Angelo Colalillo

Case overview

Angelo Colalillo was suspected of committing serial sexual assaults and murders, including the murder of three young women. He was accused of murdering two teenage girls and a 20-year-old woman, setting two fires, and committing a series of sexual assaults over 15 years. His trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, but he died before it started.

Colalillo was discovered unconscious in his cell at Riviere des Prairies prison on Saturday and died at 6:30 a.m. in Santa Cabrini Hospital after spending the weekend in intensive care. He was 41 years old.

Timeline

• May 7, 2002 — Jessica Grimard’s violated body was discovered by her father in a wooded area within view of her Riviere des Prairies home.
• February 1993 — Christine Speich was initially believed to have died in a house fire caused by faulty wiring; she had stayed home from school to sleep in after working late the previous night on a class project.
• September 2002 — A man talked his way into a Ste. Therese woman’s apartment, raped her, dragged her into her bedroom, and set her on fire; she escaped when the smoke detector woke her up.
• July 2002 — A young woman was lured into Colalillo’s car, escaped while being sexually assaulted.
• May 17 (year not specified) — In a letter to Nick Paccione dated May 17, Colalillo described a crime in the third person and referred to himself as “Bob.”
• Saturday (year not specified) — Colalillo was discovered unconscious in his cell at Riviere des Prairies prison and taken to hospital.
• January 10, 2006 — Colalillo committed suicide in prison by an overdose of medication.
• January 11, 2006 — Colalillo died at 6:30 a.m. in Santa Cabrini Hospital.
• Tuesday (year not specified) — Colalillo’s death ended the high-profile triple murder case, and his trial was not held.
• January 13, 2006 — An autopsy report was described as showing he committed suicide; it said he died of an overdose of medication.

People

• Angelo Colalillo — accused serial killer and sexual assailant.
• Louis Bouthillier — crown prosecutor who was supposed to put Colalillo on trial.
• Marc Labelle — defence lawyer for Colalillo.
• Quebec Superior Court Justice Carol Cohen — presiding judge.
• Jessica Grimard — 14-year-old victim.
• Christine Speich — 12-year-old victim.
• Anna-Lisa Cefali — 20-year-old victim.
• A 20-year-old Ste. Therese woman — victim of a rape and arson attempt who escaped.
• Her father (Yves) — discovered Jessica Grimard’s body.
• Dominique Grimard — Jessica Grimard’s sister.
• Nick Paccione — imprisoned dangerous offender whose mail was intercepted.
• Marlene Chalfoun — former probation officer who was charged with conspiring via a series of letters but was later acquitted.
• The warden at Port Cartier prison — intercepted Paccione’s mail that contained graphic missives.
• Police — investigated and later reclassified deaths initially believed to be fire or suicide.

The offence

Colalillo was accused of murdering two teenage girls and a 20-year-old woman, setting two fires, and committing a series of sexual assaults over 15 years.

Murder of Jessica Grimard

Jessica Grimard was a 14-year-old. Her violated body was discovered by her father on May 7, 2002, in a wooded area within view of her Riviere des Prairies home. She had been repeatedly stabbed.

Death of Christine Speich

Christine Speich was 12 years old. She was initially believed to have died in a house fire caused by faulty wiring in February 1993. She had stayed home from school to sleep in after working late the previous night on a class project. Police took nine years to realize she had been murdered and sexually assaulted.

Death of Anna-Lisa Cefali

Anna-Lisa Cefali was a 20-year-old. She also died in a house fire, only two months after Speich. Investigators said the fire was deliberately set. They ruled her death a suicide, even though she had known Colalillo and was supposed to have met him that morning to discuss becoming his secretary.

Sexual assault and fire in Ste. Therese (survivor)

A 20-year-old Ste. Therese woman was assaulted in September 2002. A man talked his way into her apartment, raped her, dragged her barely conscious body into her bedroom, and set it on fire. She was saved when the smoke detector woke her up and she escaped her burning bedroom.

Sexual assault with escape in July 2002

In July 2002, another young woman was lured into Colalillo’s car. She managed to escape while being sexually assaulted.

Investigation and evidence

Police believed Colalillo murdered the 20-year-old woman and the 12-year-old girl. Both deaths were in 1993 and were originally blamed on fire and suicide, but new evidence led to homicide charges.

