A brother missing since 1981: 'Why didn't the police do more?'

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When René Bernard Laflamme did not return to Ottawa after a trip to Montreal, his family knew something had gone desperately wrong. In those critical early days, they say, overlapping police turf got in the way of a proper investigation.

Addressed to the chief of the Montreal police in 1982, the letter was written by Ottawa resident Coreen D’Angelo. Four pages long, it lays out in detail why D’Angelo believes the police are not taking his case seriously.

More than 40 years later, Laflamme’s siblings remain convinced there was foul play involved. A fact they’ve expressed in detail to several police forces for decades, in at times desperate pleas for someone to take the case to heart. “That was the worst part,” she said on a recent afternoon. “Even for years after, on any long drive, I’d still be looking in the ditches.”

The plan was to spend the weekend in Montreal, then return to Ottawa to collect his belongings. He had made arrangements with a friend to pick him up in Ottawa on Monday. The two would then drive to Vancouver together.Article content “Barney had a strong relationship with his family, especially his mother, and would not have disappeared or ceased to have contact with them,” the file also notes.

They’ve described the man to police as both someone who saw Laflamme as a son but could also be controlling and jealous. They also detailed having overheard heated phone arguments between the two in the days before Laflamme’s disappearance, bickering over Laflamme owing him money.Article content “I said, ‘Why have you got my mother’s keys?'” D’Angelo recalled. “He said, ‘Barney left them with me.'”Shortly before his disappearance, Laflamme brought his sister Darlene along to a party. Except once there, he introduced her to people under a different name and described her as a friend, not his sister.Article content“I don’t want them to know who you are,” she remembers her brother answering.

The family first approached the Ottawa police, but remember being told they had to report Laflamme missing in Montreal, since he was last seen there. The Montreal police, on the other hand, maintained Ottawa should lead the investigation.“It was just … like they were passing the ball,” D’Angelo said, recalling the early days of the investigation. “It felt like a missed opportunity.”

“The RCMP is prepared to assist the Ottawa and Montreal police forces should this course of action be determined necessary,” Kaplan wrote.

 

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