Jacques Chaput
Missing since: October 15, 1977
Missing from: Trois-Riviêres, QC
Date of Birth: September 26, 1960
Age at disappearance: 17 yrs
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Eye color: Brown
Hair: Brown, Long
Height: 178 cm / 5ft 10in
Weight: 59 kgs / 130 lbs
Physical Build: Slender/Thin
Complexion: Light/Fair
Jacques Chaput was just 17 years old when he walked away from his home in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Quebec, on October 15, 1977. Today, Cap-de-la-Madeleine is part of Trois-Rivières, but at the time it was its own municipality. Nearly five decades later, one fundamental question remains unanswered: did Jacques successfully leave Quebec as he apparently intended, or did something happen to him before he ever made it very far?
According to accounts from Jacques’s family, there had been an argument between Jacques and his mother before he left home. Jacques also reportedly left behind a letter indicating that he intended to leave Quebec and go to Ontario.
For his family, the letter seemed to provide an explanation. Jacques was 17, upset and apparently determined to leave. There was little reason at first to believe that he had become the victim of a crime or was otherwise in danger.
His sister, Louise Chaput, was staying with a friend when their mother telephoned her to say Jacques hadn’t returned home. Louise initially wasn’t particularly worried. She thought her younger brother had probably gone somewhere and simply forgotten to telephone their mother.
But Jacques didn’t come home the following day.
Then more days passed.
His friends didn’t seem to know where he was either.
The family continued believing that Jacques had deliberately left and was perhaps already beginning a new life somewhere in Ontario. Because of that belief, approximately six months reportedly passed before his disappearance was reported to police.
Louise would later speak openly about regretting that delay. She has also described the guilt she carried over the years, wondering whether things might have been different if she had been home when Jacques left.
But there is an important distinction between what Jacques apparently planned to do and what investigators can prove happened.
Jacques’s letter indicated that he intended to go to Ontario.
There appears to be no confirmed evidence that he ever arrived there.
No publicly documented sighting has established Jacques’s whereabouts after he left home on October 15, 1977. There is no known record placing him in an Ontario community, and no publicly available information showing how he intended to travel there, where specifically in Ontario he planned to go or whether someone was expecting him.
That leaves an enormous geographical area and an equally enormous gap in his story.
If Jacques was travelling alone in 1977, he may have hitchhiked, taken a bus or found some other way of leaving the Trois-Rivières area. But without evidence establishing how he planned to travel, those possibilities remain theories rather than facts.
The six-month delay before police became involved also created a significant obstacle. By then, memories could have faded, potential witnesses may have forgotten seeing him and records that might have documented his movements could have disappeared. Any immediate trail Jacques left behind was already months old.
At the time of his disappearance, Jacques was approximately 5’10” tall and weighed around 130 pounds. He had brown hair and brown eyes. Some secondary missing-person records also state that he had previously fractured his right wrist and provide descriptions of the clothing he may have been wearing. Those details do not appear consistently across the available records, however, and should be treated cautiously.
One of the most obvious theories is that Jacques really did make it to Ontario and deliberately began a life away from his family. His letter certainly makes that possibility worth considering. A teenager in 1977 could potentially have lived under the radar far more easily than someone disappearing today.
But that theory creates another question.
Why did Jacques never contact anyone again?
Leaving home after an argument is one thing. Remaining completely disconnected from family and friends for decades is something else entirely. There is no publicly known communication from Jacques after his disappearance that establishes he was alive and living elsewhere.
Another theory is that something happened while Jacques was travelling. If he hitchhiked or accepted transportation from someone he didn’t know, he could have encountered danger somewhere between Quebec and Ontario. There is no evidence proving Jacques hitchhiked, however, so this remains speculation.
An accident is another possibility. If Jacques was travelling through an unfamiliar area, particularly on foot or along highways, he could have been injured or killed without immediately being identified. Again, there is no known evidence establishing that this occurred.
There is also the possibility that Jacques never left the Trois-Rivières area at all.
A letter describing an intention to go somewhere tells us what someone planned at the moment they wrote it. Plans can change. Jacques could have met someone, changed his destination or encountered trouble before leaving the region. Without a confirmed sighting after he left home, investigators cannot even establish the first stage of his journey.
There is no publicly available evidence pointing toward a particular person being responsible for Jacques’s disappearance, and there is no known publicly identified suspect. Likewise, there is nothing establishing that Jacques’s disappearance involved foul play.
The uncomfortable truth is that all of these possibilities remain open because so little is known about what happened after Jacques walked away.
His disappearance profoundly affected his family, particularly Louise. Over the years she has spoken about the isolation, anger and guilt that can accompany having a loved one disappear without explanation. There is no funeral, no grave and no definitive moment when a family can say goodbye. Instead, there is an unanswered question that follows them through the years.
Organizations assisting families of missing children eventually helped bring renewed attention to Jacques’s case. An age-progressed image was created to show what he might look like as an older man, offering the possibility that someone might recognize him decades after the teenager in the original photographs had disappeared.
Jacques’s police file is listed as TRM 130712-004, and his disappearance continues to be publicized.
Had Jacques survived and remained alive today, he would be in his mid-sixties.
But the story still stops on October 15, 1977.
A 17-year-old boy argued with his mother. He apparently wrote a letter explaining that he planned to leave Quebec for Ontario. He walked away from his home in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, and his family initially believed that was exactly what he had done.
Months later, they realized they didn’t actually know where Jacques was.
And almost fifty years later, nobody has publicly established whether Jacques Chaput ever made it to Ontario – or what happened to him after he walked out the door.
If you have information on Jacques’ case, please contact any of the following:
Sécurité Publique de Trois-Rivières: 1-819-370-6700
Reference Case#: TRM-130712-004
Canada’s Missing Reference Number: 2014006184
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Sources: Canada’s Missing, Réseau Enfants-Retour (Missing Children’s Network), Le Journal de Québec, the Trois-Rivières Police Service missing-person file (TRM 130712-004), and published accounts from Jacques Chaput’s sister, Louise Chaput, through Réseau Enfants-Retour.
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