Chantal Tremblay – July 29, 1977

Chantal Tremblay was a student attending the CEGEP of Old Montreal just off Saint Denis street. She lived with her parents in Rosemere, QC. At approximately 5:30 pm Friday, July 29th 1977 Chantal Tremblay left her home at 250 rue Oak in Rosemere. The 5 foot tall, 90 pound 17-year-old girl boarded a bus at route 344 on Grande Cote bloulevard in Rosemere. At approximately 6:15 pm the bus driver noticed Chantal exit his bus at the Henri Bourassa Metro Station in Montreal (Henri Bourassa, just West of Papineau). Chantal was on her way to meet her 7-year-old sister Christine at the Berri-de-Montigny Metro Station in downtown Montreal. The two young girls intended to travel together to Quebec City. Chantal never made it to Berri-de-Montigny.

Almost two years later, on April 21, 1979, two boys who were walking in a wooded area owned by the Department of National Defence, near 165, rang Saint-François in Saint-Louis-de-Terrebonne, discovered human bones on a hill. (this is right on the western tip of Terreborne near Rosemere). Her clothing was lying about 200 to 300 feet from her remains. Cause of death was not stated, but the newspapers indicated that she had been “murdered”.

The jurisdiction in this case is confusing. Initially the St. Eustache police were notified, but Montreal SQ are the first to arrive at the scene (Pierre Lanoue and Francois Lalancette). Jacques Gagne of the Surete du Quebec is also involved. Eventually the investigation is headed up by Normand Trapanier and M Charette of the Rosemere Municipal Police. This is odd. Rosemere is were Chatal lived. However she was last seen in Montreal (MUC police), and was found in Terrebonne (presumably at that time, the Surete du Quebec’s territory). The point being that, as in so many of these cases, there appears to have been jurisdictional confusion.

Analysis

There is not a lot to go on with this case except what little I found in newspapers. Requests for photo archives from Section Rouge Media and the Quebec National Library for autopsy reports yielded nothing.

Matters of interest

• The area where the remains were found is about a 10 minute drive from the Archambault prison in Sainte Anne des Plaines (see Jocelyne Houle).
• It is odd that Chantal is last seen at Henri Bourassa, but her remains are found all the way back in Terrebonne, very close to where she lived. Was someone following her on that bus?

• Chantal Tremblay’s entered the Henri Bourassa metro station and headed for the Berri-de-Montigny station located downtown. That metro route touches where the following victims lived: Lison Blais, Denise Basinet, Lise Choquette and Jocelyne Houle (Houle would have taken the Jean-Talon bus to the metro). If any of these women commuted in Montreal (and most likely they did) they would have used the Henri Bourassa metro line.
• Tremblay’s final destination, Berri-de-Montigny, is in the area that Jocelyn Houle was last seen: presumably she would have used the Berri-de-Montigny station to get to the Old Munich.
• The article makes mention of the Johanne Dorion case (which we will visit next), and the fact that Joanne Dorion used the same bus route as Tremblay (the Henri Bourassa line)
• Dorion and Tremblay went missing on the same day, July 29, 1977.
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Personal note: I know the Rosemere / Terrebonne area well. My brother lives there. I have driven Grand Cote many times. A number of years ago I tried to make contact with the parents of Chantal Tremblay, but they had moved away.

Note: This case should not be confused with 24-year-old Chantal Tremblay who was murdered in Valleyfield in 1998.