It has been half a century since 17-year-old Marie Julie Goudreau was killed while heading home to Beaumont, Alta.
In the summer of 1976, on a balmy evening, the teenager disappeared while driving on rural roads south of Edmonton. Her vehicle was discovered later that night, still running.
Her body was found almost 48 hours later.
After 50 years since Marie’s tragic death, the Alberta RCMP Historical Homicide Unit and the Goudreau family have made a public appeal for any information that could lead to a breakthrough in the case.
‘Time is running out’
Monique Goudreau referred to this anniversary of her sister’s murder as a crucial moment.
She expressed concern that if answers do not emerge now, they may never surface in the future.
“I think it’s crucial because witnesses or the perpetrator may be getting older,” she stated in an interview with CBC News. “If we don’t receive any information now, I doubt we will ever get closure later on.
“Time is running out.”
Marie went missing on the evening of August 2, 1976. Following dropping off a friend at Edmonton’s central industrial airport, she visited other friends at their apartment in the city.
She left around 10:30 p.m., planning to return to her family’s farm in Beaumont, located about 30 km south of downtown Edmonton. She had an early morning shift at a café in south Edmonton the next day and wanted to get home.
She was never seen alive again.
Shortly after midnight, her 1972 blue Plymouth Cricket was found abandoned south of Edmonton on Range Road 244, which is now Ellerslie Road.
The driver’s window was rolled down, the headlights were on, and the engine was still running.
Marie’s personal items were left inside, including her purse with cash, a mahogany leather jacket neatly folded on the backseat, and her leather sandals.
Two days later, Marie’s body was discovered in a watery ditch six kilometers north of Devon, Alta., approximately 30 kilometers west of Beaumont.
Most of her clothing was found nearby, but her navy-blue ankle socks and brown slacks were never recovered.
An autopsy revealed that Marie had been strangled to death, leading to the case being classified as a homicide.
Investigators suspect she was abducted, potentially approached and lured out of her vehicle by someone posing as stranded on the roadside.
The incident triggered extensive air and ground searches, leaving the close-knit Beaumont community deeply affected.
Despite receiving over 600 tips and conducting subsequent cold-case reviews, no charges have been filed or suspects identified by the Alberta RCMP.
Investigators are now appealing to the public once more, emphasizing that details previously considered insignificant in 1976 might hold significance today.
Anyone with information is urged to reach out to the K Division Historical Homicide Unit, their local police station, or Crime Stoppers.
‘A life lost’
Goudreau fondly remembers