For the second season of the documentary series, director Bernard Nadeau and his team focused on eight new stories of murders, some of which went unnoticed, that took place here in Quebec.
Told at length by relatives, journalists who covered the case and retired judge Me Johanne St-Gelais, with narration by David Goudreault, the It Happened Near You program will be tuned to True starting Tuesday.
The first episode follows the murder of Judith Elemond Plante, a 22-year-old single mother living in Victoriaville, who was killed by Jean-François Toupin Houle, a piano transporter in his mid-twenties struggling with addiction, and as violent, manipulative and narcissistic, by an ex-spouse.
When the young man returned in the early morning of July 27, 2016, he told his then-girlfriend that a few hours earlier he had had an argument with a man and that he was seriously injured. Convinced by his wife, Toupin Houle gave himself up to the Trois-Rivières municipal police at around 5 a.m.
He explains this time that he met Mrs. Elemond Plante on a dating site and that he was intimate with her. During a sex game with a knife, he accidentally killed him. However, the autopsy will reveal that his victim’s death was no accident. The young woman was stabbed many times and would have fought back before her throat was cut.
Jean-François Toupin-Houle was sentenced in 2018 to 10 years and six months in prison without the possibility of parole.
A piece of paper that says a lot and evidence that is piling up
The second episode of the series looks back on the murder of real estate agent Julie Morrison, whose remains were found charred in a burned vehicle on Chemin Ozias-Leduc in Otterburn Park, Montérégie in 2013.
His ex-boyfriend Louis Pelletier, a man with a checkered past and well-known in police circles, was found guilty of first-degree murder and disregard for his body five years later.
Completely different from the sort of men the broker is usually associated with, Pelletier is described by the victim’s relatives as “always dirty, ill-dressed, without teeth and without much education”.
Shortly after their meeting, Pelletier proposes to the agent and very quickly he is overcome by jealousy. After Mrs. Morrison finds out he lied to her, she will end the relationship for good, after which Pelletier will increase the harassment and threats against her. The man, who also has major money problems, then owes his ex $6,000, who refuses to give him his engagement ring back until he pays it back.
At the time of the loan, the lady had him sign a note stating the loan and payment terms. Moreover, it is this note and several pieces of circumstantial evidence that will allow investigators to put their hands on Louis Pelletier and prove his involvement in this affair.
Produced by Pixcom, in association with Quebecor Content, It Happened Near You will be available on Vrai this Tuesday.