidence to file charges.

On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we travel back to our home country of Canada to explore a pair of unsolved murders which took place in the West Island of Montreal. Special thanks to listener Talia Guilbault-Miscovich for narrating the opening of this episode.

Additional Reading:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/police-hope-reward-will-help-hunt-for-killer-1.238470

https://montrealgazette.com/news/world/do-you-remember-the-day-janet-kuchinsky-was-murdered-in-pierrefonds

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https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/west-island-gazette/murder-of-police-officer-andre-lalonde-remains-unsolved-25-years-later

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/andre-lalonde-montreal-police-unsolved-murder-1.3559969

https://globalnews.ca/news/2704684/montreal-police-const-andre-lalonde-laid-to-rest-20-years-ago-but-murder-still-unsolved/

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/west-island-gazette/kramberger-murder-rate-is-low-here-but-weve-had-some-notorious-cases

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