Marilyn Bergeron

On the morning of February 17, 2008, Marilyn Bergeron (born December 21, 1983 ) left her family's home in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, for what she said was a walk. She did not return. An automated teller machine (ATM) security camera in Loretteville recorded her attempting to withdraw money early in the afternoon; she was last seen almost five hours after leaving home at a coffee shop in Saint-Romuald. Several sightings of her have been reported since then, especially in areas of Ontario just outside Quebec, but none have been confirmed.

Quebec City police (SPVQ), who continue to investigate, have theorized that Bergeron died by suicide. Her family, who has put up a reward for information leading to the resolution of the case, believes she may have instead met with foul play. Shortly before her disappearance she had moved back to Quebec City from Montreal, where she told her parents, without being specific, that something had happened there and she no longer felt safe living on her own.

Due to this, and the jurisdictional limitations of the SPVQ, the family has repeatedly petitioned the provincial Ministry of Public Security to order the case file transferred to either the Montreal police or the Sûreté du Québec, both of whom they feel could make more progress; the request has been refused. As a result, they have retained former provincial justice minister Marc Bellemare to press their case. Crime journalist Claude Poirier has also devoted an episode of his Historia series Poirier Enquête to the case.

In 2017, a friend who knew Bergeron in Montreal confirmed that she had grown increasingly fearful and reclusive there in the two months before her disappearance. He said he had asked her if she had been raped or witnessed a crime. She said what had happened to her was "worse" than that, but refused to elaborate.

Background Marilyn Bergeron was born in 1983

In an interview with Claude Poirier, Bergeron's parents recalled her as reckless, sometimes getting in trouble, and having friends who were bad influences. They also said she was open to and interested in all cultures and nationalities. She spoke English and her native French with equal fluency, had learned a little Spanish as well and was starting to learn Russian.

After earning a degree in media arts and technology at Cégep de Jonquière, Bergeron moved to Montreal in 2005. There she worked as a sales assistant in Steve's Music Store, and did freelance sound editing work for local TV stations. She was also training in finance at Industrial Alliance. She told her mother that when she did, she would tell her why. On February 10 of that year, she abruptly left her apartment on Hochelaga Street in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood of Montreal, and returned to her parents' house. Six days later, after two more trips to Montreal to retrieve belongings from her apartment, she had finally moved in with her parents again.

During that week, her family said it was obvious something was deeply troubling her. "Is there light at the end of this tunnel?" she asked her sister, Nathalie, over the phone. She said she did not want to return to Montreal again. But she would not say why. "We tried to get her to talk but she wouldn't talk, she would only cry", Nathalie told the Montreal Gazette a year later.

The police would not, at first, let Marilyn's parents see the ATM security video; they considered it too upsetting to show them. When they did see it, Andrée agreed that her daughter looked "helpless".

Several times during the 2010s, the family made formal requests to the provincial Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to have the case formally transferred to the jurisdiction of either the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) or the Montreal police. The former had province-wide jurisdiction and a reputation as Quebec's most capable law enforcement agency; the latter could investigate in Montreal, where they had come to believe Marilyn's friends and acquaintances from her life there might know more that might be helpful in resolving the case. While they did say the Quebec City police had "done their best",

At that same news conference, the Bergerons announced that the reward for information leading to Marilyn's whereabouts had been increased to CAD$30,000. Bellemare announced also that he was setting up a tipline for people whom he believed might have useful information but did not want to contact the police directly. "There are certainly people who know things about what happened to Marilyn", he said. "What we want is to find Marilyn. That's our goal".

At a second press conference that November, the Bergerons announced that the tipline had drawn 43 reports of sightings. They were accompanied by a man who had had some conversations with Marilyn during her last months in Montreal that went into further detail about why she felt she had to leave that city and return home so abruptly.

Marilyn's mood lifted somewhat when they went to the party, but then, Gauthier continued, after talking to a friend of hers Marilyn suddenly became anxious, as if that conversation had revived an unpleasant memory, and she asked to go home. Back at her apartment, he said, her mood further deteriorated and she began crying continuously. Attempting to calm her down, Gauthier asked if she had been raped, or witnessed a murder; she emphatically denied both.

The couple gave her a towel to dry herself, and she calmed down. She made her call, but did not seem to get an answer. Then she asked for directions to a nearby street. The man offered to drive her there, but she declined, saying it was close enough to walk. After apologizing for disturbing them, she left 10-15 minutes after knocking at the door.

As of 2025, Bergeron remained missing, with law enforcement reporting that the case was still active.