Stories of Murder in Toronto's Gay Village
Murder that occurred in Toronto, or of Torontonians
Forty-seven-year-old Kevin Lionel McBride advertised for a roommate for his 5600 Sheppard Avenue East apartment. Police believe a man responding to that ad on Saturday May 15, 1982, is the one who murdered him. McBride had moved to Canada from Australia 17 years before his death, and had a thriving career as an interior decorator … Read more
When Ottawa police stopped a vehicle for running an amber light, they had no idea they would arrest a triple-homicide suspect. Twenty-six-year-old Joseph Norbert Perceval Courville handed over ownership papers when requested. When Courville could not account for having the car of another man, nor for the stereo and other items in the car, police … Read more
Thirty-three-year-old John Henry Martin was an unemployed hairdresser who, on the night of November 14, 1981, met a male prostitute at the Selby Hotel. Martin was later stabbed several times in his sixth-floor Jarvis St. apartment. He lived just a block away from police headquarters. Police said Martin picked up the prostitute while his roommate, … Read more
George Matthew “Peaches” Roach was murdered in Allan Gardens on October 24, 1981. His killer, a male prostitute named Larry Raymond Perrault, 22, was so compelling in court, one of the female jurors who convicted him visited him later in prison. Roach, 46, of Edgewood Avenue, was found dead at about 8:30 a.m. on October … 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
On the evening of Saturday, October 20, 1979, Micheline Ferland, 25, spoke to the Toronto Star on the steps of a house on Badgerow Avenue in east-end Toronto. Her left arm had been broken by a baseball bat that morning. “He was after Diane in particular,” she said. Diane Edwards was 36. At about 4:30 … Read more
On Monday, April 9, 1979, David Albert Manship went to a Toronto lawyer. The information he gave led police to the body of James MacDonald. MacDonald, 35, had been shot once with a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle. The Globe and Mail reported that he was found in Manship’s apartment on King Street West. The Toronto Star … Read more
Early on Sunday, March 18, 1979, James Francis McIntyre was stabbed repeatedly in the head and body with a 10½-inch knife. Police arrested his roommate at the scene, in the Gerrard St. E.–Sackville St. area, and charged him with attempted murder. McIntyre died at Wellesley Hospital 13½ hours after the stabbing, the Toronto Star reported. … Read more
On Tuesday, November 28, 1978, Duncan Robinson failed to turn up for work for the second day in a row. His sister, Catherine, asked police to check on him. Officers forced their way into his apartment on Vaughan Rd. and found his body in the bedroom. Toronto police records give the time of the call … Read more
On the evening of Wednesday, September 20, 1978, three men kicked in the door of an apartment on St. Joseph Street in downtown Toronto. Their friend had not answered their knocks or their phone calls. They found him in the bedroom, the Toronto Star reported. The Toronto Sun said he was lying in a pool … Read more
Early on Monday, September 18, 1978, Gerald Douglas White was found in a pool of blood in a 15th-floor apartment on Rosehill Avenue in Toronto. The apartment belonged to a friend who was away on holiday. White had been looking after it, the Toronto Sun reported, visiting every day to check the security and feed … Read more
Early on the morning of Sunday, August 27, 1978, in an apartment on St. Joseph Street, a man who had fallen asleep woke to find his room-mate unconscious and bleeding from a head injury. The injured man was Colin Nicholson, 41. That was how the Toronto Star told it after he died. The evening had … Read more
At 7:05 a.m. on Saturday, August 19, 1978, Nick Yasynowycz, 69, was walking his dog across the grounds of Western Technical-Commercial School on Evelyn Crescent. Near a flower bed on the west side of the school, he saw someone lying on her side. “I thought she was asleep at first,” he told the Sunday Star. … Read more