On May 24th, 1970, sixteen-year-old Claire Gagnon was spending time out and about near her house in Dieppe, New Brunswick, Canada. She was seen alive by witnesses between two and three p.m., but afterward, her whereabouts were unknown.
Her parents became concerned when the teenager didn’t come home for dinner at five o’clock as she always did, and almost immediately reported her disappearance to the police.
The following evening, Claire’s body was found in a field only about three hundred yards from her family home. She had been strangled with a length of electrical cord that was still wrapped around her neck, and a towel had been stuffed into her mouth.
Authorities had no leads, and the inquiry stalled soon after it started. The case, in fact, lay fallow for more than two decades, but then, in 1993, law enforcement filed charges against a man who confessed to the murder. It seemed the tragic crime had been solved at last, but upon further investigation, it was discovered that the individual in question had actually been in a psychiatric hospital at the time of the slaying, and could not have been responsible.
Police in New Brunswick are still hoping that Claire Gagnon’s family will eventually get justice for the murder of their loved one.
Crime Immemorial 