July 23, 1996 – John Brow, 56, who was reportedly a bookmaker and drug-dealer, was discovered by his girlfriend shot between the eyes at his Nepean St. apartment. The killing was described as a gangland-style execution.
June 25, 1996 – The body of a baby girl whose remains were disturbed by an animal were found by a fisherman inside a rotted tree stump near the Hartwell Locks on the Rideau Canal. It was not deemed a homicide – a cause of death couldn’t be determined — but a detective called it one of the most disturbing cases of his career.
April 12, 1996 – Christopher Smith, 23, was crossing the Portage Bridge after a night out in Hull when he got into a confrontation with a man who stabbed him several times and left him to die in his cousin’s arms. His attacker, himself also bleeding, is believed to have left a trail of blood to a downtown Ottawa phone booth, where he called for an ambulance to the bridge.
(posted above) Sept. 7, 1995 – The nude body of Carrie Mancuso, 32, was found in her apartment on Lafontaine Street in Vanier, strangled in her bed with her own cross necklace. Friends said that while it was reported that she was an addict and worked in the sex trade, they remembered her as a devoted daughter who wrote poetry. Nearly two decades later, Mancuso’s mother, Carol-Ann Johnson, still hoped for answers but wasn’t holding out hope for an arrest. "The best I can hope for is to keep people talking about it,” she said.
(posted above) Dec. 3, 1993 – Sophie Filion, who’d turned to prostitution to support her children and out-of-work boyfriend, was last seen getting into a white van downtown 17 days before her frozen body was found dumped in a Westboro parking lot. The 24-year-old, who was described as friendly and nice, was strangled, ending a short life marked by neglect, poverty and tragedy, including the recent death of her baby son.
(already on Map) Sept. 30, 1990 – Melinda Sheppit was 16, pregnant and had been working the streets for just three weeks when her bruised body was found by a homeless man in a parking lot in the ByWard Market. She had been strangled and was missing one of her stiletto shoes. Described as a sweet girl who dreamed of being a social worker, she was last seen alive talking to a man at the corner of Dalhousie and Clarence streets less than 12 hours before.
August 27, 1982 – Turkish military officer Col. Atilla Altikat, 42, was shot 10 times in the head and neck as he waited at a red light at the Ottawa River Parkway. A group called the Justice Commandos for the Armenian Genocide took responsibility for the attack – one of a string on Turkish diplomats around the world.
Aug. 11, 1982 – Richard Daviau, a 28-year-old bartender, was found by his girlfriend shot in the head in his James Street apartment, with shards of broken glass from what appeared to be a beer bottle beside him.
May 1982 – Kathryn Corbett, 26, was found in an isolated woods in the city’s east end, stripped to the waist and stabbed. She’d borrowed her mother’s car, which was found abandoned in Nepean.
May 25, 1981 – Maurice Jolicoeur was shot in the head by a man seen fleeing in a balaclava during what was believed to be a robbery at his senior citizens’ apartment. The 64-year-old had been partially paralysed after a stroke two years earlier.
Nov. 18, 1979 – Lori Zwicker, 15, went missing in July but it wasn’t until four months later that her badly-decomposed body was found face-down in a creek in a “lover’s lane” behind St. Monica’s Church in Nepean. A murder investigation was launched – years later police later considered whether her death could have been accidental.
Jan. 31, 1977 – Orma Casselman’s brother found her naked body on the bedroom floor of her Prince of Wales Drive apartment. The 50-year-old had been stabbed in the chest, strangled and sexually assaulted. Her home had been ransacked but nothing had been stolen.
Jan. 11, 1977 – Wayne Roushorn, 26, was found stabbed to death in his taxi on Fisher Avenue. Police hunted for a man who got into his cab at Bayshore Shopping Centre about 45 minutes earlier. Two decades later, his family offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his killer.
Nov. 23, 1975 – Julius Zimmerling, 38, was found dead in his maximum security cell at the Innes Road jail. Police believed Zimmerling, who faced charges including murder after two men died in an O’Connor Street house fire, had been strangled.
Nov. 1974 – Pauline Matthews, a 49-year-old secretary at the Department of National Defence who lived in downtown Ottawa, was found beaten to death in Carlsbad Springs. She was wearing only black boots. Her clothes were found nearby.
May 17, 1974 – Lenore Harding was found floating in a ditch near the airport by a passerby. The 18-year-old had been sexually assaulted, stabbed repeatedly and hit on the head with an axe, just 10 days before her wedding. Her family offered a reward, hired a private detective – and even consulted a psychic, to no avail.
May 1973 – George Kearns, 65, was found dead in his home on Regent Street in the Glebe. He had been stabbed in the back of the head with a butcher knife.
Aug. 15, 1971 – Christine Walkowiak, 16, was reported missing on May 13 after she failed to return to her home in the Glebe after finishing work at her part-time job on Carling Avenue. Her body was found in a wooded area near North Gower. She’d been sexually assaulted and killed with an axe or a machete.
June 24, 1970 – Jeanne St. Germain, 42, was killed and three others hurt after a bomb went off when she was working in the communications office in the basement of the Department of National Defence. The bombing was pinned on the Front de liberation de Quebec – the October Crisis soon followed – but no one was brought to justice.
January 1970 – Wasil “William” Gubin was found dead by his wife in the shoe store attached to their home on Bank Street near Billings Bridge. Both the victim and another person’s blood were found on the shop’s front window and on shards of glass at the front door.
December 1966 – Rose Baillargeon, a 53-year-old who’d had many brushes with the law, was found hanging from a coat hanger in her Frank Street basement apartment a week before Christmas. A single fingerprint was found at the scene.
