Côte-St-Luc cold case: Stabbing death haunts daughters nearly 19 years on
June 16, 2018
For Mouadeb, a mother of three, early September meant the beginning of a new school year, and she was having a busy day.
"Her father lived less than 10 minutes away, in Côte-St-Luc, and they usually spoke each day. But on Sept. 2, 1999, life got in the way: one kid needed a new school uniform, another needed to pick up textbooks downtown. She left him a message: “I’m busy, but call me back when you can.”
A feeling started creeping over her that night while prepping hamburgers, an easy meal after a hectic day — she still hadn’t heard from her father. She called a family friend who lived nearby to ask if he had seen him around.
When he hadn’t, she put the minced meat back in the fridge and went over to see for herself. Nothing seemed amiss from outside his Regal Rd. bungalow. The doors were all closed and his car was in the driveway. But inside was different. Cupboards and drawers were left open; there were papers all over the floor.
Benditsky, at 81, was the kind of person who left his door unlocked half the time and trusted strangers. His wife died when she was only 52, and he grew into what his children call “an eccentric old soul.” He worked in his family’s textile trimmings business, but was always artistic and creative. He built furniture, sculpted, repaired violins and liked to tend to his garden. Coming from a family of six children, he loved his own, and later, his grandchildren.
Mouadeb has trouble talking about what came next. Sitting at her dining room table recently, she pauses, hesitant to continue. Her older sister, Sue Baron, is on speakerphone from her home in Philadelphia. Years later, Baron’s still protective of her younger sister.
“And then what happened happened,” she says, saving Mouadeb from reliving the memory again.
After looking throughout the house, Mouadeb found her father’s body in the basement. He had been stabbed in the chest. In the nearly 19 years since, no clear motive for the crime has ever been determined.
The police investigation revealed Benditsky was likely killed in his entranceway after a struggle, and his body was moved to the basement. The culprit, or culprits, tried to clean the house afterward. Towels used to wipe the floors and walls of blood were left in the bathroom."
June 16, 2018
For Mouadeb, a mother of three, early September meant the beginning of a new school year, and she was having a busy day.
"Her father lived less than 10 minutes away, in Côte-St-Luc, and they usually spoke each day. But on Sept. 2, 1999, life got in the way: one kid needed a new school uniform, another needed to pick up textbooks downtown. She left him a message: “I’m busy, but call me back when you can.”
A feeling started creeping over her that night while prepping hamburgers, an easy meal after a hectic day — she still hadn’t heard from her father. She called a family friend who lived nearby to ask if he had seen him around.
When he hadn’t, she put the minced meat back in the fridge and went over to see for herself. Nothing seemed amiss from outside his Regal Rd. bungalow. The doors were all closed and his car was in the driveway. But inside was different. Cupboards and drawers were left open; there were papers all over the floor.
Benditsky, at 81, was the kind of person who left his door unlocked half the time and trusted strangers. His wife died when she was only 52, and he grew into what his children call “an eccentric old soul.” He worked in his family’s textile trimmings business, but was always artistic and creative. He built furniture, sculpted, repaired violins and liked to tend to his garden. Coming from a family of six children, he loved his own, and later, his grandchildren.
Mouadeb has trouble talking about what came next. Sitting at her dining room table recently, she pauses, hesitant to continue. Her older sister, Sue Baron, is on speakerphone from her home in Philadelphia. Years later, Baron’s still protective of her younger sister.
“And then what happened happened,” she says, saving Mouadeb from reliving the memory again.
After looking throughout the house, Mouadeb found her father’s body in the basement. He had been stabbed in the chest. In the nearly 19 years since, no clear motive for the crime has ever been determined.
The police investigation revealed Benditsky was likely killed in his entranceway after a struggle, and his body was moved to the basement. The culprit, or culprits, tried to clean the house afterward. Towels used to wipe the floors and walls of blood were left in the bathroom."
