“At least I die famous,” Albert Guay said to his executioners as he paid with his life for the murder of his wife Rita Morel on January 12, 1951. At the gallows he was found guilty of the first bombing in the history of commercial aviation. This story will serve as inspiration for the novel The Crime of Ovide Plouffe Published in 1982 by writer Roger Lemelin. The filmmaker Denys Arcand made a film of the same name in 1984.
The tragedy, which claimed 23 victims, occurred on September 9, 1949 above the village of Sault-au-Cochon, 60 kilometers northeast of Quebec.
“Albert Guay had his girlfriend Marguerite Pitre put a suitcase full of explosives on the plane. She is sentenced to death for this crime. She is also the last woman to experience the death penalty in Canada,” summarizes historian Simon Dubé, executive assistant of the Laboratory of Judicial Sciences and Forensic Medicine in Quebec.
This almost perfect crime went almost unpunished. The bomb was supposed to drop over the river to disperse debris in the water, but exploded at the wrong time. The plane took off five minutes late, causing a flaw in Guay’s plan.
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Forensic chemistry
The debris of the Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC3 analyzed by two of the laboratory’s chemists, Bernard Péclet and Franchère Pépin, revealed the presence of explosive powder. A crucial element in the proof.
“Albert Guay’s trial caused a great stir, but it took some time before he was considered a suspect. At first we thought it was an accident or human error,” continues Mr. Dubé.
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The trading company had assigned its best experts to the case, but they transferred the investigation to the Sûreté du Québec when it became clear that a crime was involved. We learned, for example, that on the morning of the tragedy, Guay had taken out $10,000 in insurance in his name in the event of his wife’s accidental death.
He also had a close relationship with Marie-Ange Robitaille, a woman in Ms. Ruest’s apartment building.
It was Péclet and Pépin themselves who searched the house of Marguerite’s brother Généreux Ruest, a professional watchmaker who had set the bomb’s timer. He will admit it, but reiterate that he thought he was planning to blow up the site of a future building, not an airplane.
“On a piece of cardboard used to assemble the bomb, we found microscopic traces of the same explosive as in the plane wreckage, overwhelming evidence,” says Mr. Dubé.
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Autopsies
The laboratory, led by Rosario Fontaine since the death of founder Wilfrid Derome, also conducted autopsies on several victims of the attack.
The chemists will testify in the various trials that will keep Quebec City in suspense for several months.
When Albert Guay was found guilty of the attack, he denounced his accomplices, claiming they knew of his intentions. On July 25, 1952, Généreux Ruest was hanged, followed by his sister Marguerite on January 9, 1953. They maintained until their last breath that they knew nothing of Guay’s murderous intentions.
This case will mark the history of the Quebec scientific police because it is the chemical traces of the explosives that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.
And it will shape Canada’s history, because the guilt of Guay’s accomplices has always raised doubts.
© LSJML 2023