Debunking time...

   I plan to spend some time challenging a local myth which insults the dignity of some victims of a terrible criminal. It's one that's been perpetuated way too long.
   It started with Norma Vaillancourt, 21, a student from St. Anne des Monts, in the Gaspe, born 6 January 1947 to Bertrand Vaillancourt and Pierrette Levesque. She moved to 2591 Davidson apartment 16 and had a boyfriend named Michel Bolduc. She was 5'2" and in the summer of 1968 and tanned. I've corresponded with someone who knew her and he says she was a very special girl and had been planning to return to Gaspe to teach.
   She was found dead in her apartment with the ends of her breasts cut and bleeding. There was much blood around her mouth and her bottom lip had been badly bitten, presumably as she struggled against her attacker. She had been savagely raped. There was no alcohol or drugs in her system. There was no sperm at the scene. She was strangled to death.

   This is the official police statement of the man who found her dead body.

   I’m been a teacher for about six years and I’ve known Miss Norma Vaillancourt for about one year, from when she was taking courses at the Two Mountains Regional. The classes started last year near 2 July 1967 and finished about 6 August 1967. She left Two Mountains Regional around 6 August 1967 and she returned 2 July 1968 to take some classes at the St. Emile School at 3700 Sherbrooke East. I met her a few times during those classes and at a certain moment, I can’t give an exact date, she came to see me in my office and we looked at the La Presse newspaper to try to find an apartment near the St. Emile School. Yesterday morning, which was Monday am, she asked if I could cash a cheque for her since the postal strike was on and, not having enough on me to cash the cheque, and I can’t remember how much it was for, I gave her $5.00 and told her that I’d go to my bank at lunchtime to get the rest of the money to give her $20.00. At noon I didn’t have the time to get to the bank to get the cash to give her $20.00 in the afternoon and so in the afternoon of 22 July 1968 I went to her classroom to see Miss Vaillancourt and I put them in an envelope and around 3:55 pm I left the school to bring her the money and at the same time to tell her that I was unable to get to the bank to get the money she wanted. Once at 2591 Davidson Street, apartment 16, I knocked on the door and it didn’t reply. I left and I met her as she was walking home. I entered her apartment, she had bought some soft drinks and she’d offered me and I accepted. Around 4:25 I left. I know that her boyfriend was supposed to come during the course of the evening. I went home and arrived there at 4:50 p.m. Last night, Monday 22 July at 7:30 pm, I went to the Caisse Populaire on Notre Dame in Pointe aux Trembles which is where I took out the sum of $60.00 That morning, Tuesday 23 July I didn't see her in class and when the professor gave me the attendance list I noticed she had been absent. Around 4:30 pm I went to her home and knocked, there was no reply and the door was open a little, I pushed the door and discovered a stretched out dead body on the bed. She was completely naked. I went to knock at the janitor's and there was no reply, I tried to see if there was any police nearby and I drove to the fire station on Hochelaga to tell them to call the police. I returned to the scene and got there at the same time as the police

- Jean-Marie Bouchard 14275 Dorchester Pointe aux Trembles.