The Katherine Hawkes Audio Tape

This is the audio recording from the Katherine Hawkes investigation (for the complete Hawkes story, click here)

Recall that Hawkes was murdered September 20th, 1977 at the Val Royal train station in the Cartierville area of Montreal.  The night of the murder her assailant called the police twice around 10:35 pm and left the following two messages:

First message:

“I attacked a woman at the corner of Bois Franc and Henri Bourassa. In the bushes to the North West side. Hurry, Sir, I’m afraid she might die. Thank you.”

Second message:

“Yes, hello, I attacked a woman at the corner of Henri Bourassa and Grenet… Grenet… in Ville Saint Laurent, in the bushes, at the North West corner. Do you understand?  I think you understand well, Sir. At the corner of Grenet and Henri Bourassa. At Ville Saint Laurent, In the bushes at the North West corner.”

Operator: “The woman is still there?”

 “Thank you.”

Bois Franc is the name of the train station. In the second message he phones back to clarify / be more specific: It’s North West of Henri-Bourassa and rue Grenet.

Now what I find interesting about the voice is this:  At that time the newspaper headlines were screaming about a “Sexual Maniaque” being on the loose. One of the newspapers even warned that police should check all the local mental institutions because obviously a “crazy” patient had escaped.

Listen to the voice. This is a very measured, detailed person. I sent the recording the Surete du Quebec. Marc Lepine of their Cold-Case bureau and I spoke about it last night (he brought it up in fact, not me). “The voice is a very organized guy”, he said.

But the most important point is in the final sentence in the first call: “Hurry sir, I’m afraid she might die”. 

This means Katherine Hawkes was no doubt alive when the call was made.

The autopsy indicates that Hawkes died from a combination of her wounds and exposure to the cold. The beating made her vulnerable, but hypothermia killed her, and that could have been avoided if the police had responded with diligence instead of leaving Katherine Hawkes exposed to the elements all night long.  

There was a chance to save Katherine Hawkes.  Police waited 20 hours before responding, and Katherine Hawkes died.

This is no doubt the reason the Montreal police removed the tape from their website.

Back Story

This tape was lost for a number of years. The Montreal Police (SPVM) originally released it publicly asking citizens for their assistance to identify the voice. Then they pulled it from their website and it disappeared. I was able to obtain it again through a source who I will not name. But I thank them for their assistance.