Friday, December 31, 2004

Folks, if you need help, advice, guidance etc... I urge you to seek out good people and keep them in your council. Here are some of the good ones I've met this year who have helped (so many others):


1. Dr. John Butt, medical examiner, crash of Swiss Air 111

I heard Dr. John Butt speak powerfully in Vancouver on mass casualties and victims' trauma. I believe him when he says the only real victims are the dead and the physically injured. For the rest, the slow process of victimization begins after the traumatic event, and is preventable.

2. Dawn Kelly, Vancouver advocate, formerly with B.C. Police Victim Services

I met Dawn Kelly in Ottawa in November 2003. She is the person who invited me to participate in CAVA. Dawn gave me a focus and put me to work. Thanks Dawn.

3. Holly Desimone, rape survivor, grassroots advocate

Holly lives in Western Canada. I like Holly's advice to all of us who work with victims:

“be gentle to those who have been hurt and be kind to ourselves.”

Holly's also the first rape victim I have met who didn't make me feel stupid for not understanding what it's like to be raped. That's not as easy as it sounds, but she did it in a very fundamental way; she made it clear that our two experiences are different, but that we could work together and help each other by sharing information. Quite a trick.

4. Liz Quinlan, advocate

After her daughter was raped at the University of Saskatchewan, Liz started the Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CASA).

5. Linden & Judy Peterson, parents of Lindsey Nicholls, missing since August 1993.

I met the Petersons in British Columbia. They are advocating for the creation of Lindsey's Law to create a National Missing Persons DNA Databank. I really love their website; it's sleek and to-the-point.

6. Darlene Rempel, MOVA

We haven't talked much on this site about the Manitoba Organization for Victim Advocates, but we should. Nevermind that Manitoba is the only province with a functioning victims' bill of rights, or that their Minister of Justice, Gord Mackintosh is the envy of victims from all other provinces; the person that keeps all of this moving with a slow, willed determination is Darlene Rempel who started MOVA after the murder of her son.

7. Priscilla de Villiers - advocate, Toronto

Let me tell you a story about Priscilla. When I attended (in protest) the Policy Centre's - Justice Canada's - conference on "lessons learned from victims of crime", I was having a hard time finding a friendly port in this bureaucratic storm. I asked a friend (Senator Landon Godfrey, to be precise - I move in privileged circles) to guide me. She said, "see Priscilla de Villiers". So I approached Priscilla and, for the first time, I wasn't treated as persona-non-grata. Priscilla took me in and explained to me the ground rules of victim advocacy in Canada. She is a kind and loving person, generous with her time and knowledge, always willing to guide and explain the labyrinth of Canadian victims issues. And it is a shame that her pioneer efforts inCAVEAT are now dissolved, and that her continued work in victims advocacy through the Ontario Office for Victims of Crime are also defunct. My hope for the new year is that Priscilla finds renewed energy in CAVA and will continue her mission. We need her.


8. Steve Sullivan, Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime

Ya, ya, ya... Steve's a lawyer and most of his job involves lobbying for legislative reform in Ottawa - someone has to do it. Steve's website atCRCVC is a great resource. I have met so many victims who, when I ask them, who was the first person that helped you in your cause, they say: Steve Sullivan.

9. Irwin Waller, Professor of criminology, University of Ottawa

Waller is the father of modern victimology in Canada (he worked in the Trudeau government for god's sake!). Waller has a simple (yet daunting) blueprint for the future of victims' rights in Canada. It goes something like this:

a. Legislate the creation of a fully funded federal office of victims of crime (like they have in the States).

b. Attach to it a permanent advisory committee.

c. Create an institute for unified policing programs.

d. After a, b, and c; make the priority victim reform (let's get a working bill of rights like they have in Europe).

e. Champion prevention, that is... Reduce the number of victims.

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

8. Pierre Hugues Boisvenu - Advocate, Quebec

Do I really have to mention again my profound admiration for Pierre Boisvenu? His new organization, L'association des familles de personnes assassinées ou disparues now has its website up and running: www.afpad.ca

9. Arlene Gaudreault, Directrice, L'Association quebecoise Plaidoyer-Victimes

Yes it's true that I knocked the Plaidoyer earlier in the year for being an empty organization. But I did this in part because I was ignorant (I have to stop learning this lesson), and partly because I wanted to see if they would respond to the provocation. And they did. The Plaidoyer put on a great victim conference in Montreal in October. Arlene crossed the language barrier and invited me to speak; she took a risk not knowing what I would say or do (actually, Pierre-Hugues vouched for me.) Arlene is warm and kind, and a pioneer in the victim movement in Quebec, following in the path of Micheline Baril

10. Jo-Anne Wemmers, Professor, University of Montreal

An academic, but we need her. Jo-Anne Wemmers is one of the few people in Canada doing actual useful research in the areas of how victims respond to the process of victimization. A protege of Irvin Waller, she is extremely knowledgeable of the comparative justice systems in the United States, Canada and Europe. Her book,Introduction a la victimologie is a must read for those wishing to know the history of victimology in Canada (yes, it's in French - common, learn the language already!)

11. Lola R., Quebec

I cannot tell you Lola's real name. But she is kind and caring, and very courageous. Lola has greatly influenced my life. And I wish her peace this coming year. Lola, tu es dans mon coeur.

12. Deborah Spungen, victim advocate, U.S.A.

Spungen is the mother of Nancy Spungen (yes, that Nancy). She is formerly with NOVA and the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia. I met Spungen because I was trying to get her to speak at an engagement in North Carolina. She is smart and very funny. Her book, Homicide: The Hidden Victims changed my life.

13. Carmen Gill - Director, Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research
I only met Carmen recently, she is new to the centre. I mention her, and Muriel McQueen because it is one of the few organizations in the Maritimes (New Brunswick) I am familiar with (and Carmen came all the way to Vancouver to be involved!).

the other being...

The Beauséjour Family Crisis and Resource Centre in Shediac, New Brunswick whose director is Eva Leblanc. If folks have more info on good people doing good work in Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland let me know.

Where possible, I have included contact links where you can go and seek out these good people. So get out there and do good.

Happy New Year to you all,

John Allore

---------------

UPDATE: Steve Sullivan wrote to inform me that he is definitely NOT a lawyer (my mistake).

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

I FINALLY GOT A RESPONSE FROM THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE!

Remember when I wrote Minister Cotler back in July about evidence retention in criminal cases? (take my word for it, I did)

Well six months later he wrote back (actually I received this about a month ago; I've just been too disheartened to post it):

The Honourable Irwin Cotler
Bigshotsville, Canada
Bla-bla-bla

November 29, 2004

John Allore
Nowheresville, U.S.A.

Dear Mr. Allore:

Thank you for your correspondence concerning the retention of physical evidence in criminal cases. I regret the delay in responding.

I recognize that your concerns arise from the criminal investigation into the death of your sister Theresa. While this sad event happened some years ago, it must still be a matter of deep personal loss, and I would first like to express my sincere sympathies.

I note your steadfast commitment to obtaining answers concerning your sister's death. As Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, I am unable to comment regarding individual cases or particular criminal investigations, but I hope that answers and a resolution of this matter may still be possible, despite the passage of years.

The specific question you have raised concerns standards for the retention of evidence in criminal cases and, in particular, whether this is a matter of legislation or whether this is a matter of procedure within individual police forces. There do exist a number of provisions in federal laws, such as the Criminal Code and the Seized Property Management Act, that govern the collection and retention of certain types of physical evidence. The matter raised by you, however, is, at the federal level, largely a matter of police procedure. I note that you remain interested in the particular procedures within the RCMP. Since the RCMP falls under the responsibility of my colleague the Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, I have taken the liberty of forwarding to her a copy of your correspondence as she may be able to provide additional information in this regard.

