Stories of Murder in Toronto's Gay Village
Sawyer Cowley 
Nirmal Rawle Ramnanan, 35, was found stabbed to death in his 939 Avenue Road apartment on Saturday August 7, 1982. He was found nude and bound to a chair, stabbed, by building authorities after a neighbour complained of loud music all night long. Because the loud music continued Saturday morning, building personnel used a passkey … Read more
Kenneth Albert Jones was the perfect tenant, according to the superintendent of his 81 Charles Street East room. But on June 10, 1982, Jones was found lying naked in a pool of blood, suffering from multiple stab wounds in the neck and stomach. Jan Kubilinski, the superintendent of the rooming house, said she heard a … Read more
David Murphy, 61, was a freelance artist, killed June 28, 1981 in his own Brimley Acres senior’s apartment at 2950 Lawrence Avenue East. He was found dead with his skull smashed in and he had been robbed. He sustained more than 20 blows to the face and head. An electrical cord was knotted around his … Read more
Forty-two-year-old Marlon John McRae of 35 Wynford Heights Crescent was found March 1, 1981 lying in a pool of blood in the building’s underground parking garage. The attack was so savage, friends in the building had difficulty identifying him. He had lived there nine years. Even at the morgue, the building superintendent could not identify … Read more
James Edward Downing, 23, worked as a night cleaner at the College Street YMCA in Toronto’s central core. He lived, and died, on Ontario Street, in the east central area on the outskirts of the Gay Village. He was found lying in his bed by his 15-year-old sister, stabbed to death. She had gone to … Read more
Thirty-six-year-old Diane (Brian or Bryan William) Edwards was not the only person attacked when someone broke into a house at 45 Badgerow Ave. at 4:30 in the morning on October 21, 1979. Micheline Ferland, 35, Rosemary Doohan, 30 and Casey Doohan, 6, were also beaten. Edwards was the only one who died. Edwards, whom police … Read more
David Albert Manship once loved James MacDonald so much, he deliberately tried to get sent to jail just to be with MacDonald. But on April 8, 1979, Manship, 36, killed MacDonald, 35, in his King Street West apartment. Manship said the two had a tumultuous relationship that began 15 years previously. During the Christmas season … Read more
James Francis McIntyre, 33, was stabbed with such force that the knife penetrated six inches into his brain. He suffered eight additional stab wounds, and died nine hours later in hospital on March 18, 1979. His lover would plead guilty to manslaughter on August 19, 1980. Paul Maurice Monette, 32, told police that McIntyre instructed … Read more
The popular bar manager, Alexander Sandy LeBlanc, 29, was murdered in his home at 16 St. Joseph Court (now Street) on September 20, 1978. His body was found by three friends. He died from more than 100 stab wounds. LeBlanc was the second gay man to be murdered that week – Gerald Douglas White was … Read more
On Sunday September 17, 1978, Gerald Douglas White headed to a friend’s Rosehill Avenue apartment to feed some budgies and water flowers. He was beaten to death that day by Paris Colin Rogers, 23, of no fixed address. White, a salesman who lived at 44 Charles St West, had invited Rogers back to the Rosehill … Read more
Colin Nicholson, 41, was found robbed and beaten on August 27, 1978, and died of severe head injuries on September 4. Police reported that Nicholson and his roommate Albert Homer Durnan, 56, met two men at the Stables, at 418 Church St., and brought them back for drinks to their 26 St. Joseph Street apartment. … Read more
Neil Robert Wilkinson, 35, was found beaten, stabbed and asphyxiated in his Charles St. East apartment on December 15, 1977. Wilkinson “was known to hang out at the Parkside and St. Charles” taverns. Wilkinson left the Parkside on December 9 just after 1 a.m. with two friends. He was found nude on his bed, dead, … Read more
On the morning of Monday September 20, 1976, police responded to a 911 call and found the body of James Stewart Kennedy. He had been beaten to death. Kennedy, 59, lived at 262 Jarvis St., and worked at the Department of National Revenue. He was found beaten and strangled. A towel had been knotted around … Read more
Carmen Noel Allgrove, 40, had left his hometown of London, Ontario and recently began living in Toronto, but had no fixed address. He was an alcoholic who had been kicked out of a home for men with drinking problems. On August 29, 1976, Allgrove met Joseph Patrick Donoghue, 28, in a church park, hoping for … Read more
Fred John Fontaine, 32, was severely beaten in the washroom of the popular St. Charles Tavern at 484-488 Yonge Street on December 20, 1975. He was discovered at 8:50pm, and 911 was called. He died at Toronto General Hospital from his injuries on July 15, 1976. He was 33 when he died. His killer has … Read more