Philadelphia arrest brings 2017 Montreal North murder back to court

Montreal police and U.S. Marshals arrested Ducakis François, 31, in Philadelphia on November 4, 2026, on a warrant connected to a 2017 Montreal North murder. He is being held pending extradition, police said in a release dated November 6.

The case goes back to August 2017. Police say two suspects waited for a 31-year-old man at the entrance of his apartment building in Montreal North, and one opened fire, fatally wounding him. The killing was the 16th homicide in Montreal that year.

In 2020, a jury found François and Willy Junior St-Jean guilty of manslaughter. The Court of Appeal later ordered a new first-degree murder trial because the trial judge had ruled out a first-degree conviction. François had already served his manslaughter sentence and returned to the United States. Police said he was hiding in Philadelphia with an associate, according to the U.S. Marshals Service's Philadelphia branch. He is an American citizen. St-Jean, 39, remains in prison on a separate conviction.