An old friend and media-guy from L.A. has asked me some questions about Theresa. My responses are IN BOLD. I thought I'd share them with you - they're good questions and reveal some good info (can you guess where this is leading?) If I've missed anything please let me know:
Please let me know current availability/accessibility on your end of the following, and please be as specific as possible: Video (1/2; 3/4, airchecks/digitized/quicktime files) of interviews (broadcast & otherwise), events (e.g. July 2006 Search):
Lots of Interviews with W-5, the CBC, etc... I don't think the search was video taped (some of it was by media). A good friend of Theresa's - would be the best for getting you this: he has compiled a lot of taped info into concise dvds.
Any 8mm films of Theresa in existence:
Much... volumes. I have it on video, but the transfer is really poor. For someone willing to work with it. I also possess the original 8mm films (thery are in Amelia's closet)
Highest quality possible for all Audio (radio interviews, etc) & any available transcripts of same:
Gosh, I'm terrible with this, people tell me it's out there but I don't know where to look. It would be easy to get a hold of when the time was right. The CBC is anal about keeping this stuff (I hear the "As It Happens" interview from last Monday was really good)
Photographs of principals w/brief bios:
Ya, I could compile all this:
Allore family
(tones of this)
Surete du Quebec
(difficult, but not impossible. I have archival stuff from Allo Police (the "Confidential" of Quebec) with Roch Gauldreault - but also great period stuff of the other victims (really graphic and disturbing). Originals are available from the National Library in Montreal on microfiche, and you can sign it out. For instance, I ordered 2 years worth of reels of the stuff; they shipped it to me here in Carolina and I viewed it all at the local library - I mean the pictures alone are such a great great time capsule of a culture of violence from the 70s.
Champlain College, Sherbrooke
Yup, great photos of the principal players (I have photo copies, but better quality is available through libraries)
Families of other suspected victims directly related to TA case
I've never asked, but it doesn't hurt to ask
Families of other suspected victims directly related to Louise Camirand and Manon Dube
See above: lots of stuff available: The Dube's are cooperative; the Camirands, not so much - they'd like to forget about it.
Investigators involved 1978-2006
As I said, I've got period photos of Roch, and tape of him from 2002. The others? Oooh... tricky. P.I. Robert Buellac: I've got two good photos of him... and I've got a couple of Lennoxville police chief Leo Hamel.
Existing archive footage of events 2000-2006 (video/Audio)Physical documentation of key evidence/paperwork 1978-present
There is not any footage: but we have all the evidence so you could document it.
Any documentation/statistics detailing the number of cold cases nationwide in both the US and Canada
Available from StatsCan and the American DOJ stats: no secret.
Recommendations for any books/websites/materials you feel relevant and useful to topic(s):
Shit, I could go on all day with this...
Books (in no particular order):
1. My two copies of "Almanacs du Crimes au Quebec", 1978, 1979 given to me by P.I. Robert Buellac just before he died. Out of print, french, invaluable. You don't need to know the language to get the gist... the photos are stunning. I will loan them to you, but be aware: I prize these items!
2. Patricia Pearson's When She Was Bad (about female murderers). You get to know P and it's such a fun read.
3. Robert Ressler, Whoever Fights Monsters: from cover to cover, baby... from cover to cover.
4. You know what an Ellroy-head I am, but re-read "Stephanie" in Destination: Morgue!
5. Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me was a huge influence; before and since.
6. Alan Young's Justice Defiled: you must, YOU MUST read it. Alan is a Canadian attorney who completely understands the Canadian criminal justice system (and the book's a hoot)
7. Skim The Afterlife Experiments by Gary Schwartz with particular attention to Laurie Campbell (who lives in your neck of the woods)... I've been keeping secrets and this is a path you might want to look at.
8. Skim or be familar with any of the works of Kathy Reichs (you know, that Bones show on tv). Kathy made some important introductions for me.
9. If you have a french reader available... Jo-Anne Wemmers academic book, Introduction a la Victimologie is a good overview of the situation in Quebec. Jo Anne is bilingual, a professor at the U of Montreal, a friend and a good academic to talk with.
10. Yves Theriault - Tout Le Monde Dehors!. Again, if someone knows french: a good overview of the problem of early parole in Canada
11. For grins: Mary Roach: Stiff and Spook. Look, she's Canadian and lives in Oakland, if you could get her interested and documented it would be a coup.
12. Skim Deborah Spongeon's (sp... yes, Nancy's mom) Homicide: the hidden victims: A good look at what we go through.
OK! Websites!
1. Google Kim Rossmo and read up on the basics of his theories on geographic profiling.
2. There's a Montreal criminologist named Eric Beauregard: he helped us a lot and his papers might be worth reading.
3. Take a look at the Pierre Boisvenu's group: http://www.afpad.ca/ The man knows every crime victim in Quebec. Highly popular and a good friend.
