Ursula Schulze was a 19-year-old woman living in Brossard, Quebec, when she was abducted in broad daylight on the morning of July 13, 1972. At approximately 7:15 a.m., she was waiting for a bus along the service road of Route 3, now Boulevard Marie-Victorin, east of the 8445 address in Brossard. Schulze worked as a file clerk in downtown Montreal and was on her way to work.
Accounts from the period described her as extremely shy, and she reportedly planned to shop for a birthday gift for her mother after finishing work that day.
Several people witnessed what happened at the bus stop. A burgundy, wine-red or reddish-brown two-door automobile approached the area where Schulze was standing. Investigators received differing descriptions of the vehicle, with it variously identified as possibly a Buick Skylark, Toyota or Datsun. Witnesses said the driver stopped, got out and walked toward Schulze before suddenly grabbing her by the arm and forcing her toward the passenger side of the vehicle. Some witnesses described seeing the man push or hold her down inside before returning to the driver's seat and speeding away. The vehicle was reportedly seen heading toward Montreal, and investigators believed the driver may have been watching Schulze from the parking area of a nearby drive-in restaurant before making his move.
Witness descriptions of the abductor varied, but he was generally described as a stocky man with short dark or black hair. Estimates placed him somewhere between approximately 35 and 50 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing roughly 150 to 170 pounds. Some witnesses described him as having a dark complexion and wearing dark or brown clothing. Despite the number of people who witnessed the kidnapping, police were unable to develop a confirmed identification of the man.
Schulze never arrived at work. Her family became increasingly alarmed, but later accounts of the investigation described serious delays in the initial police response. Her father, Otto Schulze, reportedly went to the Brossard police station with photographs of his daughter on the afternoon of the disappearance. Testimony given during a later inquiry indicated that the Sûreté du Québec was not notified of the apparent abduction until approximately 19 hours after it occurred, losing critical time during the earliest stage of the investigation.
At approximately 3:45 p.m. on July 14, 1972, Schulze's body was discovered behind a former soap warehouse on Rang Saint-Claude in Saint-Philippe-de-Laprairie, roughly 24 kilometres from the location where she had been abducted. A passerby or truck driver found her near the building. The Sûreté du Québec's current cold-case record states that Schulze had been struck by gunfire. Historical reporting has created some confusion over the precise manner of death, with some contemporary newspaper accounts stating that she had been strangled and describing bruising or evidence of a struggle on her arms. Other accounts stated that she had been shot in the back of the head with a small-calibre firearm. The present Sûreté du Québec case listing identifies the killing as a shooting.
Investigators conducted intensive interviews in the days after the killing. Contemporary reporting indicated that several possible suspects had been identified and that, at one point, an arrest was believed to be imminent. Detectives from Brossard and the Quebec provincial police questioned witnesses and people considered possible suspects, but the anticipated arrest never occurred. By late July 1972, investigators acknowledged that they remained without a definitive suspect and had little more than witness descriptions of the abductor and his automobile.
The handling of Schulze's disappearance later became the subject of official scrutiny. Her parents complained that Brossard police had failed to act with sufficient urgency after being informed that their daughter had apparently been kidnapped in front of witnesses. A Quebec Police Commission inquiry examined the response, including the delay in bringing the provincial police into the investigation. The resulting criticism focused particularly on failures in the management and coordination of the early investigation. Schulze's parents subsequently pursued legal action related to the authorities' handling of the case, although the action was ultimately dropped.
Despite the eyewitnesses, the vehicle description and the early questioning of several potential suspects, no person has been publicly identified by authorities as Schulze's killer, and no arrest, criminal charge, trial or conviction has resulted from her abduction and murder. The Sûreté du Québec continues to list the case among its unresolved investigations under file number 101-720714-001 and continues to seek information that could identify the person responsible for taking Ursula Schulze from the Brossard bus stop and killing her in July 1972.
