The 2023 Montreal Homicide Victim List is available here

Montreal police Insp David Shane announced on August 28th that an “accelerant” was discovered at the scene of the fire in Old Montreal on Place D’Youville that left seven people dead on March 16th.

Police said an accidental cause has been ruled out and it’s now a criminal investigation. Investigators have identified an area where the fire began. Share said the building was a heritage site, paired with the accelerant could explain why the fire spread so quickly.

The victims have been identified as:

Walid Belkahla, 18
Charlie Lacroix, 18
An Wu, 31
Saniya Khan, 31
Dania Zafar, 31
Nathan Sears, 35
Camille Maheux 80

Maheux lived in the building, while the others were staying in Airbnb

Police have not commented on if they have any suspects.

Update According to Lapresse Denis Bégin, AKA “Halloween killer”, admitted that he was present last March when a devastating fire broke out in a building on Place D’Youville, however, said he was not the one who started the fire. He said the fire was started by another individual, whose photo he took.

(“The Halloween Killer” nickname was given to him after he killed a young man with a gun on October 31, 1993, in front of a crowd in a bar, while he wore a goalkeeper mask.)

Police revealed that Bégin, is a career criminal with a serious criminal record. He managed to live quietly in Montreal for years and create a building maintenance business under a false identity after escaping from the minimum security penitentiary where he was serving a life sentence for murder.

He remains the #1 suspect and has been transferred against his will to a maximum security penitentiary.