Detectives working the homicide of retiree Diane Lahaie believe her killer may have deliberately set a fiery explosion in the victim’s home using a BBQ propane tank, which has been recovered from debris inside the small Gatineau bungalow. The explosion, around 9 a.m. on the last Saturday in July, blew out the bay window and shook the neighbour’s house.
Her body was found on the main floor and one police officer who saw the body reported that it looked like the victim had not only burns, but also bruises.
The evidence raised suspicions right away, and if that wasn’t enough, Lahaie’s 2004 Pontiac Sunfire had been stolen from the laneway of her semi-detached bungalow at 14 Gaspé Street in a working-class neighbourhood. She lived alone and had little interaction with neighbours who didn’t even know her name.
The police, at first, wouldn’t say if it was her car they were looking for on July 27, and wouldn’t say where they later found it that night. They eventually said it was her car but wouldn’t say where they found it. It had been abandoned in a grocery store parking lot, a 15-minute drive from the 64-year-old woman’s home. There was no media blitz because police don’t think it was a random killing.
The early working police theory is that the tank was set near the body and left to fill the home with propane to cause an explosion. It is not yet known if Lahaie was killed before the explosion or because of it and investigators are awaiting more detailed results from the autopsy. The explosion makes it much more difficult for investigators to study the crime scene and the evidence seized from it.
Investigators have also turned to security video from businesses — including a bank — that have cameras trained on the parking lot where Lahaie’s car was found hours after her body was found in the debris of her home.
Police are hunting for the suspect who abandoned the victim’s car and hope security footage can give them a clear image, or at least show which way they left the parking lot and how so they can try to retrace their steps using security video from other locations in Gatineau.
The police have also appealed for the public’s help to solve the city’s third homicide this year.
Police also made a point of saying that Lahaie lived a law-abiding life and there were no indications of any trouble because they had never been called to her home until the day she was murdered.
Police have also done their best to assure the public they have nothing to fear because Lahaie was targeted and not the subject of a random attack.
Detectives are awaiting more results from the crime lab and anyone with information about the case can call them at 819.243.2346, ext. 6677.
