Gilles Giguère

In the spring of 1996, Gilles Giguère was a man living a dangerous life, deeply enmeshed in the violent world of Montreal's organized crime. A known associate of the Hells Angels, he was reputed to be the right-hand man of Robert "Bob" Savard, a prominent loan shark with close ties to the notorious biker gang. Giguère’s life in the criminal underworld placed him in a precarious position, a reality that would culminate in his unsolved murder. At the time of his death, he and his spouse, Julie Couillard, lived in the Pointe-aux-Trembles area of Montreal.

On the evening of Friday, April 26, 1996, around 8:45 p.m., Gilles Giguère walked out of his residence, telling his spouse he was heading to a meeting. It was the last time she would see him alive. When he did not return, she reported him missing the following day. The search ended grimly on the morning of Sunday, April 28. At approximately 10:45 a.m., a truck driver traveling along a small country road in L'Épiphanie, a rural town northeast of Montreal, discovered a man's body abandoned in a water-filled ditch. The victim was quickly identified as Gilles Giguère. He had been shot multiple times.

The investigation, handled by the Sûreté du Québec, immediately focused on Giguère's extensive connections to organized crime. His death occurred during a notoriously bloody period in Quebec's history, the biker war between the Hells Angels and the rival Rock Machine, which claimed over 150 lives. Investigators quickly theorized that Giguère's murder was not a random act but a calculated execution, a "settling of accounts" within the criminal milieu. Police sources at the time suggested a motive: they believed Giguère was killed because he was suspected of having become a police informant.

This theory was bolstered by Giguère's legal troubles. At the time he was killed, he was out on bail and awaiting trial on a host of serious charges. In December 1995, just months before his death, he, Savard, and a lawyer had been charged with conspiracy, making death threats, and extortion against a real estate agent in Montreal's west end. Separately, Giguère was facing charges for the illegal possession of four machine guns and 23 kilograms of marijuana that had been discovered in a cache in Montreal-Est. His life was a web of high-stakes criminal activity, and his murder was seen as a direct consequence of the world he inhabited.

For years, the investigation into Gilles Giguère's homicide has remained open but unsolved, one of many cold cases from that violent era. No arrests have ever been made, and no specific suspects have been publicly named. The case is a stark reminder of the brutal internal justice of the underworld, where disputes are often resolved with fatal finality. His associate, Robert Savard, would meet a similar fate, gunned down in a Montreal-Nord restaurant in July 2000.

As of May 2026, three decades after Gilles Giguère's body was found, his case remains an active cold case with the Sûreté du Québec. Investigators continue to believe that there are people who hold information that could finally solve the crime. The passage of time can change allegiances and loosen tongues, and authorities hope that someone will come forward with the missing pieces needed to close the file on this gangland slaying. Anyone with information that could help solve this homicide is encouraged to contact the Sûreté du Québec's Centrale de l’information criminelle at 1-800-659-4264.