Thank you again for writing.

Yours sincerely,

Irwin Cotler

That's it? It took them six months to pass the buck?

You know, it's a little like that scene in A Christmas Story where the kid waits months to get a secret decoder ring, only to find the secret message is DRINK YOUR OVALTENE.

Well, guess I'll wait another six months for McLellan to respond: great, I'll wait a whole year to have them say, "Dear Mr. Allore... we don't know the answer to your question".

I must say, this is the first letter from a bureaucrat in which they acknowledged Theresa and managed to spell her name right (we must take our victories where we find them).

Friday, December 24, 2004

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah... it's time for Gravy's Quebec Weird Crime Round-up

The Montreal Mirror
The year in weird crime
by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Those who threaten our peaceful ways with their lewd, deviant behaviour get their comeuppance not only in front of the judge's gavel, but also in this paper. For in the people's court of these pages, the miscreant actions are also unmasked, revealed and scrutinized. Those who dare read the Mirror's annual round-up of crime in Quebec be warned: this is not recommended for the easily outraged or those trying to digest a meal.


Celebrity poops on rug! 
Ageing vedette Michèle Richard has launched no shortage of outrageous controversy and this year found her at her most inspired. Richard's annual episode took place in September, when she was informed that her dogs were forbidden in her hotel room. She howled in protest, police came and she was handcuffed and taken to a cell - but not before leaving a steamy piece of excrement on the floor of the hotel room. Her lawyer later explained: "Stress caused a physical reaction of a sort that a material didn't reach its destination and her panties suffered a trauma." She denied speculation that the brouhaha was a carefully staged event to promote her new CD.


They seduce horses don't they?
Denis Audette, 70, was caught having intercourse with a horse in March 2001. "I'm doing nothing wrong," he told the animal's owner when caught pants-down. The owner caught him doing it again and again, a dozen times in total over the next couple of years. Audette's pièce-de-résistance was possibly the moment he was caught performing cunnilingus on one horse while manually stimulating another. On July 19 cops decided they had enough evidence to try Audette. He was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.


Growl for the camera
An American F-1 fan snappin' tourist pix on Crescent inadvertently shot a pic with Jeffrey Sénat, 24, and Mitch Pierre-Louis, 18, in the background. The duo allegedly pulled their car over and beat the shutterbug savagely before stabbing him in the neck twice. Usually unreliable drunken onlookers shucked their traditional ways and jumped the transgressors, holding them until cops came. The baddies were charged with attempted murder.


Apache Trudeau scores the murderer, pedophile and informant trifecta
Yves "Apache" Trudeau, 58, apparently unsatisfied with the mere title of being the most prolific hit man in Canadian history with 43 notches in his belt, added "homosexual pedophile" to his résumé after repeatedly having sex with a teenage boy unaware of his villainous past. Trudeau had served a mere seven years in prison from 1986 to 1993, a result of having turned informant. He has been on welfare since 2002, around the time he took to being anally serviced by the lad. Trudeau pled mercy to the court, noting that fellow inmates aren't crazy about either informants or pedophiles, of which he is now officially both, as well as a mass murderer, of course. He was given four years.


Slipped her mind
Men don't usually complain of being raped by women, with one exception - the addict being treated at a special therapy centre in Sherbrooke who ended up snuggling with a fellow addict named Chantal Blanchette, 35. After coupling, Blanchette mentioned to him that she's had AIDS for 10 years. According to law you've got to disclose such a fact prior to copulation. The plaintiff, named Alain, also later learned that Blanchette is a transsexual. Blanchette pled guilty to aggravated assault and will be sentenced in January.


Another bum-pinching menace to society
Léo Pelletier, 54, caressed the backsides of four women on Cartier Avenue in Quebec City, a deed that merited six months in the cooler. A judge deemed the Agriculture Ministry economist's misdeed more serious because he made the mistake of including a minor among the recipients of the Benny Hill handshake and was also caught drunk driving while awaiting trial. The judge speculated that Pelletier was suffering from "toucherisme" as a result of psychological trauma caused by his prostate cancer.


Prison rape is nothing compared to fights over the remote
When convicted cocaine dealer Gregory Papadakis tried changing the channel in a Gatineau prison, fellow inmate Denis Philion disagreed with the choice of station. He pushed Papadakis down, injuring him. This all happened on Dec. 31, 1991, but after years bouncing around courts, a judge finally decided that Philion would have to pony up $60,000 to the victim of the TV remote fracas.


And they called it puppy love
When chef Mehmet Yildrim, 42, saw a hot 83-year-old woman at the restaurant he worked at last March, he went into seduction mode. Yildrim flattered the old lady's appearance, put his hand on her thigh and got her phone number. The Turkish-born cook is said to have later visited the wrinkly octogenarian at her Thetford Mines home, where he felt up her apparently ageless body for about an hour. When he returned for more grandmotherly lovin' the next day, the woman complained and had him arrested on charges of sexual assault. He faces more court appearances next year.


Not enough pepper in the pepper spray
In April, Jeremiah Thomas, serving a murder sentence at Donnacona prison, stabbed fellow inmate Saalim Speede to death. Prison guards nearby had tried to stop the attack by dousing the aggressor with pepper spray, which they later acknowledge didn't even slow him down. Prison officials were left pondering their recipe for pepper spray.


I confess. I did it. What's the crime again?
Quebec City police were high-fiving each other for getting Simon Marshall to confess to a series of sexual assaults, for which he served 62 months, even though the victims failed to identify him as the attacker. In prison, he was thrice denied parole, as he was deemed a danger to the public. Authorities started feeling a little sheepish when he walked through the door this summer and confessed to demanding a BJ at knifepoint in Place Laurier - even after DNA evidence proved he didn't commit the act. Now authorities are wondering if the simpleminded man's real problem is confessing to crimes he hears about on TV.


Duelling vibrator cat fight
Sex shop owner Huguette Tremblay of La Clé du Plaisir in Beauport accepted a misdelivered packaged destined to a competitor containing 70 vibrators, costing $1,082. When she passed them on to their proper owner, Veronique Fuchs's Love Boutique, the package was 20 plastic penises short. Trémblay was convicted of fraud for nabbing the dildos but given an unconditional discharge.


No sickos here
Remember Daniel Cormier, 53, the anti-Gay Games preacher who ran for mayor in 2001? In March the proselytizing zealot was charged with sexing up an 11-year-old girl, whom he referred to as his "wife." It was one of a series of child-loving misdeeds he is alleged to have committed between 1993 and 2002. The former Wisdom Party mayoral candidate was accused of taking advantage of youth he met in his work with downtown homeless and street youth. His trial continues next year.


Babysitter must eat poo-poo
A 28-year-old mother in St-Anne-de-Beaupré was sentenced to two years less a day for visiting her babysitter with a friend and beating him and forcing him to eat his own excrement and drink his own urine. The mother was angry that the babysitting 18-year-old boy, considered slightly retarded, had allegedly sexually assaulted her seven- and three-year-olds. The duo detained the boy for over an hour and threatened to detach his penis. The boy faces charges of sexual assault on the minors.


Man-child court
A 34-year-old Terrebonne father of three was tried as a minor after a cold case squad linked him to the murder of Paul-Emile Bértrand, 56, in a botched robbery on Beaubien in October 1986. Investigators found DNA evidence that pointed to the textile worker, whose name is withheld as he was a minor at the time of the crime. The man is the first adult to be tried in Quebec youth court. He pled guilty to involuntary homicide and was sentenced to two years less a day, served in the community.


