Nearly four decades ago, beloved Prince Edward Island teacher Byron Carr was found brutally murdered in his home. He was strangled to death with a towel and stabbed multiple times. Both pieces used in the act were collected during the investigation, but the key murder weapon has been lost, and so has justice for the victim.

Police Lose The Murder Weapon

Carr’s family has been waiting decades for justice in the 1988 slaying of the 36-year-old victim, and they are forced to wait even longer after Crown prosecutors announced on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, that the charges against the suspect have been dropped. Prosecutors said that police lost crucial pieces of evidence, including the knife, that would have led to a conviction.

“We’re very disappointed that this is not going through to the final conclusion, which we expected it would,” John Carr, Byron Carr’s brother, said, adding that the family feels “a little bit of uncertainty as to what actually happened and why we’re at the stage we’re at now. Despite all the years since it happened in 1988, it’s still very hurtful to all of us.”

Unsolved Murder

On November 11, 1988, Carr was found dead in his home in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, stabbed multiple times and strangled with a towel. Before the killer left his home, he wrote a threatening and taunting message on the walls for investigators to find. “I will kill again,” it said.

Authorities were led to believe the killer had no intent to kill again; rather, they determined the message was written out of frustration when they and an accomplice returned to the scene of the crime to clean up, but were unable to find a crucial piece of evidence, so they wrote on the walls ominously.

Murder Charges Dropped

It was not until 2024 that police made their first arrest in the case. A man named Todd Joseph Gallant, also known as Todd Joseph Irving, was charged with first-degree murder and interfering with human remains in the death of Carr.

Police say that forensic DNA evidence on the victim’s body, the discarded underwear, and a cigarette butt shoved up the victim’s nose matched the accused, but Gallant pleaded not guilty and was expected to appear at trial starting in November 2026.

However, after the Crown attorney’s office announced last week that it had withdrawn charges against Gallant, the trial has been canceled. “A substantial portion of the physical evidence relating to the prosecution of Todd Joseph Gallant could not be located, including key exhibits central to the prosecution,” the attorney’s office said in a statement.

Charlottetown Police Services Interim Chief Darren MacDougall wrote in a Facebook statement that the department “acknowledges the court’s decision to withdraw all charges” and “recognizes the seriousness of the concerns identified.” MacDougall confirmed to the media that the knife and towel were included in the lost evidence.

Evidence Has Been Lost

It turns out that there was never a record of the key evidence being returned from the crime lab after it was sent for testing in 1988. “We were unable to find proper documentation to support the whereabouts of certain pieces of evidence,” MacDougall added. “So a lot of it is just left unanswered.”

When investigators began reinvestigating the case in 2007, they realized some evidence was missing and tried to track down anyone who may have handled it between 1988 and 1999, but were unsuccessful. The Crown attorney’s office did not learn about this information until this past summer.

John Carr said that, as a veteran lawyer, he understands the trial cannot proceed without these pieces of evidence, but his family is disappointed. “No matter what the result is here in the court, truth does not always equal justice. I understand that. We got answers, and we were greatly relieved by the arrest and the prosecution to this point,” he said.

“We all had the same feeling, all our family. It was like a weight being lifted off us because until then, we had no idea…. We wondered if it was someone we knew; in this case, we didn’t know the accused, but we always wondered, and we certainly racked our brains and spent many sleepless nights thinking about it and wondering who it would have been. It was a big relief.“

Independent Investigation Launched

On Tuesday, Prince Edward Island’s Minister of Justice and Public Safety Bloyce Thompson said he ordered an independent review of the investigation into Byron Carr’s murder and that a third party has been appointed to carry it out. “This is a troubling situation for all those involved, particularly the friends and family of the late Mr. Carr,” Thompson said.

“The community deserves answers, and we need to ensure public confidence in our justice system. The resulting report and recommendations from this independent third-party review will be made public.”