Terry Roth is a citizen of Canada who knew the Allore family since the days when Theresa was alive. He was kind enough to offer me his feedback on my critisism of the Surete du Quebec. Terry writes;

The SQ is to blame for a few things - but not everything. You have to understand that in 1979, there was no SQ - there was the provoncial police and local authorities involved. The locals were the ones investigating these cases (with the help of provincial coroner who did the autopsy and reported results. But there were 3 police "entities" involved - the local police (led by Leo Hamel), the provincial police (albeit distant) and a "detective" named Roch Gaudrault.

This is the crux of this case. Roch Gaudrault. (pronounced Rock Good-row) - this guy was a blithering fool who had no desire in solving murder cases as much as he wanted to just close files. At the time of the disapparance he deduced a drug-overdose theory - and went with that theory through the finding of the body 5 months later. The autopsy showed NO traces of any drugs in her body - which Roch explained that it was due to the body being in water and ice for 5 months. We bought that. What could we do. We were young and the police said thats the way it was.

I never believed that myself- Theresa did not do drugs...and why she would decide to take drugs (she was an honor role student who had early-semester good marks and no problems) want to OD and kill herself 3 miles from her dorm....well it was just a crazy reason.

A few years ago, John decided to look into this case further and found the following:
-There were TWO other girls whose bodies were found around the same time - similar origins, paths roads - in an area which is a quiet rural college town...they had like 1 murder every 20 years in that area - all of a sudden 3 at once. But whey didn't we hear about it at the time? Because all 3 fell into different local jurisdictions (police forces) - there was no SQ to tie them together.
But there WAS a common denominator. Roch Gaudrault was the detective in all 3. As a matter of fact, he was the main murder detective of the entire area. In his career - thats all he dealt with - 3 murders of young girls. How many did he solve? zero.
Now lets look a little closer at this guy...and his so-called "investigations" at the time.....yup you got it - all 3 cases were scant investigations ...poor evidence retrieval....poor interviewing...unexplainable lost time ...useless travelling to places which had nothing to do with the case, etc.

So lets go back and look at the evidence and re-examine it ....okay ? we have forensics today...DNA...etc

Oh my ...look what happened - all the evidence was destroyed 5 years after the crimes!!! Hmm now why would the coroner destroy evidence of unsolved crimes? Maybe a lack of space? (You should see their building - no lack of space there!) ...but look...there was a signature to have the evidence destroyed...and it was by none other than ...Roch Gaudrault

Now I am not saying that Roch had anything direct to do with these crimes...but I do say that he is: a) Too stupid to have carried out proper investigations or b) he knew the killer and was covering up for him

Now it could be a) but also personally I think b)

We bring that to the SQ and they do not want to re-open this up UNLESS we have DIRECT evidence to support any of it

AND the main reason? If we bring an ex-detective under investigation due to botched work or corruption....EVERY case that existed at the time that he investigated (break-ins, assaults, attacks, etc) or people who were sent to jail, would be coming out of the woodwork

See our point?

Terry Roth

After reading this, I conclude that I must admit to an error in my chosen target of ridicule in my SQ/Frankenstein story. I apologize to any citizens of Canada who may have been offended by my sarcasm. This is my reply:

Hey Terry - Thanks again!
This is a good history lesson for me. I should be blaming this Roch guy instead of the SQ. Perhaps he should be the Constable in my story.
This is a very good account you have given me. I appreciate how well you have explained all the circumstances. Now I have an idea of the political situation. It is regrettable that the family and friends of Theresa have been the victims of such politics.
I could never get over the sheer stupidity it must take to not recognize a murder when it is obviously so. (Oh yeah, people who OD always do that. Take off their clothes and go crawling through the snow to die.)
I sure had fun making fun of that.
I was so outraged when I read the part about John and Theresa's father being told to "Go home and forget about it." What a cruel thing to say to a man who just identified his daughter's remains. (Hey, I was pissed!) I had to work that quote into the story.

