Stories of Murder in Toronto's Gay Village
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
In Canada, until 1961, all “murder” convictions resulted in the sentence of execution. Murder was then divided into non-capital and capital murder, but still included the death penalty. On July 26, 1976, Canada formally abolished the death penalty from the Criminal Code, when the House of Commons narrowly passed Bill C-84.
James Douglas Taylor, a 41-year-old house painter, was killed in his home on February 11, 1976. He was killed by a baseball bat. Taylor was found at 147 Elmhurst Avenue [based on the map provided by Toronto Police] after police responded to a 911 call. A pick-up truck was seen at his house just before … 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
Part-time University of Toronto lecturer Arthur Harold Walkley, 51, was attacked in his Borden St. apartment. He was found nude, stabbed four times in the back and once in the chest. It was February 18, 1975. His murder will go unsolved, but his death was one of many that set off a wave of fear … Read more
On June 27, 1969, the federal government enacted the Criminal Law Amendment Act (also known as Bill C-150) which decriminalized homosexuality, meaning you could no longer be arrested and jailed for being queer in Canada.
Samuel McClelland, a 51-year-old post office employee, was beaten to death in an east-end parking lot on Sunday June 15, 1969. He was found the next day lying between a parked car and a truck behind an automotive repair shop at about 410 Eastern Avenue. He was close to his Empire Avenue home, and had … Read more
The summer of ’67 was anything but love for seventeen-year-old Robert Wayne Mortimore of Glouster Street in the Gay Village. That was year he was murdered and his body dumped in a field northeast of Markham. He was found July 17, 1967. Mortimore’s brother had reported him missing a week earlier. His naked body was … Read more
In 1967, seventeen-year-old Richard “Dickey” James Hovey disappeared. In 1968, his remains were discovered. However, he remained unidentified for almost 40 years until the Ontario Provincial Police worked with coroner Kathy Gruspier and Constable Rachel Zuidervliet to create a model of his face from his skull. The Resolve Initiative did its job. In 1966, Hovey … Read more
On June 25, 1967, thirty-year-old Gabriel Brunet, a bartender, was murdered in his 100 Maitland Street home after being stabbed 50 times. Although his screams resonated throughout the building, no one went to his aid or called police. Brunet’s nude body was found by his roommate, Rene Cote, 34, about 45 minutes after the attack, … Read more
The body of a young man was found by a passing motorist – who had spotted a partridge and got out of his car to hunt it – on December 17, 1967, in a wooded area near Balsam Lake Provincial Park, near Coboconk. The victim was wearing one white tennis show. He remained unidentified for … Read more
Bruno Max Seidel led a quiet, mysterious life and died a mysterious, unsolved death. Police were called to a rooming house at 103 Hamilton St., where they found Seidel with three stab wounds in his chest. They originally through the wounds were self-inflicted, until they found two more stab wounds in his back. Seidel, 57, … Read more
High-school teacher Francis Desjarlais, known to police for his “homosexual tendencies,” was found beaten to death on July 17, 1966 in a $4 room at Toronto’s Walsingham Hotel at 321 Jarvis St. The Walsingham was part of a notorious section of Jarvis St. that included murder, prostitution and theft in various low-rent hotels. Less than … Read more
On January 9, 1965, thirty-five-year-old Aiden Francis MacDonald met up with William Alexander Mackie, 19, and Robert Michael Black, 18, and took a cab ride to his death. MacDonald was known to frequent the BaBloor Hotel at 1163-1167 Bay Street, between Charles and Bloor Streets at the end of the day after his work as … Read more
On July 16, 1963, Ronald John Grigor, a 30-year-old bank account, met and was murdered by Glen John Seip, just 15 at the time. Grigor was found dead in his Shelborne Ave. apartment two days later by police. Grigor had taken Seip home and was murdered for his “homosexual advances,” according to Seip’s defense, which made … Read more