Death of Manon Dubé
Manon Dubé was a 10-year-old Canadian girl from Sherbrooke, Quebec who disappeared on January27, 1978, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and was found dead in Ayer's Cliff on March24, 1978. Although the precise cause of Dubé's death remains uncertain, Canada's National Post has unveiled compelling evidence that she was murdered. After discovering links between the circumstances of Dubé's case and the close resemblance to the recent deaths of two other girls, Theresa Allore and Louise Camirand, they theorized that the three deaths may have been committed by the same person. After bringing in geographic profiler, Kim Rossmo, an expert in connecting serial crimes, he strongly suggested that a serial killer was operating in the area during the late 1970's.
Disappearance
On January 27, 1978, Manon Dubé, was outdoors with her friends and younger sister, Chantal, sledding on hills only three blocks from Dubé and Chantal's Bienville street apartment. At around 7:30p.m., once it started to grow dark, the Dubé siblings and their friends decided it was time to head home. Approximately one block from the apartment building, Chantal ran ahead out of the cold, leaving Dubé behind on the street corner. This would be the last time Dubé was seen alive. When Dubé failed to arrive home later that night, her mother Jeannine immediately reported her missing. She was last seen wearing a navy blue snowsuit, a salmon-colored scarf, a [Knit cap|], red mittens, and snow boots.That same night, the police published a bulletin with Dubé's name and photo. They then organized a large search party of sixteen officers and two tracker dogs to find Dubé in the woods nearby, while a separate thirteen-officer party conducted house-to-house investigations along rue Bienville, and several snowmobile volunteers combed the area between Sherbrooke and Ste-Élie d’Orford. Chantal would tell police that she and her cousin were followed by someone in a dark Buick the previous week, and when questioned, neighbors admitted that their children had been approached by strangers during the last few months.
Less than two days later, Jeannine received multiple phone calls from unknown people, one of whom claimed they had Dubé in their possession and would only safely return her upon receiving $25,000. Jeannine, a new widow, had recently received approximately $20,000 from her late husband's life insurance policy. It is speculated that the caller was aware of this, and the police believe the phone call to have been a hoax.
The following day police announced the ransom call was most likely a hoax. The Dubé’s telephone number was broadcast on a local radio station. Someone probably called up Dubé's mom as a sick joke. Hope turned to despair. Dubé's mom prepared for the worst and she stated: “I can’t help but think she has been abducted, attacked, or raped. I pray to God this hasn’t happened.”