The man found dead inside a Brossard, Que., home alongside his wife had previously been accused of assaulting her with a knife and had agreed to wear an electronic tracking bracelet — but the charges were dropped.
Marcos Amilcar Diaz Lopez, 56, and his wife, Sonia Maricela Gonzalez Vasquez, 54, were found dead inside their home on Bienvenue Avenue shortly after midnight on Monday. Police said they received a 911 call reporting an armed assault inside the home around 12:45 a.m.
The couple appeared to have suffered stab wounds, according to police. Longueuil police say they are still considering multiple hypotheses, including a double homicide or a murder-suicide.
Police say they previously intervened at the home.
Court documents show that Diaz Lopez was charged with assaulting his wife twice in the span of two days: on Dec. 9 and 10, 2024.
The Dec. 10 assault involved the use of a 30-centimetre-long knife, which was seized by police alongside a sheath and a Kirkland T-shirt belonging to him, with multiple cuts in it. Police described the event, which happened at the house on Bienvenue Avenue, as an attempted murder in a report.
Diaz Lopez had worked as a butcher at Costco, according to labour tribunal documents.
Diaz Lopez was arrested for the Dec. 10 assault and, on Dec. 19, he was granted bail but ordered to remain living at the home, not be within one kilometre of Gonzalez Vasquez and wear a tracking bracelet.
He was also ordered to undergo anger management therapy provided by Entraide pour Hommes.
One day later, on Dec. 20, he was accused of violating his conditions. He was charged with two counts of breach of conditions for being within one kilometre of Gonzalez Vasquez.
After that, he appeared to, at least for several months, abide by the conditions. A document filed by a probation officer assigned to his case says that during a two-month period, the tracking bracelet flagged no moments when he was close to her.
“To now, the objective of protecting the victim in this case is attained by the imposition of the tracking bracelet,” the document said.
But then, in May 2025, all of the conditions imposed on him were dropped. He was no longer required to wear the bracelet or stay away from Gonzalez Vasquez.
Later that year, in December, all the charges against him, which had included assault, assault with a weapon, uttering threats and harassment, were dropped.
It is unclear why the conditions, and the charges, were dropped. CBC reached out to Quebec’s public prosecution service for comment and a spokesperson said they would analyze the recordings of the court hearings.
Police have said that when they were found dead, Diaz Lopez and Gonzalez Vasquez had been living in the home together.
Police have not labelled Gonzalez Vasquez’s death a homicide tied to conjugal violence. If they do, she would be the sixth such victim in Quebec since the start of the year.
At the National Assembly, Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière described Gonzalez Vasquez’s death as a “femicide” — defined by the secretariat of the UN Commission on the Status of Women as an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation.
“So many measures were put in place,” Lafrenière said, referring to the tracking bracelet and other conditions initially imposed on Diaz Lopez.
“There was so much done by the officers, but unfortunately this is the result. That’s the reason we talk about a very complicated kind of crime.”
Next Tuesday, a group of more than 50 care homes that work with conjugal violence victims intend to protest outside the National Assembly in the hopes that more resources will be devoted to protecting victims in the next provincial budget.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. If you’re affected by family or intimate partner violence, you can look for help through crisis lines and local support services.
