Accused Quebec serial killer dies in hospital

The sudden death of an accused serial killer has put an end to a major court case in Quebec.

Angelo Colalillo was accused of murdering two teenage girls and a 20-year-old woman, setting two fires and commiting a series of sexual assaults over 15 years.

His trial was supposed to start on Tuesday, but on Saturday he was taken to a hospital in Montreal from a detention centre. He was in a coma and died at 6:30 Tuesday morning.

Colalillo was arrested after a sexual assault in Ste-Thérèse, Que., in the summer of 2002.

Documents found in his home during that arrest linked Colalillo to the murder of 14-year-old Jessica Grimard, who was raped and stabbed in May 2002. Her father found her body in a woodlot.

Grimard's father, Yves, said he was relieved that Colalillo was dead.

"Fate decided the outcome of this case," he said Tuesday.

Jessica's sister, Dominique Grimard, says as a result of Colalillo's death, she won't have to relive the horror of her sister's death through the court case.

"It was put in God's hands," she said, referring to the suspected murderer's fate.

Police also believe Colalillo murdered a 20-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl. Both deaths were in 1993 and were originally blamed on fire and suicide, but police said new evidence led to the homicide charges.

An autopsy will determine Colalillo's cause of death.