Cold case, warm memories
Byron Carr’s friends, family want his 1988 murder solved
Andrew still holds out hope for closure.
He was friends with Byron Carr and recalls him fondly. He remembers Byron the host — an introvert, but one who loved to be with people. He remembers the music Carr liked — rock and roll and other things — and the dinner parties he threw.
But those memories are tinged with sadness because Carr's 1988 murder has never been solved.
“I'm saddened for his family, and I'm sad for his friends,” he said.
“I hope and pray that this will get solved somehow. My second thought is, he has a lovely family.”
Andrew, who spoke to The Guardian on the condition we withhold his surname, knew Carr's family — a nice bunch of people, he said.
“And I know that they still are in a lot of pain as a result of Byron being murdered.”
WHAT HAPPENED
It all went down on a long Remembrance Day weekend.
Police believe Carr was killed by a younger man after the two had a consensual sexual encounter at Carr's home in Charlottetown. He was stabbed and strangled with a towel.
The killer also wrote a message on the wall.
“I will kill again,” it said. Police have compiled a DNA profile believed to belong to the killer.
Brad MacConnell, who is now the Charlottetown police chief, reopened the case in 2007 and he thinks the killer returned that night with an accomplice to remove evidence.
The police profile of the killer puts him between 15 and 25 at the time of the murder, likely bisexual, and a resident of Charlottetown who had previous involvement with police.
QUIETLY QUEER
Andrew met Carr when they were teenagers working at the old Co-op grocery store in Charlottetown. They later attended university together at UPEI and became teachers.
Over the years, the two drifted apart as Carr got more involved with the developing gay scene in Charlottetown. Andrew is also gay, but he preferred to keep his secret a little more closely. In those days, it wasn't safe to be out, he said. People either stayed in the closet or left P.E.I.
“One of the two things. There was no middle ground,” he said.
“I think of how, not only how painful this is, but (of) those huge coverups within the gay community — the gay community were not out at all and every gay person was covering up their own sexuality.”
Andrew doesn't believe Carr was killed for being gay. He has his own suspicions, but The Guardian is choosing to avoid speculation in this piece.
Still, he drew attention to how many people he knows that believe the investigation was botched because Carr was gay — or at least not handled with due sensitivity because police wouldn't be familiar with the situation.
“It’s good to keep the memory of Byron himself alive — not necessarily the murder, but Byron himself.” Andrew
“I think it's important for the community to realize the horrific set of circumstances that gay people were in three decades ago, and how things have changed and are considered much better, with a bit more equality today.”
A WIDE IMPACT
Andrew isn't the only person from those days who speaks fondly of Carr.
Jeffrey Haight was a student of his at Montague High School, though he was in his early 20s when Carr was killed.
He was terrified when it happened.
“I used to walk to work with a knife in my bag because I was scared to get beat up, and when that happened, you really, really had to pay attention,” he said.
“It was scary that no one was talking about it, to be perfectly honest. Like it was scary that no one acknowledged that it happened.”
Like Andrew, Haight has ideas about what happened and has doubts about the quality of the investigation.
“There's just so many unanswered questions and so many not definite answers, that you could say almost anything and have a theory and suspicion, and chances are you wouldn't know if you are right or not.”
He also thinks the initial investigation was closed much too quickly, he said.
“I just don't understand how an investigation wasn't continued, because especially in P.E.I., there's only a hundred-and-some thousand people. It can't be that hard.”
FINDING PEACE
For Andrew, talking to The Guardian about the cold case is the right thing to do.
“Each time a story would come out, it may help release some of the fear (so) that, perhaps, some of the witnesses who didn't want to speak at the time, would now come forward and speak.”
There have been developments in the case since the ‘80s, especially when it was reopened in 2007, so there is some precedent for this.
There's also the possibility the now-aging killer is still around and facing poor health, he said.
“There would be a chance that, if indeed the murderer found themselves in that kind of a vulnerable position, they might speak out.”
Finally, he just thinks it's important to maintain the memory of a good man taken too soon.
“It's good to keep the memory of Byron himself alive — not necessarily the murder, but Byron himself.”