this was so much more than an attempt to figure out who killed this young woman in quebec in 1978. this was about the incompetence of the police force, who didn't care what happened to these girls and women, because girls and women didn't matter; it's about the callousness of the school theresa went to, who took literal decades to apologize for their lack of even searching for her body, and for their untruthful characterization of her, which affected how seriously the police took her disappearance. it's about this man, likely her killer, who was allowed to torture, assault (physically and sexually), kidnap, and often murder dozens of women over the span of years. he was never followed up on, even when girls escaped and said where he was living, described his car, his face. it's an incredible travesty of justice that was allowed to happen because the autonomy of women's bodies was never taken seriously.

so while this is about theresa and how she and her family only found a tiny semblance of justice on their own, really it's about a broken criminal justice system and societal system that just doesn't take women seriously, and how that has resulted in serial killers who have killed, raped, assaulted women with impugnity. it's a powerful statement.

"The preferential focus on robbers stems back to the very origin of modern policing, which evolved in England and France in the 18th century as a response to the merchant class's need to protect wealth, goods, and slaves without benefit of an aristocracy's livery guard. It was never a human right's frame around police work. Safeguarding vulnerable people was the purview of religious orders, patriarchs, and social justice crusaders." ( )

Disturbing and enlightening read, highlighting the rape culture in law enforcement that still exists today. John Allore's recount of the disappearance of his sister and the later search for justice is poignant and heartbreaking, as his investigation reveals the school's and law enforcement's failure of not just Theresa Allore, but many other women and girls in Quebec and beyond. ( )