Home renovations cost more these days
Pierre Saintonge, 55 and Marc Denicolai, 47, were doing repairs on the house of an 81-year-old woman in Vieux Longueuil, who paid them in cash for their work. The men worked a gruelling two hours a day for seven months and charged her half-a-million for their labours, which started in March 2002. They were busted this year: Saintonge got five years in prison, Denicolai two years less a day. Both were ordered to pay back the dough.


Something to do in St-Eustache
In early October, Jonathan Bonneau, 20, of St-Eustache, was charged with building three bombs with butane, air purifier, propane, etc. and popping one in the dumpster behind the local Dollarama. Police say he then put one in a Saturn and then an SUV, leaving $60,000 of damage in his wake. Another bomb failed to blow and cops say they quickly lifted his fingerprints off the tape holding that one together.


Breaking up is hard to do
Annie Simard, 31, a Boisbriand mother of two, was dumped by her boyfriend Gilles Ravel, 35. The couple had been lovers for 12 years. Police say she went to his house, knocked him out with a Mickey Finn and, as he was falling asleep from the spiked cocktail, strangled him with a rope. But Ravel didn't quite succumb, and indeed recovered enough to call 911. Simard was charged with attempted murder the next day.


The naughty schoolteacher
Former Lachute city council candidate Louis Laurin, a private school teacher, was sentenced to three years for turning a 14-year-old into his mistress. Although his wife was seen participating in some of the videos, the court let her off, mainly because of her "passive" role. The couple separated, and the once-praised schoolteacher declared bankruptcy.


A lame business plan
When Steve Parizeault lost a leg in a train mishap, he was compensated with enough cash to buy an apartment building for his mom and cars for his brothers. He also had enough loot to start his own business as a crack cocaine dealer. It wasn't a great career choice, as the Rough Riders Gang in LaSalle warned him repeatedly that he was encroaching on their turf. On January 17, the one-legged dealer was gunned down. Alleged gang member Daryl Griffith, 18, was charged with the murder.


Shopaholic mother turns fraud artist
Quebec City's Lise Giguère, scored a windfall with compensation cash when cop hubby Jacques was killed by a crooked colleague Serge Lefebvre in 1985. Giguère promptly became a spendaholic. After the cash ran out, she got a job at Robert Bury construction supplies, whom she bilked for $966,500 by manipulating the payroll before being nailed this year. Before getting two years, she told the judge that she blamed her employer for their poor surveillance of her work, and was trying to compensate for her children's lack of a father with heaps of consumer goods.


Some wet dream
At a trial in Hull, a 49-year-old man argued that he wasn't guilty of molesting a 14-year-old girl in March 2002 because he did it while sleepwalking. It didn't work. He was found guilty but is appealing.


I SAID I LIKE MY STEAK RARE!!!!
Sophie Lévesque and Christian Dussault of Val-Bélair invited Stéphane Laroche to dinner in August. Police say that Laroche, for reasons unclear, entered and committed the social faux pas of attempting to kill his hosts with a knife. Both survived the bad table manners and Laroche was charged with attempted murder.


Valentine's surprise
Tak Fu Deer bunked on the top and his sister Lai-Wah, 51, bunked on the bottom in their Rosemont apartment until the day she irritated him by accusing him of mooching food. He strangled her on Valentine's Day. Deer left her dead in bed until she was found by relatives several days later, her face apparently having been nibbled at by rats running rampant in the home. He was brought into the Pinel Institute for long-term psychiatric evaluation.


Finally a store that welcomes shoplifters! 
Maria Milagros Pardes Pinedo, 33, and Kelly Aliago Castro, 24, were busted at 6442 St-Laurent for allegedly running a store that specialized in shoplifted clothing. They had 2,000 articles worth $250,000. Their thievin' suppliers weren't caught.


Love knows no bounds
A 14-year-old from Donnacona was found guilty in August of smacking her sleeping stepfather on the head with a skillet and then stabbing him to death. She was upset because he agreed with her mom that she shouldn't continue dating her 20-year-old boyfriend.


He could always try tunnelling out of prison
Celebrity criminal Marcel Talon, best known for his attempt to tunnel into the Bank of Montreal in 1993, believed he had won immunity for past crimes. This led him to confess to two bombing murders in his autobiography. It was such a hit that it was made into the movie Le Dernier tunnel. Unfortunately prosecutors didn't consider him as immune as he considered himself. His confessed crimes led them to formally charge him with murder this year.


A backside to be admired from a distance
MC Mario, who was recently found guilty of sexual assault after a February 2002 smoochfest in St-Jérôme, explained that he was only accused because one of the victims was offended when he mistakenly assumed she was a prostitute. In an interview with Photo Police prior to the verdict, Mario had expressed mixed feelings about his accuser. "She's got quite a personality, but she's also got an amazing bum."

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

A sobering list of 768 women and children murdered in Quebec since the "Montreal Massacre" at L'Ecole Polytechnique on December 6th, 1989...

15 ans après l’attentat terroriste de l’École Polytechnique… la violence sexiste continue

768 DES FEMMES ET ENFANTS TUÉES PAR DES HOMMES EN TANT QU’HOMMES OU PAR DES INCONNUS, AU QUÉBEC SEULEMENT, DEPUIS LE 6 DÉCEMBRE 1989

*Italiques: Enfants et jeunes (172) Caractères gras: les 14 femmes abattues par un masculiniste à l’École Polytechnique de Montréal, le 6 décembre 1989

