Charlottetown police disappointed with outcome in Byron Carr case

Charlottetown interim police chief Darren MacDougall says the outcome in the Byron Carr case with charges against an accused being withdrawn is disappointing, but challenges with the preservation, continuity and location of evidence were known to investigators since 2007.

“We respect the criminal justice system. And this is the criminal justice system. And again, we knew there were challenges. And we respect the rights of all people who are accused of criminal offences,” said MacDougall in an interview with The Guardian on Oct. 13. “So, although disappointed with the outcome, we respect the outcome.”

Those comments were made the same day that the P.E.I. Crown Attorney’s office withdrew charges in P.E.I. Supreme Court against Todd Joseph Gallant (also known as Todd Joseph Irving) in relation to Carr’s death.

Prior to that court appearance, the Crown’s office issued a statement that said the charges against Gallant, 59, of Souris, were being withdrawn due to the “loss of extensive crucial evidence” by Charlottetown Police Services and the reliability of the remaining evidence in the investigation. The Crown learned of these issues on Aug. 12 and determined that there was no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction, so it was discontinuing the prosecution against Gallant.

On Nov. 11, 1988, Carr, a school teacher, was 36 years old when he was found dead inside his Charlottetown home. Gallant, now 59, was arrested and charged in January 2024 with first-degree murder and interfering with human remains. Gallant remained in custody for more than two years until he was released after a hearing on July 30 while his matters were before the court. Gallant pleaded not guilty to the charges and had a four-week jury trial scheduled to begin on Nov. 24.

MacDougall said that in 1988, physical evidence from the crime scene was sent to the RCMP’s national forensic laboratory in Ottawa, processed, a DNA profile created and returned.

“And then its whereabouts is unknown after that,” he said.

Some of the people responsible for managing the evidence in 1988 no longer work for Charlottetown police or are deceased.

“So, our goal was to obtain answers from the human beings that were responsible for these things back then, where we didn’t have an electronic management system. We couldn’t find certain notebooks, for example, and other things that would be maintained by the individual.”

MacDougall wouldn’t confirm what key pieces of physical evidence, such as the towel that was believed to have been used to strangle Carr, were items that were missing. He did say that the missing physical evidence was a small percentage of the overall evidence in the case.

“Our hope was that these people (back in 1988) would be able to answer to its whereabouts, and we didn’t get answers to the whereabouts of certain pieces of evidence, including ones that would be deemed as very important exhibits.”

MacDougall also said that the standard of evidence management has changed dramatically since 1988.

“Relying on that standard at that time created this lack of continuity (and) issues with the preservation of the evidence and/or some items simply weren’t found when we went seeking them out,” he said.

Another issue with locating certain pieces of evidence was that police services moved to its current location on Kirkwood Drive in 1999.

“This (current) building houses some of the evidence,” he said. “There’s no piece of evidence that we know was in this building in 1999 that subsequently went missing.”

In 2007, a new investigative team led by Brad MacConnell took over the file. At that time, issues with the file were identified, including the preservation, continuity and location of evidence. MacDougall was one of the investigators on the team beginning in 2009 or 2010.

Given that investigators couldn’t change how evidence was managed in 1988, the plan was to “focus on what we had,” including the DNA profile generated from the physical evidence.

“The pieces of evidence that were currently in the lab, I’ll say the DNA profile particularly, that was there. (And) work forward knowing that these are certainly going to be challenges,” he said.

“But again, we felt that science and forensic DNA advancements and other things would be such that we would be able to bring this through the court process and overcome the challenges, or issues, with evidence management from 1988.”

In terms of accountability for who may have been responsible for the issues with the physical evidence, MacDougall again referred to 1988.

“In 1988, we had a number of officers working at that time on this case that did not go through the police academy. There was no policy in place as far as the preservation of evidence is concerned. We’re judging them in 2026 based on what they did in 1988,” said MacDougall.

“So, to suggest that somebody’s going to be held accountable — that person would be one of the people or those people that were working in 1988. And quite frankly, in 2026, it’s not happening. It’s 38 years ago. None of them are working, several are deceased.”

MacDougall added that since relocating to the Kirkwood Drive building in 1999, police have a proper storage facility, an electronic database for evidence property management and updated policy and procedure for advancements with DNA. And every officer is trained about the continuity and the preservation of evidence.

“So, we’ve evolved with property management the way we should,” he said. “We’ve certainly maintained the policing standard as far as the management of evidence is concerned.”

In terms of an external review, a representative with the Office of the Police Commissioner told the Guardian on Oct. 15 that it had not received a complaint in the matter.

The representative added that the P.E.I. Police Act provides the minister of justice and public safety with the authority to direct an investigation into any matter related to policing and law enforcement involving a police department (excluding the RCMP).

Terrence McEachern is a justice reporter for The Guardian in Prince Edward Island. He can be reached at tmceachern@postmedia.com.