On a cold winter day in Quebec, February 11, 1980, a triple murder unfolded that was part of a years-long killing spree by one of Canada’s most prolific assassins. One of the victims was Berthe Desjardins, a woman whose life was violently ended and her body discarded in the frigid waters of the St. Lawrence River. Her story is irrevocably tied to the brutal underworld of outlaw motorcycle gangs and the reign of terror orchestrated by a man known as "Apache."
Berthe was the girlfriend
or wife of Andre Desjardins, a former member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. On that fateful February day, Andre was a marked man. For reasons that would later become clear through the confession of their killer, he and those close to him were targeted. The assassin, Yves "Apache" Trudeau, a founding member of the Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels, first went to the home of Andre's mother, Jeanne Desjardins. Trudeau beat the grandmother to death for trying to help her son.
After murdering Jeanne, Trudeau turned his attention to Andre and Berthe. He killed them both, ending their lives with the same cold-blooded efficiency that marked his notorious criminal career. To conceal the crime, Trudeau disposed of their bodies by dumping them into the St. Lawrence River. For years, the river held its secrets, and the exact fate of Berthe Desjardins remained unknown to the public, a painful mystery for any family she may have left behind. She was 33 years old at the time she was killed.
For five years, Berthe’s disappearance was a cold case, one of many unsolved crimes linked to the violent biker wars that plagued Quebec. The breakthrough came in June 1985, in the aftermath of an internal Hells Angels purge known as the Lennoxville Massacre, where five members of the gang were murdered by their own "brothers." While police divers were searching the St. Lawrence River for the bodies of the Lennoxville victims, they made another grim discovery. Alongside the slain bikers, they found the skeletal remains of Berthe Desjardins.
The man responsible for Berthe’s death was Yves Trudeau, a contract killer for the Hells Angels also known as "The Mad Bomber." Trudeau's career as a hitman spanned from 1973 to 1985, during which he used guns, bombs, and brute force to murder at least 43 people. His victims ranged from rival gang members to innocent bystanders, including the girlfriends and wives of his primary targets. Fearing for his own life after the Lennoxville Massacre, Trudeau turned police informant in 1985, confessing to his staggering list of crimes.
In a controversial deal that sparked public outrage, Yves Trudeau pleaded guilty to 43 counts of manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against other Hells Angels members. His cooperation helped solve dozens of murders and led to numerous convictions. For taking 43 lives, Trudeau was sentenced to life in prison but became eligible for parole after just seven years. He was released in 1994 and given a new identity. His freedom was short-lived; in 2004, he was arrested again, this time for the sexual assault of a young boy, and received a four-year sentence. Trudeau died of cancer in 2008. While justice for his many crimes was complex and, for many, unsatisfying, his confession definitively solved the murder of Berthe Desjardins, closing the book on her case but leaving behind a legacy of violence and loss.