Ada Burns, Aïda El-Tomi, Agnes McCormick-McKenzie, Ai Ny Cai, Albina Arbour Cloutier, Alex Maheux-Royer, Alexandra McBride, Alexandre Blanchette, Alexandre Riendeau, Alice Benoît, Alice Lépine-Reeves, Alicia Moses, Aline Dubé, Aline Robidoux, Aline Taylor-Francoeur, Aloma Potvin, Alonzo Ortiz, Amanda Huard, Ana Maria Solinas Norbaak, Anastasia Siméon, Andréa Gagné, Andrée Gagné, Andrée Halpin, Andréanne Tremblay, Andrée Guénette, Angel Laskaris, Angela Moreau, Anita Lelièvre, Ann Lyons, Ann Tuyet Nguen, Anna Marden, Anna Yarnold, Anna-Maria Codina-Leva, Anne Brissette, Anne Laurin, Anne-Lisa Cefali, Anne-Marie Edward, Anne-Marie Lemay, Anne-Marie Morin, Anne-Marie Sharpe, Annette Wilson, Annick Babin, Annick Gravel, Annie Dominique-Normandin, Annie Lapointe, Annie St-Arneault, Annie Turcotte, Anthony Lefebvre-Richer, Antoinette Asselin, Antonia Cantin, Ashley Pluviose, Audrey Danjou-Chrétien, Audrey Dubé, Audrey-Ève Charron, Audrey Martin, Audrey Paquet, Aurélie Grimoux, Aurore Tremblay (2), Aylin Olana-Garcia, Barbara Daigneault, Barbara Erhardt, Barbara Maria Kluznick, Bee-Leei Meng, Béatrice De Montigny, Béatrice Lavoie, Béatrice Thibodeau, Benoît Marceau, Bercuhi Leylekoglu, Berta Dimidjan, Berthe Hardy-Blanchette, Bianca Caron, Binh-Khieu-Thanh Tran, Bitha Mengo Munsi, Blandine Simoneau-Girard, Bonnie Dagenais, Born Samphorn, Brejnev Lee Maynard, Brigitte Gagné, Brigitte St-Germain, Calliope Vournous, Carmel Louisjeune, Carmen Lagueux, Carmie Jeannot, Carmina Rivas, Carole Bienvenue, Carole Blanchette, Carole Boisvert, Carole Lachapelle, Carole Lirette, Carole Martin, Carole Rajotte, Carolle Deschamps, Caroline Guimond, Caroline Landry, Caroline Laniel, Caroline Poulin, Caroline Veilleux, Carrie Dolores Mancuso, Carrie-Ann Larocque, Catherine Dansereau, Catherine Morin,Cathy Brooks, Cathy Caretta, Cécile Clément, Cécile Roy, Cédric Alexandre-Scott, Cédric Bourgeois-Cadieux, Céline Fréchette, Céline Lemieux-Letendre, Céline Letellier, Céline Pearson, Céline Saint-Amant, Chantal Brière, Chantal Brochu, Chantal Coutu, Chantal Lavoie, Chantal Tremblay, Chantale Gervais, Charlene McFarlane, Charles Gagné, Charles Tremblay, Chien Chin Wong, Christian Girard, Christiane Asselin, Christiane Boucher, Christiane Maurice, Christina Deladurantaye, Christina Mitriou, Christina Palasanu, Christine Baillargeon, Christine Dallaire-Labelle, Christine De Grandmont, Christine Deslauriers, Christine Dubé, Christine Leclerc, Christine Lessard, Christine Speich, Christine Tremblay, Christophe-Emmanuel Robinson, Chrystelle Lavigne-Gagnon, Cindy Bouchard, Cindy Faucher, Claire Lafrenière, Claire Ouellet-Bourgault, Claire Samson, Claude Ferron, Claude Julien, Claude Lecours, Claudette Archambault-Perron, Claudette Frenière, Claudette Servant, Claudia De Montigny, Claudia Drouin, Claudine Breault, Claudine Caron, Clothilde d’Auteuil-Quimper, Colette Harnois, Colette Julien, Colette Rondeau, Cristobalina Vasquez, Cynthia Crichlow, Daniel Desrochers, Danielle André, Danielle Boucher, Danielle Dufour, Danielle Falardeau, Danielle Guilbault, Danielle Laplante, Danielle Provost, Danny Deschamps, Dany Fleurant, David Guillet, David Prieur-Santerre, Deborah Ann Rothmann, Deilia Tautu, Delima Kopeau, Denise Charron, Denise Duquette, Denise Martel, Denise Rybicki, Diana Tautu, Diane Bergeron, Diane Couture, Diane Durand, Diane Francis, Diane Gélinas, Diane Labelle, Diane Latour, Diane Lavigne, Diane Massicotte, Diane Paquette, Diane Tremblay, Dolores Lijoi, Dominique Papineau, Dominique Tremblay, Donald Desruisseaux, Donna Norris, Dora Psyrris, Dorine Mallette, Dylan Lebel, Elaine Cormier, Éliane Hervieux, Elisapi Assepa, Elise Leboeuf, Elizabeth Bernachez-Larocque, Elizabeth Fuller, Emilia Thomas, Émilie Thinel, Emma Reda di Girolano, Emmanuella Corso, Éric Arpin, Éric Beauvais, Éric Labonne, Estelle Letendre, Esther Conserve, Eva Paradis, Ève St-Onge, Evette Brown-Alliman, Fabian Mitchell, Fanny Kingstone, Fatima Kama, Florence Bouchard, France Bazinet, France Cossette, France Beauregard, France Lacharité, France Legault, France Pelletier, France Roy (2), France Saint-Germain, Francine Gouin, Francine Lacroix, Francine Lefebvre, Francine Turcotte-Bérard, Francine Valois, Francine Villeneuve, Francis Boucher, François Mongrain, François Wistaff, Françoise Barnes-Carrière, Françoise Beaulieu, Françoise Beaulne, Françoise Lirette, Frankz Anatole, Gaétane Saint-Pierre, Gemma Dessureault, Geneviève Bergeron, Geneviève Dubois, Geneviève Prieur-Santerre, Georges-Éric Lohier, Georgette Forget, Germaine Charbonneau, Germaine Désilets, Germaine Hebert, Gertrude Paquin, Ghislaine Dubé, Ghislaine Gagnon, Ghislaine Poirier, Gilberte Desalliers, Ginette Boucher, Ginette Dufresne, Ginette Gaudette, Ginette Gauthier, Ginette Lamirande-Grenon, Ginette Legault, Ginette Rivard, Ginette Roger, Ginette Vincent, Gisèle Côté, Guylaine Fortin, Guylaine Gent, Guylaine Leblond, Guylaine Potvin, Hanh Nguyen, Helen Bauer, Hélène Colgan, Hélène Dufresne, Hélène Farman, Hélène Hurtubise, Hélène Langlais, Hélène Morneau, Hélène Plante, Hélène Verreault, Hend El-Tomi, Hermeline Leblanc-Bourdages, Hilary Erhardt, Hortensia Diaz, Huguette Boulanger, Huguette Demers-Paradis, Huguette-Marie Brideau, Ian Lambert-Tourangeau, Ida Rudy Kramer, Immaculée-Barbara Pierre, Innocent Kastar, Isabelle Bacon, Isabelle Bolduc, Isabelle Brouillette-Venne, Isabelle Champoux, Isabelle Denis, Isabelle Lotz, Isabelle Rolin, Isabelle Villeneuve, Ivy Roberts, Jacinthe Dufour, Jacqueline Bernard, Jacqueline Dansereau, Jacqueline Fortin, Jacqueline Lecors, Jadwiga Lorynski, Jae Woo Hu, Jane Grefford, Janet Kuchinski, Janette Daigneault, Janie Lefebvre, Jasmine Mathews, Jayshri Patel, Jea In Hu, Jean-Anthony Richer, Jean-Christophe Roy, Jean-Francois Leclerc, Jean-Francois Lessard, Jean-François Parenteau, Jean-Marc Harper, Jean-Philippe Rossignol, Jean-Vanel Prévost, Jeanet Grenier-Lajoie, Jeanie Poucachie, Jeanne Bouchard, Jeanne Francoeur, Jeanne d’Arc Alarie-Ouellet, Jeanne-Lolita Cameron, Jeannelle Dumont, Jeannette Fradette-Fréchette, Jeannette Lamoureux, Jeannine Boissonneault-Durand, Jeannine Gagnon, Jeannine Marineau, Jenny Lenner, Jérôme Fréchette-Vachon, Jérôme Leclerc, Jérôme Langlois, Jessica Charbonneau, Jessica Chiasson-Huard, Jessica Grimard, Jessica Lemire-Gagnon, Jessica Sylvain, Joan Williams, Joanna Simolenska-Powada, Joanne Beaudoin, Joanne Cloutier, Joanne Foessi, Joanne Murray, Joanne Salvatore, Jocelyn Toope, Jocelyne Bourbonnais-Delorme, Jocelyne Lemay, Jocelyne Montreuil, Jocelyne Parent, Jocelyne Plante, Jocelyne Poirier, Joëlle Delage, Joëlle Tremblay, Johanne Bonhomme, Johanne Chalut, Johanne Godbout, Johanne Guay, Johanne Patenaude, Johanne Plante, Johanne Renaud, Johanne Saint-Éloi, Johanne Valade, John Feurer Pellerin, Joleil Campeau, Jonathan Beaudin, Jonathan Brodeur, Jonathan Couture, Jonathan Gilbert, Josée