Allore Funeral Home Inc

They aren't alone in Quebec, which has up to 800 cold cases. After coming home from a night out, Nicole Monast could always spot a sliver of light coming from under her younger sister’s bedroom door.Hélène, two years younger, would wait up to make sure she got home safely.They’d share a coffee and chat into the early hours of the morning — about boys, school and what they wanted out of life.For Hélène in the summer of 1977, there was nothing she wanted more than to turn 18 that September.She dreamed of studying to become a veterinarian, but spent the summer packing beans at a cannery, working bingo nights at the local arena and babysitting as much as she could. She’d tell Nicole of how she craved the freedom and new adventures she figured would come with adulthood.In the weeks leading to her birthday, she had already started scribbling the number 18 beside her name on the back of the pocket-sized, 25-cent photos she would take at the mall. When the day finally came, she celebrated in the afternoon with her parents and siblings at the family’s South Shore home in Chambly. They shared cake, gave presents and caught up: Nicole had married only a month earlier and moved out of the house they’d always shared. Planning a corn roast with her husband that night, she wanted to invite Hélène. But Hélène had plans with her friends,  and they went their separate ways. Hélène told Nicole to stay safe, something she had recently started telling her more and more. Nicole told her to enjoy her birthday.The next morning, Hélène was found between trees in a park bordering the Chambly Canal, half-naked and severely beaten. A neighbour noticed her lifeless body from an upstairs window. Her blue jeans, shirt and shoes were found nearby, as were cigarettes and a pack of chewing gum. She had been strangled and it’...