Stories of Murder in Toronto's Gay Village
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
William Duncan Robinson, 24, was found by his sister when she became concerned that he did not show up to work for two days. He was found November 28, 1978, “horribly mutilated” in his 205 Vaughan Road apartment. Robinson was a “shy, well-dressed” man who, police believe, may have met his killer at the St. … 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
Shirley (Peter Christopher) Hauser, 20, was stabbed to death on August 19, 1978 on the school grounds of Western Technical Commercial High at 125 Evelyn Crescent. Police reported that Hauser, who lived on Westminster Ave., was a trans woman, dressed as a woman and was undergoing a sex change. She was stabbed in the back, … Read more
Police were stymied by the murder of 47-year-old Donald Rochester, a bartender and handyman for the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, on February 13, 1978. Rochester had worked at the Club at 44 Price Street for more than 15 years and was well-liked by his colleagues. He left behind a wife and two children. Rochester was … Read more
Brian Dana Latocki was 24 years old when he was murdered. On January 25, 1977, a still-unknown assailant stabbed Latocki in his home at 141 Erskine Avenue. Police said he was believed to be the “victim of a homosexual assault” after his nude body was found tied to his bed. He had been tortured, stabbed … 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
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
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