Theresa Allore was a Canadian college student who disappeared on Friday, November 3, 1978, from Champlain College Lennoxville in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.[1] She was later found dead under suspicious circumstances. Allore's brother later started the true crime podcast Who Killed Theresa.[2]
Theresa Allore | |
|---|---|
 Allore in 1978 | |
| Disappeared | Lennoxville, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | November 3, 1978 (aged 19) |
| Body discovered | April 13, 1979, Compton, Quebec |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Known for | Unsolved death for 46 years and 9 days |
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) |
The podcast started out as a personal exploration of the Allore's death but later expanded its focus to cover other unsolved crimes.[3] After discovering links between the circumstances of Allore's case and the close resemblance to the recent deaths of two other girls, Manon Dubé and Louise Camirand,[4][5] Allore's brother theorized that the three deaths may have been committed by the same person.[6][7]
Circumstances
editAllore was a 19-year-old student at Champlain College Lennoxville. Her lodgings were in Compton, a fifteen-minute drive south. On November 3, 1978, she disappeared from the campus.[8] Five months later, on April 13, 1979, her body was discovered in a small body of water approximately one kilometre from her dormitory residence in Compton, Quebec. She was wearing only her underwear.[9]
Upon her disappearance, police initially suggested she was a runaway. When her body was discovered, police then suggested that she was the possible victim of a drug overdose, perhaps with the assistance of fellow college students.[10]
Developments
editIn the summer of 2002, the family of Allore enlisted the support of an investigative reporter and friend, Patricia Pearson, who produced a series of articles for Canada's National Post newspaper that presented evidence that she was a victim of murder, and that her death was possibly linked to multiple other unsolved local cases.[11] Since 2002, Theresa's brother, John Allore, who produced the podcast Who Killed Theresa?,[12] continued the investigation, identifying dozens of other unsolved murders and disappearances from 1971 to 1981 which may be associated.[13] The theory was supported by geographic profiler and then FBI consultant, Kim Rossmo, who suggested a serial sexual predator may have been operating in the Quebec region in the late 1970s and advised police to investigate the deaths as a series.[11][14]
Allore successfully lobbied for the creation of a Sûreté du Québec cold case unit, which was created in 2004.[15] Beginning in 2018, John Allore started to focus on other Quebec cases from the 1970s through the present era, cases that further suggest systemic failures in Quebec criminal justice.[16] On January 17, 2019, the Montreal police, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal, announced it was creating its own cold case squad, in large part due to the lobbying efforts of John Allore.[17] In November 2018, John Allore was awarded the Senate of Canada's Sesquicentennial Medal for his work in victims advocacy for "recognition of your valuable service to the nation."[18] Allore and Pearson's book Wish You Were Here about the murder was published by Penguin Random House Canada in September 2020.[19]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Bayly, Joanne (April 16, 2020). "Quebec cold cases: Families of 8 dead women call for public inquiry". CBC. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ Stephane Giroux, "John Allore, ex-Montrealer who sought for decades to solve sister's murder, dies in bike crash". CTV News Montreal, March 31, 2023.
- ^ Dan Spector, "Former Montrealer John Allore remembered as tireless, generous advocate for crime victims". Global News, March 31, 2023.
- ^ Rossmo, D. Kim (2008-12-15). Criminal Investigative Failures. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-4752-3. Archived from the original on 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
- ^ Bérubé, Nicolas (2021-01-03). "La quête d'une vie après un meurtre impuni". La Presse (in French). Archived from the original on 2022-11-19. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
- ^ Who Killed Theresa Allore Part 3 of 5, archived from the original on 2022-10-20, retrieved 2022-10-20
- ^ Who Killed Theresa Allore Part 4 of 5, archived from the original on 2022-10-20, retrieved 2022-10-20
- ^ Fudakowska, Anna (November 16, 1978). "Allore Search Hits Dead End". The Sherbrooke Record. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ "Dad Identifies Dead Co-Ed". The Sherbrooke Record. April 17, 1979. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ McCully, Sharon (August 19, 2002). "Family Seeks Closure in Daughter's Murder". The Sherbrooke Record. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ a b Pearson, Patricia (August 10, 2002). "Who Killed Theresa?". National Post. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2010.
- ^ Bérubé, Nicolas (December 29, 2018). "Meurtres non résolus: "Je ne fais plus confiance aux enquêteurs"". La Presse (in French).
- ^ Tripp, Rob (April 6, 2016). "Unsolved murders blamed on "incompetent" Quebec police". CanCrime. Rob Tripp. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
- ^ Bayly, Joanne (April 18, 2016). "Quebec cold cases: Families of 8 dead women call for public inquiry". CBC News. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ "Project | Cold cases - Sûreté du Québec". dossiersnonresolus.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ Allore, John; Pearson, Patricia (2020). Wish you were here : a murdered girl, a brother's quest and the hunt for a serial killer. Random House Canada. OCLC 1147876404. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- ^ Renaud, Daniel (January 17, 2019). "Important redéploiement d'effectifs au SPVM". La Presse (in French). Retrieved January 17, 2019.
- ^ Gravenor, Kristian (January 2019). "Shining The Light On Cold Cases". Police Advocates Journal. 5: 17–20. Archived from the original on 2019-01-31. Retrieved 2019-01-29.
- ^ Allore, John (September 22, 2020). Wish you were here : a murdered girl, a brother's quest and the hunt for a serial killer. Pearson, Patricia. Toronto. ISBN 978-0-7352-7716-8. OCLC 1147876404.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Literature
edit- Boisvenu, Pierre-Hugues (2008). Survivre à l'innommable et reprendre le pouvoir sur sa vie (in French). Montréal: Éditions de l'Homme. ISBN 978-2-7619-2314-9.
- Hanes, Allison (June 16, 2006). "Pattern points to serial rapist". National Post. Toronto. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
- Rossmo, Kim, ed. (2009). Criminal Investigative Failures. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-4751-6. OCLC 226966553.
- Wojna, Lisa (2009). Unsolved Murders of Canada. Edmonton: Quagmire Press. ISBN 978-0-9783409-5-7.
- "Who killed Theresa?". CTV News. March 14, 2005. Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2010.