Jobidon, Josée Johnston, Josée Mathieu, Josée Matte, Josée Olsen, Josée Paquin, Josée Pitre, Josée Siracusa, Josée Tremblay, Joséphine Sberna, Joséphine Petitpas, Josette Duchesne, Josette Therriault, Josiane Jeannot, Joyce Bond, Judy Clark, Judy O’Reilly, Julie Beauvais, Julie Boisvenu, Julie Gendron, Julie Labonne, Julie Marcil, Justin Bauer, Justin Langlois, Juthlande Pierre, Kamalmatie Mulidhar-Janack, Karen Margaret Ann Lewis, Karine Gaudreault, Karina Janveau, Karine Hamel, Karine Pagé, Karyn Hicks, Kathryn Hannan, Kathy Rioux, Katti Blouin, Kevin Stringer, Kelly Ann Drummond, Kelly-Lynn Fitzpatrick, Kim Parent, Kristina Blain, Lai “Josephine” Wah, Laorina Adriansen, Laurette Jarry, Laurette Roy, Laurin Lirette, Laurie Fréchette, Leila Arbaoui, Leila El-Tomi, Léonie Hanscom-Dubé, Lijuan Wang, Liliane De Montigny, Lina Charron, Lina Stinziani, Linda Borden, Linda Condo, Linda Lafrance, Line Laforce, Lise Beaudoin, Lise Bélisle, Lise Bourgeois, Lise Brisebois, Lise Cossette, Lise Desmarais, Lise Hardy, Lise Laporte, Lise Papineau, Lise Phaneuf, Lise Raymond, Lise Roberge-Beaudoin, Lise Verreault-Bélanger, Lisette Boucher, Lorraine Bourgeois, Lorraine Keogh, Lorraine Pelletier, Louana Charles, Louise Campbell, Louise Chaput, Louise De Prater, Louise Dubreuil, Louise Ellis, Louise Fleury, Louise Héroux, Louise Gagnon, Louise Lessard-Piché, Louise Macenat, Louise Pageau, Louise Plante-Ouellet, Louise Prieur-Santerre, Louise Ruel, Louiselle Caron, Louisette Laflamme, Lucette Boily, Lucette Mageau-Casey, Lucie Brousseau, Lucie Castonguay, Lucie Dionne, Lucie Gélinas, Lucille Gignac-Gélinas, Lucille Morin, Ludovic Giasson, Luis Antonio Ortiz, Lyane Breault, Lydia Enaruiluk, Lyne Saint-Onge, Lyne Villeneuve, Lynn Labonté, Manon Dubé, Manon Hamel, Manon Leblanc, Manon Lécuyer, Manon Paquin, Manon Trottier, Manuel Pouw, Marc Falardeau, Marc-Alexandre Chartrand, Margaret Anglin, Marguerite Boka, Marguerite Landry, Marguerite Montreuil, Marguerite Paris-Beauregard, Maria Gallo-Dubé, Maria Susette Lamos, Marie Bourdeau, Marie Clermont-Bazzarelli, Marie Lemay, Marie-Anne Bouffard, Marie-Berthe Marcotte, Marie-Chantale Desjardins, Marie-Claude Côté, Marie-Claire Pothier, Marie-Eve Larivière, Marie-France Foucault, Marie-Ghislaine Charles, Marie-Hélène Dubé, Marie-Jimcia Augustin, Marie-Josée Champagne, Marie-Paule Foucault, Marie-Paule Gagné, Marie-Pier Gauthier, Marie-Pier Joly, Marielle Michaud, Marielle Villeneuve, Mariette Giroux, Mariette Lacombe, Marilu Ortiz, Marlene Hogue, Marthe Beaulieu, Martine Auger, Martine Lefebvre, Martine Scotto, Marwan Harb, Mary Begg, Mary Glenn, Maryse Charron, Maryse Côté, Maryse Laganière, Maryse Leclair, Maryse Levac, Matthew Collins, Matthieu McDonald, Maud Bélair, Maud Haviernick, Maxime Ayotte-McPhee, Maxime Raymond, Maxime Giasson Saint-Hilaire, Mélanie Cabay, Mélanie Messier, Melina Laskaris, Mélissa Williski, Mercedes Castellanos, Mercedez Boudu, Michael Paquette, Michael-Stéphane Jolin, Michel Perreault, Michèle Bernard, Michèle Blais, Michèle Richard, Micheline-Ange Charest, Micheline Bond, Micheline Cuerrier, Micheline Denis, Micheline Dufault, Micheline Grégoire-Denis, Micheline Lacharité, Micheline Lapierre, Micheline Leblanc, Micheline Sévigny, Michelle Rhéaume,Mikael McDonald, Mikaela Tautu, Milia Abrar, Mina Brascoupé-Jérôme, Ming Hung Ha, Minnie Kenuajuak, Mireille Bélanger, Mireille Bruneau, Moïra Fortin, Monique Gaudreau, Monique Gravel, Monique Saint-Germain, Monique Stocker, Monique Woods, Mylène Marceau, Myriam Chrétien, Myriam Valois, Nadège Châtelain, Nadia Fera Panarello, Nadia Marion, Nancy Guimond, Nancy Lebreux, Nancy Martins, Nancy Ouellette, Nancy Potvin, Nancy West, Natacha Desbiens, Natacha Genovesi, Natalia Masiak, Natasha Alexandre-Scott, Nathalie Beauregard, Nathalie Boutin, Nathalie Champigny, Nathalie Chassy, Nathalie Côté, Nathalie Croteau, Nathalie Dallaire, Nathalie Dumont, Nathalie Jolicoeur, Nathalie Lévesque, Nathalie Rouleau, Nazia Chahen, Nelly Bobishe, Nicky Robinson, Nicolas Maloney, Nicole Abi-Natted, Nicole Bloomer, Nicole Desgagnés, Nicole Dubuc, Nicole François, Nicole Lacombe Rocheleau, Nicole Morrissette, Nicole Sassoon, Nicole Tremblay, Nora Guité-Bujold, Nuran Demirel Keser, Odette Dugas, Odette Pinard, Olivette Dupont-Baril, Pascal Poulin, Pascale Lemaire, Pascale Thomas, Patricia Shandroo, Paula Laviolette, Pauline Berthiaume-Bouthillette, Pauline Boulet-Bellegarde, Pauline Bourrelle, Pauline Duval, Pauline Saint-Vincent, Pearl Lamarre-Rushford, Pierre-Luc Michaud, Pierre-Luc Rioux, Pierrette Charrette, Pierrette Faucher, Pierrette Garceau, Pierrette Pelletier, Pierrette Plouffe-Guénette, Pierrette Vaillancourt-Péladeau, Priscilla Décarie-Rondeau, Rachel Marcoux, Raymonde Poulin-Lapointe, Reine Lauzière-Pagé, René Lauzon, Rhéa Landry-Carufel, Rita Houde-Marchand, Rita Tookalook, Roberte Ménard-Dunn, Rollande Asselin-Beaucage, Rollande Vincent-Rinfret, Rosa del Carmen Yanez Cartagena, Rose Daigle, Rose Kaitak, Rose Lagacé, Rose-Anne Blackned, Rosilda Houle, Roxan Charbonneau, Ruby Ann Poucachiche, Sacha Vallée, Samara Foucault, Samuel Desormeaux, Samuel Shawn, Samuel Thompson, Sandra Gaudet, Santino d'Intino, Sarah Dutil-Coculuzzi, Sarah Gagnon, Scott MacCormack, Sébastien Fugues, Seneca Lapointe, Shade Durand, Shanmatie Dookie, Shaun Birch, Sidney Normandin, Skyler Hallock-Marchand, Solange Bérubé-Guay, Solange Lelièvre, Sonia Pelletier, Sonia Raymond, Sophie Champagne, Sophie Gervais, Stéphane Dion, Stéphane Guimond, Stéphane Houle, Stéphanie Ladouceur, Stephanie Pierpaolie, Steve Trudel, Steven Sirois, Steven Valentine, Sun Ok Hu, Suzanne Bédard, Suzanne Bergeron, Suzanne Chiquelho, Suzanne Grondin, Suzanne Jodoin, Suzanne Lecours, Sylvia Branco, Sylvie Boucher, Sylvie Chauvin, Sylvie Cyr, Sylvie Lefebvre, Sylvie Mireault, Sylvie Richard, Sylvie Saint-Onge, Sylvie Samson, Sylvie Théorêt, Sylvie Tétreault, Sylvie Viau, Talin Leylekoglu, Tamara Shaikh, Tanya Buschman, Tanya Melzer, Tanya Pinette, Tara Manning, Teresinha Ng, Theresa Shanahan Litzak, Theresa Luca, Thérèse Brière, Thérèse Gélinas, Thérèse Labelle, Thérèse Riel, Thong Van Luangduangsuthidej, Tina Diaz, Tina Laposta, Tobbie Turbide, Tommy St-Germain, Travis Paris, Tricia Shelen Pillingy, Tsao Chih Pan, Tung Than Nueng, Valérie Aubin, Véronique Lalonde, Vicky Michaud, Vicky Parent, Vicky Paquet, Vicky Roy, Victoire Cossette, Victoria Debes Ghazal, Victor Lemay, Virginia Pacuraru, Viviane Simoneau, Wesley Bauer, Widad El-Tomi, Wildrine Julien, William Lavallée, Yanne Cornu-Poirier, Yolande Perron, Youlia Ermenlieva, Yvette Charbonneau-Bonneau, Yvette Groleau-Gariépy, Yvette Latulippe, Yvette Martin-Chouinard, Yvonne Arseneault, Yvonne Bédard, Yvonne Duchesne, Yvrose Guilloux et Zacharie Hallé, au 6 décembre 2004.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Have you heard of Lindsey Nicholls?



