Charges laid in decades

Charges laid in decades-old P.E.I. cold case murder withdrawn after key evidence lost

Police knew about missing knife, ligature as early as 2007 when the case was reopened

The man police accused of murdering Byron Carr in 1988 is now free. Here's what happened

All charges laid in the cold case murder of P.E.I. teacher Byron Carr have been withdrawn because crucial evidence — including a knife found at the scene and the towel used to strangle Carr — are missing.

"It’s obviously tremendously disappointing," Crown attorney Christopher White told CBC News after a brief hearing Tuesday morning in P.E.I. Supreme Court to formally withdraw all charges against Todd Joseph Irving, who previously used the last name Gallant.

"I can tell you that on the Crown prosecution end, a huge amount of work went into this file, a huge amount of our office’s resources, so it’s a tremendously disappointing result for sure."

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CBC News first learned about the missing evidence at a bail hearing in July but couldn’t report on it because of a publication ban. White said Tuesday it was also new information to the Crown at the time.

At that hearing, police testified during questioning by Irving's lawyer that both the knife and the towel used to strangle Carr were missing.

But on Tuesday, interim Charlottetown police Chief Darren MacDougall told CBC News that police knew the evidence was missing as early as 2007 when the case was reopened.

"Yes, we knew these challenges existed but we hoped that our DNA evidence and other things that we were endeavouring to look into and utilize as tools would ultimately get us to where we needed to be," MacDougall said.

"We had significant forensic DNA evidence. We believed the evidence met the threshold to believe that Todd Gallant committed the offense.... We knew there were challenges, but ones we thought we could overcome."

Why were all charges dropped in the P.E.I. cold-case murder of Byron Carr?

At the July bail hearing, it was revealed that Irving's DNA was found on Carr’s body, on a pair of underwear left at the scene and on an extinguished cigarette butt placed in Carr’s navel.

His DNA was not found on the towel, nor or on a sock left at the crime scene that police said was likely used as a glove to prevent leaving fingerprints behind.

MacDougall said Tuesday that investigative procedures have evolved significantly since 1988, and that he's confident the force is following the current standards when it comes to the way evidence is collected, catalogued and stored.

He said he's not worried about the integrity of any other cases investigated by the force.

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The P.E.I. Crown Attorneys' Office first announced the charges were being withdrawn in a statement released Tuesday morning. According to that statement, the office was informed by Charlottetown police in August that "a substantial portion of the physical evidence" related to the prosecution of the case could not be located.

White said a subsequent review by police also raised concerns about the "availability and viability" of evidence the Crown could rely on at trial. As a result, the Crown no longer felt there was a reasonable likelihood of conviction.

White declined to provide details about the concerns with the rest of the evidence, but did say the Crown was confident in its case until those concerns came to light.

He said there were no further prospects for litigation in this case.

Byron Carr was 36 years old when he was killed in 1988. (Submitted)

Irving, 59, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and interfering with human remains in early 2024 — 35 years after Carr was found dead in his home. The 36-year-old teacher was found strangled with a towel and with multiple stab wounds on his body in November of 1988.

Irving had pleaded not guilty and spent more than two years in jail following his arrest before being released on bail. His jury trial had been scheduled to begin in November.

Irving, who briefly answered questions Tuesday as he walked out of the courthouse a free man, refused to say whether he intended to pursue legal action.

When asked what he planned to do next, he said, "Do like any good Islander does: get a job, go to work, put this in the past."

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With files from Nicola MacLeod and Wayne Thibodeau