Thanks again, Terry. You have been very helpful to me. I owe you big time!

When the long awaited autopsy report arrived, it failed to answer all the questions.
First there was the confusing use of the word "natural" as to the cause of death.
Directly over that line is the statement that chlorofluorocarbon was found in the lungs.
My first question was, "On what planet is it natural to die by inhaling freon?"
The second, yet more important question was.
"How did the freon (or cfc gas) get into his lungs?"
or --"What was the source?"
I had to obtain my own copy of the medical examiner's report, because my mother couldn't explain to me what it said. It costs me 10 dollars.
My brothers cannot explain to me how they think it happened, but show a reluctance to talk about it.
"Don't you want to know why Rick died?"
It never occured to me, before then, that there was another answer besides, "Hell Yes!"

So I'm on my own if I want to figure this out.
The first person I called, after I have carefully read through the autosy report, after it arrived in the mail, was Steve Moriarty. Steve plays vocals and lead guitar for Storm Front, a local Rock-n-Roll band I'm sure you've heard about by now.
But he also does a lot of work on his job with refrigerators and air conditioning, and I know him to be knowledgable of things such as this new word I had to learn to pronounce.
"Chlorofluorocarbon" I was reading carefully.
"Oh yeah, that's freon." he says.
I asked him about the possiblity of accidently inhaling enough of it to kill you, and he tells me that you would pretty much have to be inhaling it on purpose to do that.

By privelege of friendship of the family of Joshua Mann (another departed friend I plan on writing about) I met with Dr. Sam Sheps as he was visiting from Vancouver, and asked him to read and interpret my copy of the autopsy report, to which he complied.
The first thing the good doctor explained to me is the legal use of the term "natural cause."
"If it were me," he says, "I would have used the word 'accidental', but what it means is that they believe there is no need for an investigation."
Thanks! Sure am glad someone explained THAT to me!
Dr. Sam explains further that it is the medical examiner's job to determne the cause by the body itself, not by the scene where the body is found. The crime scene investigation is not assigned if the police find no evidense of "foul play" on the scene.
So why the hell doesn't anyone ever finish answering for me the obvoius question?

I am confronted with the possibility that my dear little brother may have been a huffer.
I don't believe this is so, and I can argue that no container was found near the body, but I have to ask myself another important question.
How objective can I be in my personal investigation, when it involves my close family members?

Had Rick have lived 3 more weeks before he died, he would have been 27 years old.
Rick and I share January birthdays, mine on the 25th and his on the 20th. I was 29 when he died, and about to hit the big Three-0.
Rick and I sometimes had one birthday party for both of us, having our birthdays in the same week. I thought it was fun to celebrate our birthdays together.
Nearly every childhood memory I have includes dear brother Rick.
What an abrupt severance from one's childhood that was for me.

My Christian friends, and my New Age friends, tell me considering all the wonderful testimonies I have described from his memorial service, that perhaps he did so many good things for so many people that God decided to reward him with an early trip back home. Cindy said the same thing. To tell the truth, I was able to draw comfort from this thought for a long time.

There is one thing I am thankful for out of this episode in my life, and that is for having the comfort of the knowlege that my dear brother had a good send off.
That means more to me than I can say.
Honest, I'm just making an attempt here.
Although I continue to live with an unanswered question, I've had the opportunity to say good-bye to him the best way I could.

I have pictures from my visit to the grave on the following Thanksgiving Weekend, in 1985, when I took a trip to the cemetery with my Dad and my brother Jack, and our dogs, to see the monument that had been placed there. I'm still learning how to put pics in a blogger, so I can't promise right away.

I wish for all my departed friends to have such a final tribute. All of them, except for Debbie, have had a burial or a cremation, leaving a place we can go and visit to remember them.
All we've come up with so far for Debbie is a parking lot in downtown Carrboro.

Special thanks to Randy Danziger and Tom Sisk, who have provided me with more clues than anyone else.
Bill W -