BRISTOL POLICE UNSOLVED MURDER
THE MURDER OF LOUIS “PETE” LAFONTAINE
DATE: FEBRUARY 10TH, 1998
TIME: REPORTED TO POLICE AT 0600 HOURS
LOCATION: 187 STAFFORD AVENUE, BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
CAUSE OF DEATH: MULTIPLE GUNSHOT WOUNDS
MANNER OF DEATH: HOMICIDE
THIS CASE IS FEATURED AS THE FIVE OF DIAMONDS IN THE FIRST EDITION OF THE COLD CASE DECK OF CARDS.
By Christopher J. Lyons
Louis “Pete” LaFontaine owned an appliance repair shop in downtown Bristol at 69 Park Street for many years prior to his death. He owned a home at 187 Stafford Avenue also in Bristol. He specialized in appliance repair and was known throughout the city as a successful business owner. Pete was a divorced man who began a relationship with a local woman. She worked in the business with him and Pete relied so much on her that he had placed her name on the business and his home records. Years later, the relationship faltered because of domestic issues and Pete was moving to take his girlfriend's name off of all of his property. As the relationship began to get angry and tumultuous Pete and his girlfriend decided to split up. He stayed in his home and she moved to another location in Bristol close to the Stafford Avenue address.
On the date of February 10th, 1998 Bristol Police received a 911 call from the address of 187 Stafford Avenue at 0600 hours. The caller was Pete's girlfriend and she told police that Pete was ill. She had gone to the Stafford Avenue home to do her laundry and stated that she saw Pete and thought he looked sick in bed. After making the call to police, she went back to doing the laundry. Police arrived and found a very different situation. Pete LaFontaine was not sick; he was dead. Pete found murdered in his own bedroom. The cause of his death was multiple gunshot wounds and the medical examiner classified this incident as a homicide.
Police did an exhaustive investigation into the murder and interviewed hundreds of people to try to get the information needed to identify the suspects and to close the case by arrest. The case was a media sensation and attracted a lot of attention to the murder and to the city of Bristol.
Police received information from the public, from area criminals, from other persons and generated a lot of the case information from their own intense investigation into the murder. A great deal of the
information pointed to Pete's girlfriend as a strong person of interest. Some of the information was discredited and people later recanted the information they told police. This weakened the case and because of that fact no arrest has been made.
Louis “Pete” LaFontaine was the victim of violent crime by a person who knew him. The murder was not a random act of violence and the person/s who committed the crime have to be identified and held responsible for the crime. Pete would be 71 years old today. It is time after nearly 18 years to solve the mystery of who murdered Pete LaFontaine. The Bristol Police need the assistance of anyone with information that could point to a suspect or a person of interest in this crime. The police are close and have strong persons of interest that they are still looking at. The case is open and will not ever be closed except by arrest.
Want more information on this case and others? Connect with Cold Case on Facebook.