The correspondence exchange between Colalillo and other offenders became central evidence. Colalillo allegedly bragged and laughed about his crimes in letters exchanged with Marlene Chalfoun and Nick Paccione. The graphic missives came to light when the warden at Port Cartier prison intercepted Paccione’s mail. The letters contained details about Grimard’s assault and stabbing that police said only her killer could have known.

The letters also included descriptions of how to hide evidence of rape and murder by setting the crime scene on fire, which led police to realize almost a decade after the fact that Speich and Cefali had been victims of a predator.

Arrest and detention

Colalillo was arrested after a sexual assault in Ste-Thérèse, Que., in the summer of 2002. During that arrest, documents found in his home linked Colalillo to the murder of 14-year-old Jessica Grimard. Her father said he found her body in a woodlot.

After his arrest, Colalillo was being held at Riviere des Prairies detention centre until his trial.

Trial matters and court handling

Colalillo’s trial was supposed to start on Tuesday, but he died before it began. The Crown had been arguing that the contents of the letters set to be entered into evidence not be read in open court or reproduced in the media.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Carol Cohen sealed the bulk of the correspondence in the court file so it could never be divulged publicly. Cohen called it “incendiary,” “obscene,” and “pornographic,” and said it was likely to “corrupt public morals” and potentially inspirational to copycat offenders.

Justice Cohen also mulling offering psychological counselling to the jury. She described the letters’ contents and said they described multiple incidents of rape, sexual assault, torture and murder of girls and young women, with precise details about methods used to pick the girls up, gain access to their homes, and leave no traces.

A few excerpts had been released during the Chalfoun trial. Those excerpts included the letter that convinced police Colalillo was responsible for Grimard’s death.

Verbatim correspondence excerpt (letter dated May 17)

“He left a victim, a body, something he wasn't used to doing. Not in this sense, anyways. This was a pure crime scene. The others he wouldn't leave behind. He made them look like accidents, so there was never a criminal investigation involved. But this one would be different. There would definitely be a criminal investigation.”

Colalillo also professed his love of such TV crime series as CSI, saying he would pick up tips about investigative techniques and apply his knowledge to camouflaging crime scenes.

Claims, views, and contemporaneous dispute

Louis Bouthillier remarked that Colalillo committed gruesome crimes and said Colalillo was “obviously someone who had a serious problem, an overwhelming sex drive he could not control.”

Marc Labelle said:

“We have contradictory versions,”

Labelle also stated:

“From authorities, we're hearing it was a possible suicide with an overdose of medication. But at the hospital, his family was told by the doctors treating him that he showed no signs of intoxication.”

Labelle hypothesized that if Colalillo took his own life, it was because he wanted to spare his family the shame of what was about to come out at trial. Labelle said:

“Whenever I talked to him, he was very, very concerned for his family,”

and:

“If it was a suicide, it was for his family.”

Bouthillier suggested Colalillo might have been intimidated by the overwhelming evidence amassed against him, which would include wiretaps of cell block conversations, a jailhouse informant prepared to testify Colalillo confided details of his crimes, and 30 letters in which Colalillo glorified his own atrocities.

Death and autopsy

Colalillo was taken to hospital after being discovered unconscious in his cell at Riviere des Prairies prison. He died at 6:30 a.m.

The nature of his death remained a mystery, and an autopsy was to be performed by the Quebec coroner’s office. It was not believed that Colalillo was the victim of prison justice because his body bore no signs of violence.

Police widely speculated that Colalillo committed suicide on the eve of his trial, with police suggesting he had swallowed a large dose of pills collected from the prison infirmary. A detainee at Riviere des Prairies prison reportedly called The Gazette to report this.

A subsequent report described that an autopsy showed Colalillo committed suicide in the days before the start of his trial, and said he died of an overdose of medication.

Outcome

With Colalillo’s death, the book was closed on the high-profile triple murder case, an attempted murder in Ste. Therese, and a sexual assault. The trial did not proceed because he died days before it was scheduled to start.

Aftermath

Jessica Grimard’s father, Yves, said he was relieved that Colalillo was dead. Yves stated:

“Fate decided the outcome of this case,”

Dominique Grimard said that as a result of Colalillo’s death, she would not have to relive the horror of her sister’s death through the court case, stating:

“It was put in God's hands,”

Other details

Colalillo was also the mystery man mentioned at the 2003 trial of former probation officer Marlene Chalfoun, who was charged but later acquitted of conspiring in a series of letters to have her relatives raped and killed.