Originally written 23 October 2022
The disappearance of six-year-old Diane Carrier in 1963 is the longest unsolved crime at the Service de police de la Ville de Québec (SPVQ). In a Radio-Canada article published in September of 2018, Mario Vézina, an inspector in the criminal investigation division of the SPVQ and in charge of Diane's case since 2006, is quoted as saying, "We ask people not to judge the scope and magnitude of the information. Let us do it ourselves. Every little piece of the puzzle is important. Someone who has information can give it in confidence. That's how we're able to make progress. No one has to fear anything about the information they have."
Just as we always say here at We the Missing - no amount of information is too small. It could be the missing piece of the puzzle.
It was Friday, September 27, 1963 and Diane's older brother, Adolphe, was late for supper. He was playing nearby their home, so Diane's mother asked her to quickly go and let him know to come home. It was 5:45pm. Six-year-old Diane set off to find seven-year-old Adolphe, who very soon after, returned home - alone. His mother sent Adolphe out to find her. He never did. Diane was quickly reported missing to police. (age progression photo in green tile above is to 50 years)
At the time of Diane's disappearance, The Carrier family lived at 15 rue du Porche in Quebec City, Quebec, which intersected with the bottom of Côte de la Montagne, very near the St. Lawrence River. The St. Lawrence River also known as le fleuve Saint-Laurent, is a very large river which traverses the Canadian provinces, Ontario and Quebec as well as the state of New York, USA. It is part of the international boundary between Canada and the United States. It flows adjacent to Quebec City before draining into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, one of the largest estuaries in the world. The estuary begins just downstream from Quebec City. The river becomes tidal around Quebec City as well.
One theory of Diane's disappearance is that she fell into the St. Lawrence River since it is very close to where the family lived. Her family says this is virtually impossible as Diane was a very obedient child and she and her brothers had been told to never to play on the quays on the St. Lawrence River. Plus, on the day she disappeared, Diane had only left the house as she had been asked by her mother to go and get Adolphe. She would have never disobeyed her mother and then disobeyed her parents again to go near the water. Regardless, when Diane did not arrive home, her father searched along the St. Lawrence River for Diane. Adolphe searched in places they would frequently play together. They found nothing. In fact, no trace of Diane Carrier has ever been found. Adolphe is convinced his sister was abducted.
The police took her disappearance seriously right away. Unfortunately, the area where the Carriers lived was poor. I have read that tourists would be bussed in to see the area and would pay the children who lived in there to take pictures with them or even got them to sing for money. Is it possible a tourist abducted Diane to raise as their own feeling they could give her a better life? Was she abducted for a reason more sinister? Was she abducted by a local?
Mario Vézina, captain of the major crimes unit of the Quebec City Police Department (SPVQ), confirmed that he had never been able to rule out either the kidnapping or the drowning hypothesis (this was as of 2016).
Adolphe carries an extreme amount of guilt about his sister's disappearance. In a September 2016 article by the Journal de Montreal, Adolphe is quoted as saying, "I am getting more and more angry with myself. My father always told me it was my fault she was missing. I want to find her before I die. What my father told me is ingrained in me forever. It's like a girl who is raped, she remembers it all her life." Adolphe says that if someone tells him where is sister is, dead or alive, he will keep the information anonymous. He just needs to find her before he dies. He says, "I've made this decision, I've come to this point. At 60 years old, it's getting late." At the time of this writing Adolphe Carrier is now 66 years old. He does not spend a single day without thinking about his little sister. He says the longer she remains missing the more intense the pain becomes.
Adolphe Carrier posts a picture of his sister on his Facebook page on the 27th of every month. He says that sharing her picture makes her exist to him.
If someone knows anything about Diane's disappearance, please contact the authorities and help Adolphe find his little sister. They can report any information anonymously through the Agir line at (418) 641-2447, it is completely confidential.
Diane's family has never stopped searching for her. Until her death in 2013, her mother lived in the same neighborhood hoping that Diane would return. A DNA profile was created using samples taken from her mother, Gabrielle Côté, and two of her brothers.
(Photo is age progression of Diane Carrier to 25 years old)
Her brother, Adolphe, understands his sister may be dead but he holds out hope that perhaps she has been living with another family all this time. Maybe she doesn't remember her actual family. If she is alive and doesn't remember but someday realizes that she is a missing child, Adolphe and his family fear she may not want to see them, having now been a member of this other family for almost 6 decades (at the time of this writing Diane Carrier has been missing for 59 years). She had turned six-years-old only two months before she went missing. Today she would be 65 years old (see age progressed photo to 65 years below).
Any information related to this disappearance can be reported to the SPVQ at 418 641-2447.
You can also communicate anonymously with Meurtres et Disparitions Irrésolus du Québec at 819-200-4628 and info@meurtresetdisparitions.com.
In a Radio Canada article, Adolphe Carrier says, "There must be someone who witnessed something back in the day who was afraid to speak up. He should talk before he dies. As long as we talk about it, it exists. We think about it all the time. I have lots of photos of Diane at home. I can't forget her."
Unfortunately, a large number of unsolved police files have been lost over the past decades in Quebec. Diane Carrier's file is amongst those lost. In 2006 Adolphe noticed that his sister was no longer listed as a missing person in Quebec City. When he inquired why his sister was removed from this list, he was told there was no missing persons case for a Diane Carrier. The police searched for her file for weeks and finally informed Adolphe that her file was missing, possibly during the transfer of paper files to electronic ones. The investigation into her disappearance was reopened in 2006 and redone but the family does not know what was in the original file. The file of another missing Quebec child, 18 month old Liliane Cyr who went missing from Montreal, Quebec on 15 August 1978, was also lost. It was lost in 1992. The original file was found in 2002 but with some information missing such as a picture of the child.
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