HUNTER: Suspected serial killer was also eyed in '91 murder of Toronto woman

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Except for her heartbroken family and friends, the brutal murder of Caroline Case slipped quietly into obscurity.

It is officially marked: Unsolved.

The prime suspect in her October 1991 slaying was back in the news this week: Suspected serial killer David Alexander Snow, whose twisted predilection for porn led to murder.

Snow is the weird guy from Central Casting. He remains in prison, where he will almost certainly die.

But earlier this week, the OPP announced that the dangerous offender, now 70, has been charged with first-degree murder in the October 1991 disappearance and murder of Angelien Quesnelle.

Cops say that on Oct. 9, 1991, Quesnelle, 40, of Apsley — between Peterborough and Bancroft — was reported missing. She vanished on Oct. 7, after last being seen in Peterborough around noon. Her remains were discovered on Nov. 15, 1991.

Less than a year later, Snow murdered Toronto realtor Ian Blackburn, 55, and his wife Nancy, 49, in April 1992. He was living on their Caledon property, took them hostage and stole their firearms. He became known as the “House Hermit.”

OPP Det. Insp. Shawn Glassford told the Toronto Sun that the Caroline Case murder probe is an open and “active investigation.” Glassford added, “It would not be appropriate for me to identify persons of interest or suspects.”

Case, 47, a successful Etobicoke businesswoman, vanished on Oct. 2, 1991, from her import gift store near Bloor St. W. and Royal York Rd. Her crashed, blood-soaked Mercedes-Benz was found the next day at 10 Side Rd. and 1st Line E. in Caledon. By that time, Snow was in a Vancouver jail for violence and weapons charges.

Case’s remains were found Nov. 5, 1992, in Caledon and her demise was quickly ruled a homicide. The cause of death was unknown.

At the time, detectives believed that the Blackburns were murdered at their country home in Caledon, about 14 km from where Case’s body was discovered. Their bodies were stuffed in the trunk of their car, parked in the driveway of their Toronto home.

Slim and bookish, Snow had a passion for antiques and was well-known around his hometown of Orangeville, northwest of Toronto. Residents told the Toronto Sun at the time that he was a “harmless loner,” and “nice” and “polite.”

But beneath his nebbish demeanour, Snow was a roiling cauldron of violent sexual fantasies.

“He didn’t have a lot of friends, but he was good company when he wanted to be,” one woman said, as quoted in the Sun archives. “I can’t believe these things they are saying.”

A canny but honest antique dealer, Snow owned an Orangeville antiques shop called Simply Timeless for about a year before it went bankrupt. One dealer said that Snow was “very wise” about antiques.

Residents told OPP detectives at the time that Snow would be around for a while and then disappear, often for weeks at a time.

“What we have is a man in custody for something in one place and he’s wanted for questioning about things in another,” an OPP investigator told the Sun in 1992.

“In between, who knows?”

Former Toronto Police homicide detective Mark Mendelson said he was surprised to see Snow charged with the murder of Angelien Quesnelle.

“Unfortunately, we never had enough evidence to firmly tie him (Snow) into Case,” Mendelson told the Sun.

“If you recall, it took many months to find her body, and we never really got a firm cause of death for her. Plus, no video back then, so we could never put him in her store. Just in the neighbourhood.”

Mendelson added: “I suspect he’s never getting out of prison now, so that’s a little bit of good news.”

bhunter@postmedia.com

— With files from Joe Warmington

@HunterTOSun