John Allore, ex-Montrealer who sought for decades to solve sister's murder, dies in bike crash
John Allore, a former Montrealer best known for his true-crime podcast Who Killed Theresa, died Thursday in North Carolina following a cycling accident.
"We are saddened to share that our Budget Director John Allore was tragically killed in a biking accident yesterday in Orange County. John was a dedicated public servant, a loving father of three daughters aNd a loyal friend", the city of Durham, N.C. said on Twitter.
Allore is best known for his relentless pursuit of solving the murder of his sister Theresa, who grew up in the West Island but went missing while attending Champlain College in Lennoxville in November 1978. Her decomposed body was found in April of 1979 near her dormitory. Police could never establish a cause of death, and suggested she might have suffered an overdose, although facts never established that claim, her brother said.
But her case was reignited in 2002 when her brother John Allore decided to follow a reporter friend who tried to connect the disappearance of Theresa with that of other women in the Eastern Townships who were murdered around that time. In CTV News interviews over the years, Allore said he constantly pushed the Quebec provincial police to reopen the investigation into his sister's death. Allore would routinely return to the scene where Theresa's body was found to search for new leads.
"You just kind of have to catch yourself because your heart is reaching a little bit, and your expectations are getting ahead of yourself," Allore told CTV News last year. He eventually wrote a book about his search for the truth with the help of investigative reporter Patricia Pearson.
"His family had long suspected that there was something fundamentally wrong with what the police had said," Pearson told CBC in 2020.
John Allore first launched his podcast, Who Killed Theresa, in 2017. The first few episodes focused on his sister, but it quickly evolved into other cold cases in Quebec and the rest of Canada, leading to new tips sent to police forces across the country.
But Allore constantly criticized the Surete du Quebec for not trying harder to follow new leads.
"The SQ's position is 'call us, email us information,' so it's a very passive approach," he told CTV News. "They're waiting for the phone to ring."
Allore was 60, and passed away before he got the answer he had been looking for his entire life.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.