‘House Hermit’ David Snow charged in 1991 death of missing woman

David Alexander Snow has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of Angelien Josephine Quesnelle. Steve Ryan has the details.

A convicted killer who was once known as the ‘House Hermit’ has been charged in connection with the death of a woman north of Peterborough nearly 34 years ago.

On Monday, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) confirmed that they have charged 70-year-old David Snow in connection with the murder of Angelien Josephine Quesnelle of Apsley, Ont., who was reported missing in October 1991.

Snow is now facing a first-degree murder charge in Quesnelle’s death.

He is currently serving a life sentence at the Bath Institution near Kingston after being found guilty of the murders of Ian and Nancy Blackburn in the early ‘90s

The latest charge against him has not been tested in court.

Quesnelle was last seen at around noon on Oct. 7, 1991, in Peterborough.

On Nov. 10, 1991, police said they found Quesnelle’s vehicle in an abandoned quarry in the area of Ridge Road and Highway 620, located east of Coe Hill.

Her body was found by a hunter on McCoy Bay Road just five days later and police ruled her death a homicide following a postmortem examination.

However, nearly 34 years went by without an arrest in the case.

“Angelien Quesnelle was murdered in 1991 and, for 34 years, her family has lived without answers. OPP investigators have never stopped investigating this murder. This arrest represents an important step toward providing Angelien’s family and the community of Apsley with the long-awaited answers they deserve,” OPP Det.-Insp. Shawn Glassford said in a news release issued on Monday.

Speaking to CTV News Toronto’s Jon Woodward, OPP Sgt. Joe Brisebois said he could not comment on whether it was a surprise that Snow was attached to this case.

“Definitely a win for us in being able to lay the charge and give those answers to the family,” Brisebois said.

The Blackburns and the ‘House Hermit’

Snow was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole for 25 years in the murder of Ian and Nancy Blackburn in 1992.

Ian, 57, and, 49, lived in Toronto but the couple also owned a 50-acre farm in Caledon, Ont.

Snow met the couple in 1992 and wanted to buy an octagon-shaped barn from the Blackburn’s farm, CTV News previously reported.

Outside of being an antiques dealer, Snow was in the business of reconstructing old buildings.

In September 1991, Snow had disappeared after his business “deteriorated,” court documents say, with the Crown alleging that, at that point, he had “descended into a state of lawlessness that spiralled down to break-ins, abductions, murders and sexual assaults.”

Snow had apparently been living in several vacant cottages and homes in the Caledon area at the time, which he had allegedly broken into. He came to be known as the “House Hermit,” CTV News previously reported.

The Blackburns were last seen alive on April 7, 1992, and on April 13, their bodies were found in the trunk of Nancy Blackburn’s car, which was parked in the driveway of their home in the Yonge and Lawrence area. Autopsies determined the cause of their death had been from strangulation and suffocation, court documents say, and that the couple had died sometime on April 7 or 8.

Snow had bought a Via Rail “Canrail” pass and left Toronto for Vancouver on April 9, where he had allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted four women in British Columbia over two weeks.

Snow was arrested by North Vancouver RCMP on July 12, 1992. At the time of his arrest, CTV News reported the Blackburns’s camera bag was found along with guns that were stolen from a Caledon-area home. Five years later, on July 17, 1997, Snow was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Ian and Nancy Blackburn.

Provincial police said that they could not comment on whether other police jurisdictions have been contacted in the wake of the new charge filed against Snow.

Investigators are asking anyone with new information about this case to contact them at 1-705-742-0401 or Crime Stoppers anonymously.

With files from CTV News’ Jon Woodward