4. Because Kim R was so tied to it, you should know the basics of the Robert Pickton case (prolific s.k. : 61 victims and counting) check out: http://www.missingpeople.net/home.html
5. Check out http://www.nofreedomdobson.com/ and read Dobson's testamony of murdering Dolly Prioriello (a quick read)
6. Google Karla Homolka and know the basics of that case (it's the Manson Murder's of Canada)
7. I think the story of Jeanne Cleary and Security on Campus http://www.securityoncampus.org/ is a really interesting American parallel to Theresa and Champlain college.
8. The case of Sharron Prior really sticks with me (a quick read) http://www.sharronprior.com/
9. Ontario's Resolve Initiative (http://www.opp.ca/Investigative/UnidentifiedRemains/index.htm) is brilliant (match cold cases with unidentified human remains): this is text book of what should be done and so obvious it's a wonder no one else has thought of it. Plus the guy who runs it, Officer Kim Peters, is an ally, friend, frequently teaches using Theresa's case as an example
Miscellaneous Questions Who specifically do you believe should be a focus of the piece in terms of interviews, and specifically why?
I was hoping you'd ask that. If I were doing it? This would be my dream interview list:
1. Friends of Theresa: they are primary sources
3. My brother, mother or father
4. Sue Sutherland (the student from U of Montreal who organized the search)
5. Pierre Boisvenu (hugely popular: can give you overview of Quebec political situation)
6. ANYBODY with a pulse at the Surete du Quebec
11. A number of journalists with the Montreal Gazette (Paul Cherry, etc... they get the picture)
12. Kristian Gravenor: a journalist in Montreal who studies the Quebec underbelly (he will give you gold)
13. Kim Rossmo, Jo Anne Wemmers, Eric Beauregard, Arlene Gauldreault (academics who will give you credibility)
14. Micheal Surprenant, Marcel Bolduc, Christian Caretta (french fathers who have lost daughters in Quebec - they will tell you the frustrations of victimology in Quebec)
American Big Guns who will help:
1. Deborah Spongeon (a maverick, but well respected)
2. Dr. Marlene Young (current president of the World Society of Victimology - an incredible speaker and interview)
3. Steve Twist (Victim and victim's rights lawyer from Phoenix (- Arizona is the most progessive of states in victims rights)
4. John Walsh (I'm totally serious)
What are three things about Theresa's case that are the most surprising?
1. That it could have been solved.
2. That there are so many assaults, murders, events associated with it.
3. That the police have been and still are completely inept: I will elaborate:
a/ When Patricia Pearson and I were talking about geographic profiling in 2002 (in those articles) the police didn't have a clue what we were talking about.
b/ Patricia and I were doing profiling before the Quebec police even knew what it was. Quebec didn't have it's first profiler until 2003: Eric Latour, the investigator assigned to Theresa in 2002: he didn't meet or learn of Rossmo's teachings until 2004 (we were way ahead of them)
c/ What I wrote yesterday about the Bouchard girl (the police don't get the complete picture)
4. To learn that she was studying to be a criminologist was quite a shock.
What are five things about Theresa that come to mind when you think of her?
1. Smart-ass, funny: her smart mouth probably got her killed.
2. Non-judgemental: she accepted everybody, EVERYBODY as equals (which explains why she treated a goofy-fat kid like me so completely without bias) - she knew you could learn from everybody.
3. (this one must go in tandum with numner 2): Huge bullshit detector: she was not some rose colored glasses person. She could see through a scam like no one I've known, and would not tollerate stupidity.
4. Rebel: she was my definition of cool then and now. huge influence on me (especially in terms of culture / sociology / music)
5. Theresa was a ham (wonder where I got that from?): when my dad saw her on the cover of Canada's National Post, August 10th, 2002 (my mother's birthday), his reaction was, "I always knew she'd make it big".
What are three aspects of the case that are not generally/publicly known? (This is of course in confidence)
Nope: that's for me and my friend! (I gave him four!)
Within the next 12 months as best you can determine, any key upcoming events germain as to either the specific investigation or related topics (e.g. court hearings/rulings/symposiums/speeches/demonstrations, etc.) when, where and why
1. The NOVA conference in Florida in two weeks is tersiary (sp) but interesting: Ron Goldman's sister will be there, that girl from Aruba's mother will be there. It is the first time that NOVA and the World Society of Victimology is convening at the same time: should be quite a scene.
2. CAVA (Canadian Association for Victim Asst) is meeting in October in Toronto. A who's who of canadian victims, etc... (you could pull off mulitiple interviews in one shot if you got it together).
3. The Robert Pickton trial in B.C, begins in January: this is the biggest event in canadian criminal justice history.
4. As I said, we may do a search in Quebec in the fall.
5. Pierre Boisvenu's group AFPAD will be having two semi-annual meetings in Quebec over the next 12 months.
6. At some point the Quebec gov will make an announcement about wether they will fund a cold-case squad.
7. We are waiting for results from the B.C. lab. If anything comes of it: if the bones turn out to be human - it will be a sensation.
8. By the end of September I will have a draft of a chapter that I am contibuting to an acedemic book on criminal investigative failures (edited by K Rossmo, to be published in the UK)
posted by John Allore @ 8/12/2006 10:53:00 PM
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