Lindsey Nicholls disappeared from Comox Valley, British Columbia over eleven years ago. Her mother, Judy Peterson is advocating for the creation of a national missing persons DNA data bank. You may be surprised to learn that such a tool currently exists in the U.S. (CODIS), but not in Canada.

Judy's proposed legislation (Bill C-441, called Lindsey's Law) would allow for the collection of DNA from missing persons or their close relatives for the purpose of cross-referencing DNA from crime scenes and unidentified human remains. This legislation will provide answers for grieving families, justice for the victims and put violent criminals behind bars.

What Judy is asking Canadians to do is really quite simple. Please take the time to write a letter to Canada's Minister of Public Safety And Emergency Preparedness, Anne McLellan (McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca) and tell her you support the creation of a national missing person and unidentified human remains DNA databank. Judy even has a sample letter all ready for you to fill out on her website.

For those of you who are technologically challenged, her is my letter (feel free to cut and paste):
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Hon. Anne McLellan, PC, MP
Minister of Public Safety
And Emergency Preparedness
House of Commons
Ottawa ON K1A 0A6

Dear Minister McLellan,

I received a letter last week from Justice Minister Cotler informing me that you would be helping me in the future on my request for the procedures governing evidence retention in Canada. I thank you for your assistance in that matter and I look forward to your response.

My letter today is regarding another matter. As I’m sure you are aware, in 1978 my sister, Theresa Allore went missing for a period of five months. In the spring of 1979 she was found murdered in a ditch in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

I am writing to let you know that I fully support the creation of a national missing person and unidentified human remains DNA databank. Specifically, I would also ask that these two indices to be linked to the Crime Scene Index in order to identify victims and serial offenders.

This legislation is fully supported by victim’s groups, missing children organizations, RCMP and the Federal Provincial Territorial Ministers. The need is urgent and families of missing persons – such as the Petersons in British Columbia and the Surprenants in Quebec - have waited far too long. I know all too well the deep need to have family members returned home, and the importance of having justice administered, no matter how long the pursuit for justice may last.

As Minister of Public Safety, you have a responsibility to make this happen. Every day is painful for the families of the missing. They deserve the comfort of knowing that if their loved one is ever found, they will know.

I look forward to learning your plan to get this in place for the benefit of all Canadians.

Yours truly,

John Allore
Chapel Hill, NC
(Canadian citizen)
----------------------------------------------------------------
For more information on Judy Peterson and her efforts, please visit her website, http://www.lindseyslaw.com/ .

Friday, December 17, 2004

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2004

Well done, Hutch

Chief defends use of deceit

By Beth Velliquette : The Herald-Sun
bvelliquette@heraldsun.com
Dec 16, 2004 : 10:59 pm ET

CARRBORO -- Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison on Thursday defended the tactics her officers used to obtain a confession from a man accused of a 1997 murder, saying that police are allowed to use deceit to get someone to confess to a crime.

"Courts have established that police offers are allowed to use deception in their jobs," Hutchison said in her first interview since The Herald-Sun reported the trick police used on Andrew Douglas Dalzell. "It is something that is used as a matter of routine in police work."


Carrboro Police Chief Carolyn Hutchison

Hutchison said she believes the fake warrant and fake letter her officers used pricked Dalzell's conscience, prompting him to confess to killing Deborah Leigh Key.

"In my opinion, his guilty conscience spun out of control, and it worked on him," Hutchison said. "That guilty conscience caused him to confess what he had done in 1997."

Carrboro officers arrested Dalzell on Sept. 9 in Stanley, about 150 miles west of Orange County, on relatively minor property-crime charges. But they didn't tell him the real reason he was under arrest or read him his rights. Instead, during the three-hour drive back to Carrboro the officers made Dalzell think they'd already filed first-degree murder charges against him and that District Attorney Carl Fox was vowing to seek the death penalty unless he immediately cooperated.

Dalzell then told police he strangled Key and took her body to Wilmington and put it in a trash bin, according to two Carrboro officers. Dalzell, 28, and Key, who was then 35, were seen together outside a bar in downtown Carrboro on Dec. 1, 1997. Key has not been seen since.
Officers continued talking to Dalzell -- whether they "interrogated" him is a matter of debate -- at the Carrboro Police Department before finally telling him he could remain silent and have an attorney present, his so-called Miranda rights. Dalzell then signed a waiver of his rights and wrote out a confession, at one point even using a computer to compose it, according to police.
Later that day, police obtained a real warrant charging Dalzell with second-degree murder.
Dalzell's attorney, Orange-Chatham Public Defender James Williams, has questioned the ruse and filed a motion to suppress the statements his client made to police.

A judge heard testimony from the officers and Dalzell's mother during a hearing in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday. Judge Wade Barber did not make a decision and has continued the hearing until Jan. 10.

Hutchison had previously declined to talk about what her officers did to obtain the confession, but on Thursday she said she was willing to discuss the issue because Barber had already heard their testimony.

Carrboro investigators had been working to find out what happened to Key for seven years, and Dalzell was always the prime suspect, she said.

When they obtained the warrants to arrest him for allegedly stealing items from Hungate's, a store at University Mall, the officers saw it as an opportunity to try to find out what happened to Key, she said.

"We knew it was a long shot," she said. "We did arrest him on legitimate charges. We had every right to arrest him. We created the perception that he was being arrested for murder."

Lt. John Lau testified Wednesday that he came up with the idea of making a fake warrant that said Dalzell was being charged with first-degree murder and a fake letter purportedly from Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox. The letter said Fox would definitely seek the death penalty against Dalzell unless he immediately told investigators where Key's body was.

