Jacques Labossière
Ottawa, ON / Dec. 12, 1985
Labossière, 22, drove on and off for Pointe Gatineau-Letang Taxi between construction and other jobs. Sometime after 3:00 a.m. on December 12, 1985, a male acquaintance, aged 20, called the company and asked for Labossière to be sent to his apartment. Soon afterward he stabbed Labossière to death.
Earlier in the day the killer had bought $20 worth of hashish from Labossière and owed him about $50 altogether.
A fellow driver who shared the same apartment saw both men when he stopped off at home during his shift. The two were calmly talking and sharing a joint in Labossière's parked taxi. The second driver accompanied the killer into the apartment and when he left a few minutes later he passed Labossière on the stairway. Labossière invited him to return later and share another joint with them.
Things rapidly heated up when the killer and Labossière were alone in the apartment. The killer subsequently claimed to have been high on LSD and other drugs and that he panicked at Labossière's reaction to the news that he was unable to pay his debt. He claimed that Labossière rushed at him and accidentally stabbed himself on a knife that the killer was holding.
Labossière, who weighed only 135 pounds, fled from the apartment. The killer caught up with him outside and was seen to throw him over the hood of the taxi. Labossière, the father of a one-year-old daughter, was stabbed several times in the abdomen and died in hospital of internal bleeding. The killer later claimed to have been stabbed by Labossière and exhibited wounds on one hand and on his back. Three knives and a syringe were found near the taxi. The killer's girlfriend identified all three knives as belonging to their apartment.
The killer was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was paroled after 6 years in 1991.
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