Oliva Habel, 54, was a driver for the Main Taxi company in Val d'Or. On March 27, 1974, he left to pick up a fare without saying where he was going. When he failed to return after several hours the cab's owner, Maurice Bergeron went looking for him. About 7 a.m. on March 28 Mr. Bergeron discovered Mr. Habel's cab near Perron, about 12 miles (19 km) from Val d'Or, on Highway 59. Mr. Habel had evidently been beaten to death with a blunt instrument such as a stick or baseball bat. He was still behind the wheel. Three of his pockets were turned inside out but a fourth, containing $30, was overlooked by his killer. The next day the Sûreté du Québec pulled in six people for questioning. One of them, a 20-year-old man, was convicted of Mr. Habel's murder and sentenced to life in prison. By 1986 the killer was being held in a minimum-security prison in Laval. On August 9 he broke a window and escaped, apparently to avoid being searched after returning from a day pass. He was arrested in Toronto on August 17.

Val d"Or is 525 km (328 miles) northwest of Montréal. (Source: TGoogle Maps.)