Teresa Shanahan, a 55-year-old woman, was a stylish and professional accountant living and working in Laval, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec. In the autumn of 1999, she was navigating life after having gone through a difficult divorce about five years prior. Her life, however, would be cut tragically short in a crime that was part of a horrifying spree of violence that terrorized the communities around Montreal.
In November 1999, concern grew when Teresa could not be reached.
On November 23, police were dispatched to her apartment to check on her welfare. Outside her door, a small pile of uncollected newspapers hinted at the grim discovery that awaited them inside. Officers found Teresa in her home; she had been brutally murdered. The investigation would later reveal the shocking extent of the violence she endured: she had been sexually assaulted, beaten, and stabbed more than 30 times. The scene was one of extreme violence, and it was clear that robbery was also a motive, as jewelry and credit cards were missing from her apartment.
The investigation into Teresa's death soon connected with other recent, vicious attacks on women living alone in the greater Montreal area. In the weeks before and after her murder, two other women, 59-year-old Anna Yarnold and 46-year-old Monique Gaudreau, had been killed in a similarly brutal fashion. The pattern of violence pointed towards a serial predator. A crucial early clue in Teresa's case came from her stolen bank cards, which the killer used to withdraw money from an ATM shortly after the murder. Security cameras captured a grainy image of a bearded man, providing investigators with their first glimpse of the suspect.
The breakthrough came after the murder of 50-year-old Mary Glenn in Baie-D'Urfé on December 15, 1999. At that crime scene, investigators discovered a single fingerprint on a door frame. This piece of evidence led them to a 44-year-old handyman named William Patrick Fyfe. Police placed him under intensive surveillance and arrested him on December 22, 1999, near Barrie, Ontario. Fyfe, who became known as "The Killer Handyman" and "The Plumber," had a history of violence and had been traveling between Ontario and Quebec.
The case against Fyfe was overwhelming. In addition to the fingerprint from the Glenn crime scene, police found a mountain of evidence connecting him to the series of murders. A particularly damning piece of evidence in Teresa's case was one of her stolen rings, which was found among Fyfe's possessions. DNA evidence also linked him to the other victims, solidifying the timeline of his murderous spree in the fall of 1999. He was ultimately charged with five counts of first-degree murder, including the killing of Teresa Shanahan and a cold case from 1981.
In September 2001, to avoid a lengthy trial, William Patrick Fyfe pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. After his conviction, Fyfe confessed to at least four other murders dating back to 1979, making him one of Canada's most prolific serial killers. The legal proceedings brought a definitive end to his reign of terror, but offered little solace for the immense loss suffered by the families of his victims. Teresa Shanahan is remembered not just as a victim of a notorious killer, but as a professional woman whose life was stolen in an act of unimaginable violence.
