About suppertime on Monday, March 24, 1975, three men arrived at Toe Blake's Tavern on Ste Catherine Street in Montréal. They were hoping to borrow a car from an acquaintance to "do a job." When the acquaintance refused to loan them his car, two of the men left the tavern and hailed a taxi driven by Jean-Noel Cayer. Mr. Cayer was 42 years old and the father of five children. He lived in Longueuil, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence directly opposite Montréal. As they pulled up in front of 1070 Anderson Street and Mr. Cayer reached to shut of his meter, one of the men shot him in the back of the head with a 20-gauge sawed-off shotgun. The killer and his accomplice went through Mr. Cayer's pockets, retrieving $20 and change. They then dragged his body to a parking lot where the killer deliberately drove over Mr. Cayer's head at least twice. About ten o'clock the next morning the killer, his accomplice and two other men reconvened at Toe Blake's Tavern. Still short of money the killer and a new accomplice decided to carry out another robbery. The two returned to an apartment that all four men shared and retrieved the shotgun that was used to kill Mr. Cayer. They then walked to the Eagle Upholstering Company, about a block and a half from Toe Blake's. The killer and the second man asked the proprietor, 60-year-old Sam Friedman, to show them some sample catalogues. Before he could respond the killer shot him in the face, killing him instantly. Once again the victim's pockets were rifled and yielded four dollars in cash and two ten-dollar American Express travellers cheques. The killer's new accomplice took the travellers cheques back to Toe Blake's and persuaded one of the other two confederates to cash them at a nearby bank. Never having seen travellers cheques before the accomplice signed his own name instead of forging Mr. Friedman's signature. The confederate added his own signature for good measure.

Jean-Noel Cayer's gravestone in St. Albert Roman Catholic Cemetery, Russell, Ontario. (Source: (CanadianHeadstones.com . Photo contributed by seibelce, November 26, 2012.) When the bank teller understandably refused to cash the cheques the confederate fled in panic. This aroused the suspicions of a Montré police officer who happened to be in the bank, Detective-Lieutenant Kenny Abraham. Detective Abraham followed the man back to Toe Blake's where he briefly joined the accomplice and the other confederate before leaving again. The detective stopped his suspect on the street and arrested him when he discovered that the man's identification did not match the name on the travellers cheques. He turned the man over to officers in a passing patrol car and then set off for Eagle Upholstering to find out if Mr. Friedman wanted to press charges. When he got to the store he learned that Mr. Friedman had been murdered about 25 minutes earlier. Detective Abraham had called for backup to arrest the two men at the tavern and the mystery quickly unravelled. The murder weapon was discovered in the apartment and while police were searching for more evidence the killer and another man showed up and were promptly arrested. In November, 1975 the killer was convicted of murdering Mr. Friedman and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 20 years. A week later, on December 5, he was sentenced to a second life term for the murder of Mr. Cayer. In December, 1988 the killer, now 42, was stabbed in his cell at Millhaven Institution in Kingston, Ontario. He was rushed to hospital but was dead on arrival. Mr. Cayer is buried in St. Albert Roman Catholic Cemetery at Russell, Ontario, about 170 km west of Montréal, where several other members of the Cayer family are also buried.