There’s a saying that states that monsters aren’t always born, sometimes they’re made. The Monster of Pont-Rouge could very well be one of these monsters.
Before he was given the nickname, he was born Léopold Dion on February 25th, 1920 in Québec, Canada – where, exactly, is unspecified. As an infant, he contracted tuberculosis and was placed in a hospital. His parents would visit once a week, but the only human interaction Dion had was with the nursing staff, who were predominantly Catholic nuns.
At age 11, he grew strong enough to be sent home. He was just in time to enjoy Christmas with his brother, Rolland. The brothers, who were practically strangers, grew extremely close over the few days they had together. Then everything fell apart.
Four days after being sent home, tragedy struck. His parents had decided to separate, and neither parent wanted the children. Both boys were placed in an orphanage, where they were under the care of Catholic nuns – a familiar feeling for Léopold. Thankfully, the brothers were kept together, and they grew even closer as a result of their circumstances.
At the age of 16, Léopold had convinced his father to take them in. He was strong, and willing to work hard. He worked rigorous 12 hour days with his father in a rock quarry. He worked hard, and provided for his brother. All in all, he was setting himself up for success.
On August 31st, 1937, at age 17, Léopold Dion had his first encounter with law enforcement. He was arrested on the charge of gross indecency. He was convicted, and sentenced to four months in a penitentiary. This would be the beginning of a very, very troubling pattern of behaviour.
Two years later, in 1939, Léopold was once again arrested, this time for the attempted murder of a sex worker. He was acquitted. The judge who oversaw the case stated: “He escaped justice by lack of evidence, when he was clearly guilty”.
After that, Léopold joined the army at the break of WWII. Little is known about this time in his life, or the life of his brother Rolland. The Dion brothers aren’t heard from again until April 1940.
In April of 1940, the Dion brothers were both charged with raping a young woman on a stretch of railroad track near Pont-Rouge, Québec. They threatened her with a rifle and a knife. They told her they would kill her if she went to the police.
She didn’t heed their warnings. Her testimony against them at their trial led to convictions. Léopold was sentenced to life imprisonment and the lash, while Rolland was sentenced to ten years.
After serving his sentence, Rolland steered clear of his brother and redeemed himself. Léopold should not have been a problem any longer. But well, monsters very seldom lie dormant.
In 1956, Léopold Dion was paroled. Almost immediately, he was arrested and convicted once again of gross indecency involving a minor. But Léopold had changed patterns. Before, he went after young women. Now, he was going after young men and younger boys.
With his parole violation, Léopold really should have stayed in prison. But he didn’t. He was paroled once again in 1962.
Once paroled, he often posed as a photographer in order to lure his victims. It is estimated that he sexually assaulted 21 boys, murdering four of them. It is these murders that earned him the nickname the “Monster of Pont-Rouge”.
12-year-old Guy Luckenuck travelled every week to Québec City from Kénogami in order to take clarinet lessons at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. He was young, far from home, and vulnerable. Dion had his ideal victim.
Dion lured him away from the train station on April 20th, 1963 by stating that he wanted to take the boy’s picture. Dion then took a series of snapshots with an old, filmless camera he used as a prop. He took Guy, and drove him to a secluded area where he assaulted him, strangled him, and buried him.
The monster was momentarily sated – but he wasn’t done yet.
On May 5th, 1963, Dion used his camera as a ruse to lure two boys into his vehicle – 8-year-old Alain Carrier and 10-year-old Michel Morel. He drove the boys to a run-down building in Saint-Raymond-de-Portneuf.
He tied Alain up under the guise of playing ‘prisoner’, and then focused his attention on Michel. He took the older boy outside, asked him to take off his clothes, and strangled him with a garrote. He then went back inside and smothered Alain.
Dion had found his pattern.
He used his photography ploy again on May 26th, 1963, where he lured 13-year-old Pierre Marquis to him. He took Pierre close to where he’d buried Guy a month prior, and asked him to pose for him naked. Dion attempted to assault him, but Pierre fought back. This enraged Dion, who then strangled the boy.
One day later, Léopold Dion was arrested. Another boy had seen him take Pierre away, and alerted the police. The boy described Dion in vivid detail. It was this description that led the police to their suspect, and allowed them to make the arrest.
Dion remained silent – he refused to say a word to police. His silence lasted about a month. He admitted to the assaults and the murders, and provided police with excruciating details. He led the investigators to each site where he buried the bodies.
On July 25th, 1963, Dion confessed to murdering the four boys, and assaulting an estimated 21, to a packed courtroom in Québec City. He sobbed uncontrollably in the witness box. But he still managed to go over every detail of his crimes vividly.
He cried that he had to kill Guy. “I didn’t want him to tell anybody because I would have to go back to the penitentiary,” he said. It seemed he grew a taste for it, as he prepared to kill the others.
Léopold Dion was charged with the murder of Pierre Marquis – a decision made by the prosecution due to lack of physical or circumstantial evidence in the other cases. He was convicted.
On April 10th, 1964, Judge Gérard Lacroix sentenced him to death. Léopold Dion was to be hanged.
His death sentence would not come to pass. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.
The Monster of Pont-Rouge wouldn’t live long, though. On November 17th, 1972, Dion was stabbed to death by another inmate.
Whether this monster was born or made is not for me to debate. What is absolutely certain is that this man committed monstrous acts – acts that earned him his nickname.
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Sources:
The Tragic History of a Sex Criminal – Robert Fulford – Maclean’s Archive
Léopold Dion Wikipedia Page