Montreal police resolve cold case from 2008 using genetic genealogy to ID killer

By Canadian Press on September 17, 2025.

MONTREAL — Montreal police say they’ve resolved a long-standing cold case using genetic genealogy to identify the man who killed a woman in her apartment in 2008.

Catherine Daviau, 26, was killed in her Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie apartment in December 2008.

Police identified Jacques Bolduc as the man who killed Daviau.

Bolduc died of natural causes in 2021 at the Archambault Institution, where he was serving time for two robberies and two attempted murders.

Cmdr. Mélanie Dupont, head of the Montreal police major-crimes unit, says Bolduc did not know Daviau well and had only contacted her a few days before the killing, after she’d posted a vehicle for sale on an online classified site.

Investigators were able to identify him in late 2024 using genetic genealogy, which combines DNA profiling with traditional genealogical methods.

Police say Bolduc attempted to set fire to the unit to cover up evidence, but investigators still found traces of DNA at the scene.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press