16. A Diabolical Scheme Falls Apart
Guay’s scheme swiftly unraveled. He had calculated time and distance, and set the timer to blow up the plane over the Saint Lawrence River, thus depriving forensics investigators an opportunity to investigate. However, the plane took off late, and the delay screwed up Guay’s calculations. Rather the plunge into the river, the plane crashed over land, and left plenty of debris for investigators to figure out that it was no accident. At his wife’s funeral, somebody mentioned reading in the news that the plane was downed by a bomb. A seemingly stunned Guay responded: “I can’t believe it! There’s nobody monstrous enough to blow a plane!” The cops soon zeroed in on him. He made it easier for them when he tried to cash in a $C 100,000 policy he had taken on his wife the day of the crash.
Then the identity of a woman that Guay had sent to the airport to ship on Flight 108 a parcel containing the bomb was revealed. She told the cops that Guay had given her the parcel, but denied knowing its contents. She tried to commit suicide, but was saved, at which point she confessed that Guay had told her the package contained a bomb. He was arrested and charged with murder. At the trial, all the sordid details came out. The rocky marriage, cheating, desperation to win back a mistress, the murder for life insurance scheme, and the fake tears. Guay was convicted, sentenced to hang, and was executed on January 12th, 1951. His last words were: “At least I die famous“. His accomplices followed him on the gallows within a year.