Lau testified that he consulted Fox about his plan, and Hutchison said that she believed that everyone was comfortable with it.

On Thursday, Fox agreed that he had talked to Lau and knew that Lau was going to trick Dalzell into believing he was being charged with murder. Fox, however, said he did not know specifically that Lau planned to make the fake warrant and the fake letter. But Fox has already acknowledged giving the officers a piece of his office stationery for their plan.

Steve Stewart, Carrboro's town manager, stood behind Carrboro's Police Department and said Fox was aware of what the officers planned to do.

"Without going into detail, please be assured that our Police Department used methods in this murder investigation that were appropriate and within the bounds of existing law," Stewart said in a written statement.

"Further, the Orange County District Attorney's Office was involved through all phases of this investigation," Stewart said. "I have also discussed this matter with our town attorney, who is also comfortable with the methodology used in this investigation."

On Wednesday, Cpl. Seth Everett testified that when the officers and Dalzell stopped at a gas station on their trip back from Stanley, Dalzell began crying and said he didn't want to die.
Everett testified that he encouraged Dalzell to tell the truth. Dalzell then blurted out that he didn't mean to do it and that he had taken her to Wilmington and put her in a Dumpster.
Hutchison said she's used deceit herself in police work.

For example, Hutchison said that when she was a young officer, she worked as an undercover drug officer in Orange and Chatham counties.

"In doing that I assumed a different name and different personality, someone other than Carolyn Hutchison," she said. "The state provided me a driver's license with a different name on it, a different date of birth, and a false address from out of town.

"It helped me establish my ruse, my identity, as a young student from out of town who lived in this area," she said. "I wore spiky hair in a rattail, and I looked the part of a young, punky college student."

Some of the people who sold her drugs were convicted and sent to prison, she said.

"I think there is a parallel between that sort of deception and the deception we used in this particular case," she said. "The parallel is I created a personality and presented that personality ... to convince drug dealers to want to sell me drugs."

Hutchison said she used fake documents, like the fake driver's license, and no one ever questioned the use of those techniques in her and other officers' undercover drug work.

The chief also said her officers were not required to give Dalzell his Miranda rights before they actually did because they did not interrogate Dalzell or ask him questions about Key's murder until after they read him his rights.

Before that, Dalzell made what authorities call "a spontaneous utterance," she said.

"A 'spontaneous utterance' is not the product of interrogation or interview," Hutchison said. "It's something someone offers before they have been questioned, and that's what happened in this situation."

The officers weren't required to give Dalzell his Miranda rights as they rode back to Carrboro, she said. "We had no intention of interrogating him in that vehicle, and we didn't," she said.

Thursday, December 2, 2004

This from the Surete du Quebec's website:

Interesting that they are now searching for Brianna Maitland in Quebec

Jeune Américaine recherchée



Les policiers du BRE Estrie, en collaboration avec les policiers du Vermont, sont à la recherche de Brianna Maitland, une jeune Américaine de 17 ans portée disparue depuis le 19 mars 2004. Elle a été vue la dernière fois vers minuit, soit au moment où elle quittait son travail à l’auberge Le Black Lantern Inn à Montgomery, en bordure de la frontière québécoise. Sa voiture, une Oldsmobile 88 quatre portes 1985 de couleur verte, a été retrouvée à Montgomery.

Description physique

Race : blanche
Yeux : noisette
Cheveux : châtain brun
Taille : 1,6 m
Poids : entre 47 et 50 kg

Elle porte un petit anneau à la narine gauche et a une cicatrice au front près du sourcil.

Tout renseignement sur les allées et venues de cette jeune femme peut être communiqué au service de police de l’État du Vermont au (802) 524-5993.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Police Have New Lead In Maura Murray Case

BY GARY E. LINDSLEY, Staff Writer
Thursday May 6, 2004
Caledonian Record


HAVERHILL NEW HAMPSHIRE
There may be a break in the case involving 21-year-old nursing student Maura Murray who disappeared the night of Feb. 9 after she was involved in a one-car accident on rural Route 112 in Haverhill.

New Hampshire State Police Troop F Lt. John Scarinza said a witness has come forward with information he may have seen Murray about four to five miles east of the accident scene.

Scarinza said a man, whom he declined to identify, was returning from a construction job in the Franconia area when he spotted a young woman matching Murray's description hurrying east on Route 112, about an hour after her accident.

He not only believes the witness' information is credible, he also believes the man actually saw the Hanson, Mass., resident.

Murray, a student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, left campus the afternoon of Feb. 9 after e-mailing professors and her boss, telling them she was going to take a week off because of a family problem.

Before heading north, she packed her black 1996 Saturn with some clothing, books for her college classes, expensive diamond jewelry from her boyfriend, Billy Rausch of Fort Sill, Okla., and computer-generated directions for locations in Vermont.

Although directions found in her car indicated she may have been headed toward Stowe or Burlington in Vermont, Murray apparently exited Interstate 91 at Exit 17 and headed east on Route 302.

She then turned right onto Route 112 and apparently headed to Lincoln, which she was familiar with because of family excursions to the area.

About a mile east of Swiftwater, around 7 p.m., she lost control of her car while rounding a sharp left-hand curve near The Weathered Barn. Her car went off the right side of the highway and into some trees, causing minor damage.

Butch Atwood, a school bus driver who lives about 100 yards east of the accident site, discovered Murray's disabled car while returning from taking students on a skiing trip.

Atwood spoke with her and offered to help, including calling police and EMS. However, Murray insisted that Atwood not call police and EMS because she had already contacted AAA.

Murray did not appear to be intoxicated, according to Atwood. Police said a container of alcohol was found in the car.

Atwood went to his house to call for help. About seven to nine minutes later, Haverhill Police Sgt. Cecil Smith arrived at the accident scene. Murray was nowhere to be found.

"Based on the description of what he saw, we believe it may have been Maura," Scarinza said, referring to the witness seeing a young woman fitting Maura's description about an hour after the accident. "Based on the place and based on the time, there is a good possibility the person he saw on 112 was Maura."

The witness contacted state police April 29 about possibly seeing Murray the night of the accident.

Scarinza said although the witness thought shortly after her disappearance he may have seen Murray, he discounted that thought after talking with a friend. His friend had said Murray's accident had happened Feb. 11 instead of Feb. 9. And he had seen the young woman the night of Feb. 9.

It was after seeing subsequent news reports, and realizing the accident had occurred Feb. 9, he decided to contact state police.

The man, who Scarinza said is a contractor, checked his work records and verified he was returning home from a job in the Franconia area the night of Feb. 9 when he spotted who he and state police believe was Murray.

Maura's father, Fred Murray, is upset police didn't travel Route 112 toward the Woodstock area, at least calling ahead to the Woodstock police to ask them to look for his daughter.

"This was a young woman involved in an accident," he said. "She had a head injury by the indication of the spider hole in the windshield."

"They know she is somewhere close by and they don't go down the road to bring her to safety?" Murray asked. "If they had searched for my daughter, she would most likely be safely here now."

Sharon Rausch, Billy's mother, said she believes the news of an eyewitness is wonderful.

"It gives me renewed hope she is still alive," Rausch said. "If she sees this in print, we want her to know she's more loved than ever."

Scarinza said because of the new information from the eyewitness, a search will be conducted Saturday in the area of routes 112 and 116 where Maura was last seen by the eyewitness.


Maura Murray and Brianna Maitland

ore Rumors

Not only do police believe the disappearances of Maura Murray and Brianna Maitland are NOT connected, they believe that these disappearances are not related to "stranger homicides".



