Charges withdrawn after police lost crucial evidence in P.E.I. cold case

CHARLOTTETOWN – Crown prosecutors in Prince Edward Island have withdrawn all charges in a decades-old unsolved murder case after police lost critical evidence, including a knife that would have been used as an exhibit in court.

Todd Joseph Gallant, who was also known as Todd Joseph Irving, was charged with first-degree murder and interfering with human remains in 2024 following an investigation into the 1988 killing of teacher Byron Carr.

Carr was 36 when he was strangled and stabbed in his Charlottetown home by someone who left a handwritten note on a wall that read, “I will kill again.”

In a statement Tuesday, the Crown attorney’s office said Charlottetown Police Services lost crucial evidence from the investigation, which means there is no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction.

“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 statement said.

Darren MacDougall, Charlottetown’s interim chief of police, said in an interview Tuesday that a knife collected as evidence in 1988 as well as a towel believed to have been used to strangle Carr are among the pieces of evidence that remain unaccounted for.

MacDougall blamed a lack of consistent “property management systems.”

“In 1988, we didn’t have an inventory or ledger … to rely on,” he said.

The missing evidence includes items that were sent to a crime lab for testing in 1988. The lab’s records indicate the evidence was returned to Charlottetown police, but there’s no record of where it was put.

MacDougall said other evidence was not accounted for after Charlottetown police moved buildings in 1999.

“We were unable find proper documentation to support the whereabouts of certain pieces of evidence,” he said. “So a lot of it is just left unanswered.”

MacDougall said a new investigative team began looking into the Carr case in 2007 and all evidence collected since then has been accounted for.

“We’ve evolved since [1988] significantly,” he said. “Our current property management systems are solid.”

Officers were aware in 2007 that some evidence collected between 1988 and 1999 was missing, MacDougall said. However, he said police believed a suspect could still be identified because of advancements in DNA techniques and forensics.

It was after Gallant’s arrest, MacDougall said, that Charlottetown police tried to trace the whereabouts of the unaccounted evidence, but that proved challenging almost 40 years later.

MacDougall said police tried to get answers from those responsible for handling evidence between 1988 and 1999, but several of those people have died and others had no memory of what happened.

The Crown attorney’s office said it learned about the loss of evidence in August. Ryan Gallant, director of prosecutions, said in an interview Tuesday that the Crown then asked police to conduct a review of all the evidence that was available.

He said the results of the review prompted the office to withdraw the charges.

“It’s deeply disappointing for our office,” he said, adding that he understands the impact this will have on Carr’s family. 

Police arrested Joseph Gallant of Souris, P.E.I., in 2024 after using advanced DNA and genetic genealogy technology to test DNA evidence from underwear found at the crime scene.

Investigators have said evidence at the scene indicated Carr was killed following a sexual encounter with another man.

Former Charlottetown police chief Brad MacConnell told reporters in 2024 that Carr kept his sexuality a secret and that his death occurred at a time when the LGBTQ+ community “did not feel welcome or accepted, forcing many like Byron to socialize in the shadows and take unnecessary risks.”

The former chief also said the note left at the scene suggested the crime may have been hate-motivated.

At that time, MacConnell said Joseph Gallant had moved to Texas after Carr’s death, but he returned to P. E.I. in 2022. 

Joseph Gallant had pleaded not guilty to the two charges and a jury trial was scheduled for next month. 

On Tuesday, interim chief MacDougall said police do not have evidence pointing to another suspect. 

“The statute of limitations does not expire on a murder case,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2026.

— By Tori Fitzpatrick in Halifax.