Convicted murderer suspected of starting Old Montreal fire pleads guilty to 2019 prison escape

CBC
·2 min read
Denis Bégin is a convicted murderer who escaped a minimum security facility in Laval, Que., in 2019 and was caught four years later in Montreal. (Submitted by the Sûreté du Québec - image credit)
Denis Bégin is a convicted murderer who escaped a minimum security facility in Laval, Que., in 2019 and was caught four years later in Montreal. (Submitted by the Sûreté du Québec - image credit)

A convicted murderer and primary suspect in an Old Montreal arson case that killed seven people received an additional 18-month sentence Thursday after admitting to having escaped from prison.

Denis Bégin was on several most-wanted lists for years when Montreal police arrested him in May 2023. The Gatineau, Que., native had been on the run for four years after escaping the Leclerc institution — a minimum security prison in Laval.

Two months before he was caught, a fire broke out in a three-storey building in Old Montreal on March 16.

Montreal police investigators linked him to the fatal fire, though Bégin has not yet been charged.

The Crown said Bégin, who had been serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, walked out of prison in 2019 with the help of an accomplice waiting for him in a car.

Bégin's lawyer, who appeared by video conference from Port-Cartier prison, made no comment.

After Bégin pleaded guilty to the charge of escape and being at large without excuse, the court accepted a joint suggestion from the defence and the Crown by imposing a prison sentence that will be served at the same time as the life sentence.

Bégin was nicknamed the "Halloween Killer" for his role in the death of 19-year-old Riccardo Jezzi in 1993 during a Halloween party at a Montreal bar.

When he opened fire on partygoers with a sawed-off shotgun, Bégin was wearing a goalie mask like that donned by fictional villain Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th film series. Jezzi was also wearing a hockey mask when he was shot.

Bégin was arrested and charged with murder in the spring of 1996 after his wife reported him to police. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in 1997, but that conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered after he successfully argued that his statement to police after his arrest was not voluntary.

Bégin pleaded guilty in 2003 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 10 years.

In 1984, Bégin had also been convicted of conspiracy and extortion after sending a package containing a fake bomb to a bank and demanding $100,000.