UPDATE 10 MARCH 2011 – A memorial visitation for Allan Lanteigne is scheduled for Saturday, March12, from 1 pm to 6pm, at the Rosar-Morrison Funeral Home and Chapel at 467 Sherbourne St, Toronto.
8 MARCH, 2011 – Allan Lanteigne, a 49-year-old gay man, was found brutally bludgeoned to death in his Ossington Ave home on March 3.
Xtra has learned that Lanteigne used his iPhone to call close friend and former partner Cristian Solis, who lives in Chile, at about 4:30pm on March 2. The call was placed from Lanteigne’s Huron St office, where he worked as an accountant at the University of Toronto.
Lanteigne was last seen leaving his office about a half hour later. He was reportedly in the habit of walking home from work, a journey that took about a half hour.
Sean Slipincar says Lanteigne was a kind and trusting man who had a beautiful home in which he threw great dinner parties. Slipincar says he and his wife had dinner with Lanteigne two weeks before the murder.
Slipincar says Lanteigne was wearing his jacket when his body was discovered just inside his front door, suggesting he may have been killed as he entered the house. Slipincar says the doors to Lanteigne’s home were locked and that there were no broken windows. Police say there were no signs of forced entry.
Lanteigne was married to a man whose identity remains unclear. The man was reportedly out of the country at the time of the murder.
Solis says Lanteigne did not like to cruise on the internet. “I do not think he would invite someone he didn’t know into his home,” he says. “He was so careful with people.”
“There are no suspects as of yet,” says Toronto Police Det Sgt Dan Nielsen. “Motive is the challenge right now.” Nielsen says he can’t say yet whether this was a targeted or random killing. “We are not releasing the cause of death at this time for evidentiary reasons,” he says.
Still, Nielsen calls Lanteigne’s death a tragedy. “By all accounts Allan was a nice man, very hardworking,” he says. “He had no previous contact with police.”
Solis says he is devastated by the murder. “Allan: you were an angel, an excellent person with a beautiful soul; and the most wonderful partner,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “I hope that you are resting in peace. I am so sad to be away in Chile and not to be with you in your last minute. Rest in peace dear Allan, you will be always in my heart. With love; Cristian.”
Police would like to speak with anyone who saw anyone who looked out of place or was acting suspiciously in the area of 934 Ossington Ave, or who had contact with Lanteigne on March 3.
Nielsen can be reached at the Toronto Police Homicide department at 416-808-7400.
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