Albert Landry

In the autumn of 1986, Albert Landry was an insurance broker living with his family in Tracy, a community on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. He worked for the firm Dollard Lussier Ltée 1978, a job that required him to travel to meet with clients. To his family and neighbors, he was a working man providing for his household. But investigators would later discover that Landry was leading a second, hidden life that may have led to his death. For several years, he had been an active member of the gay community in downtown Montreal, frequenting its bars and immersing himself in a world unknown to his family in Tracy.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, October 1, 1986, at approximately 2:30 p.m., Albert Landry left his home. He got into his car, supposedly on his way to meet with insurance clients. It was the last time his family saw him alive. For six days, his whereabouts were unknown. The search for him ended tragically on October 7, when two people out for a walk made a grim discovery on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Repentigny, about 60 kilometers from his home.

The body they found was Albert Landry's. He had not been the victim of an accident or a sudden illness. Police determined he had been the victim of a homicide, and the attack was particularly vicious. Landry had been savagely beaten before his body was abandoned by the river's edge. The brutality of the assault suggested a personal motive, leading investigators to believe that the person or people responsible likely knew him.

The Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force for Quebec, took charge of the homicide investigation. As detectives delved into Landry's background, they uncovered his double life. His quiet family existence in Tracy was a world away from his frequent and active participation in the gay scene of 1980s Montreal. This discovery opened up a new and complex avenue for the investigation, suggesting a pool of potential contacts—and suspects—that his family would have been completely unaware of. Police theorized that the key to solving the murder lay somewhere in this secret life.

Despite this significant lead, the investigation into Albert Landry's murder eventually stalled. No arrests were ever made, and the case grew cold over the ensuing decades. The identity of the person or persons who beat him to death and left his body in Repentigny remains a mystery. There is no public information about specific suspects or evidence found at the scene.

As of May 2026, Albert Landry's homicide is still an open and unsolved case on the files of the Sûreté du Québec. His case, along with many others from that era, is a reminder of the enduring pain that unsolved crimes inflict on families who are left without answers or justice. Police continue to seek information that could finally shed light on what happened to Landry after he drove away from his home that October afternoon. Anyone with information that could help solve this crime is asked to contact the Sûreté du Québec's Centrale de l’information criminelle at 1-800-659-4264.