Forty years to the day after the rape and murder of her little brother, a Quebec woman still hopes that the killer will be caught and brought to justice.
Stéphane Gauthier was only twelve years old when his body was found undressed in an isolated field in the Anjou industrial park on December 23, 1982.
Photo Archives, Le Journal de Montreal
At the time, he often played hockey with his friends in the schoolyard and took care of about fifty hamsters while dreaming of the day when he would become a veterinarian.
Photo Archives, Le Journal de Montreal
Dolorès Chartrand and Denis Fortier, Stéphane Gauthier’s mother and stepfather, inherited their son’s 50 hamsters after his death.
“He was a simple and happy child, who didn’t ask for much. I would have liked to grow up with him, I could already see us getting old together. But someone deprived us of that,” laments Stéphane’s older sister, Manon Lizée.
A glimmer of hope
The one who has been trying to reopen the investigation for forty years still has hope of finding her brother’s murderer, especially when she sees the progress in other unresolved cases like that of Guylaine Potvin.
Photo Archives, Le Journal de Montreal
His body was found in a field in Anjou.
“At the beginning, I already felt that the investigation was not going to move forward. The media talked about it for a week, but then nothing. I finally have a platform to remember the murder of my brother, “says Mme Lizee.
She claims to have contacted the investigators several times, but they still have no solid leads.
A retired police officer, however, agreed to re-read the file, which could relaunch the investigation, she hopes.
No suspects
On the evening of his disappearance, December 21, Stéphane was with his friend François Bombardier, who lived opposite him.
He left home around 8:30 p.m., suggesting that he was to join his mother at a friend’s house on Saint-Hubert Street. However, the teenager never made it to his destination.
The afternoon before his disappearance, Stéphane and his friend François were followed by a brown taxi, according to what the latter reported at the time.
If the police have never designated official suspects, Stéphane’s sister thinks that her brother could have known his kidnapper.
By his own admission, the family could have bad company at the time. At least two of the teenager’s uncles have also been convicted of sexual abuse since Stéphane’s death.
“The investigators seem to have already pursued this track, without it giving anything”, suggests Mme Lizee.
Photo provided by Manon Lizé
Similar crimes?
She also notes several similarities between her brother’s case and the disappearances of children reported in November 1984, namely the murders of little Maurice Viens and Wilton Lubin, as well as the disappearance of Sébastien Métivier.
“My brother’s murder in 1982 was so heinous… It wasn’t little abuse there. His killer was not caught after two, three and four years … It would not surprise me if he did it again, ”laments Manon Lizée.
Any information concerning the disappearance and murder of Stéphane Gauthier can be sent to Info-Crime at 514 393-1133.