Parents Of Missing Women To Meet 

The parents of 17-year-old Brianna Maitland and 21-year-old Maura Murray are joining forces to increase pressure on law enforcement to call in the FBI to join the search for their loved ones. 

Bruce and Kellie Maitland and Fred Murray have scheduled a press conference for 9 a.m. Saturday at the American Legion in Woodsville. 

The Maitlands and Murray are frustrated with the respective police investigations into their daughters' disappearances. 

Brianna has been missing since she clocked out at her job as a dishwasher at the Black Lantern Inn in Montgomery, Vt., at 11:20 p.m. March 19. She left the inn to return to Sheldon where she was living with a friend. 

Her car was discovered partially ensconced in an abandoned building during the early morning hours of March 20 about a mile from the Black Lantern. She hasn't been seen since. 

Maura was involved in a one-car accident on Route 112 in the town of Haverhill, N.H., the night of Feb. 9. She hasn't been seen since the night of the accident. 

Both women disappeared after being involved in accidents on rural roads. 

The Maitlands and Murray believe there may be a connection between what has happened to their daughters. And they want that connection explored. 

However, state police from Vermont and New Hampshire have discounted any connection between the disappearances of Brianna and Maura. 

"We want to meet Fred and talk about what we are going through," Bruce Maitland said. "Also, we want to get out to people we need to have this looked at as a combined effort. There may be a connection."

He believes the FBI, which has more resources than the state police, should become involved in the search for Brianna and Maura. 

Murray has been asking New Hampshire State Police right from the beginning to ask the FBI to become active participants in the search for his daughter. 

And with Brianna missing, he believes it is imperative any possible connections be explored. "I believe there may be a connection," Murray said. "The people in Vermont and New Hampshire should be screaming to have the FBI become involved." 

He said until Brianna and Maura are found, young women in Vermont and New Hampshire are not safe until whomever is involved is found

Louise Chaput

LOUISE CHAPUT

For what it's worth, I heard a rumor that police now believe Chaput - who did social work with bikers - was killed by one of her own clients.



News - November 14, 2004
Searching for answers
to 3-year-old murder
By LORNA COLQUHOUN 
Sunday News Correspondent

GORHAM — As winter folds over the higher reaches of the White Mountains, friends of a Canadian woman murdered three years ago returned to Pinkham Notch last week to remember a vibrant and adventurous woman.

Along for the ride with Denis Masson and Marie Pinault are the feelings of melancholy, nostalgia and anger that someone has gotten away with the murder of Louise Chaput.

It is the couple’s second anniversary trip and accompanying them this year was Chaput’s daughter, Corinne, a college student studying to become a school teacher. Her only other trip to the area was during the search for her mother.

“I never came back,” she said. “Before, I was not ready, but now it’s OK. I don’t want to be afraid to come here.”

Hiking weekend

Louise Chaput lived in Sherbrooke, Que., a couple of hours north of the White Mountains. On Nov. 15, 2001, she decided to spend the weekend doing some hiking and stayed at the Appalachian Mountain Club in Pinkham Notch. When she didn’t return home that Monday, her friends and family reported her missing.

A search was quickly launched. While her car was found immediately, it wasn’t until almost four days later that her body was found on the popular Glen Boulder trail, just off Route 16 and about a quarter of a mile from the AMC base camp.

Louise Chaput had been stabbed to death. Her killer has never been found.

Pinault and Chaput were longtime friends. It is Pinault and her husband, Masson, who now make an annual trek from their home in Ottawa to the mountains on the anniversary of Chaput’s death, as a way to remember and to remind others that the case has never been solved.

There is also a hope that whoever is responsible will someday step forward and answer a simple question: Why Louise Chaput?

“It is amazing to me that someone is still walking around,” Pinault said. “I think there is a sick person out there. I think there is a guy out there who will do this again anytime.”

No new leads

Last year, on the second anniversary, the couple tacked up hundreds of flyers from Conway north to Gorham, asking for information.

State police Detective Chuck West said Friday that very few leads have come in recent months.

“We’re still working on it, but there is nothing new,” he said. “We used to get information in spurts, but it’s been about six months since we got anything new.”

Earlier this year, police got a warrant to search a Berlin flea market, looking for Louise Chaput’s backpack, but it turned out to be nothing, he said.

Her backpack, which is blue with an internal frame and a Canadian flag on the outside, has never been recovered, nor have her keys to her Ford Focus or her sleeping bag.

“It’s a challenge for us,” West said. “Someone is out there.”

West has also worked for the past nine months on the disappearance of Maura Murray, a University of Massachusetts nursing student who vanished following a minor car accident on Route 112 in Haverhill last February.

While both cases are troubling and remain open, West said there is nothing indicating that the two cases are related.

Pinault keeps in regular contact with West. While time has eased the sorrow of losing her dearest friend, Pinault says she will continue to do what she can to make sure Louise Chaput is not forgotten and to one day see someone arrested for her death.

Doubts about justice

It is a sentiment shared by Chaput’s daughter.

“I have lost confidence in justice,” Corinne Chaput said, “because we didn’t find what happened. It has disturbed my life — I am afraid to walk at night and when I am alone. She is not here in my life and I miss her. I don’t have a mother anymore.”

Masson and Pinault say they will return to the White Mountains every November until Chaput’s killer is found.

Pinault said her other mission during these trips is to remind women, especially those who hike alone, that the person who killed her friend is still at large.

“This is our way of remember Louise,” Chaput said. “We are not going to put (the memories) in a box.”

Anyone with information about Louise Chaput’s murder is asked to call the state police at 846-3333.

Friday, November 26, 2004

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2004

Hugo Bernier appeals first degree murder verdict


René-Charles Quirion
La Tribune
Sherbrooke
November 25, 2004

C'est maintenant officiel, Hugo Bernier en appellera du verdict de culpabilité prononcé contre lui le 29 octobre 2004 pour le meurtre au premier degré, l'enlèvement, la séquestration et l'agression sexuelle à l'endroit de Julie Boisvenu en juin 2002.

Me Marc Labelle a déposé, en début de semaine, l'avis d'appel de la déclaration de culpabilité de Hugo Bernier ainsi qu'une requête pour permission d'en appeler avant le délai de 30 jours suivant le prononcé du verdict.

À l'issu de son procès qui s'est déroulé du 8 septembre au 29 octobre 2004, Hugo Bernier a été condamné à la prison à perpétuité sans possibilité de libération conditionnelle avant 25 ans.

La défense demande à la Cour d'appel d'ordonner l'arrêt des procédures sur l'accusation du meurtre au premier degré et la tenue d'un nouveau procès sur les autres chefs d'accusation, soit l'enlèvement, la séquestration et l'agression sexuelle.

“Je ne comprends pas pourquoi la défense demande un arrêt des procédures sur le meurtre au premier degré, ce qui correspond à un acquittement et un autre procès sur les trois autres chefs d'accusation. Je serais très surpris que la Cour d'appel accorde cet arrêt des procédures. Au mieux pour lui, il y aura un nouveau procès et au mieux pour la société, le verdict de culpabilité rendu par douze citoyens sera confirmé”, explique le procureur de la couronne au dossier, Me André Campagna.

Comme motifs d'appel, Me Marc Labelle soumet que “la combinaison dans le même acte d'accusation du chef de meurtre au premier degré avec les chefs d'agression sexuelle, enlèvement et séquestration a rendu les directives inintelligibles et le procès inéquitable.”

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Missing girl

From The Campus - the Bishop's University student newspaper. This was the last article to appear in the English press concerning Theresa's disappearance

The Campus
November 24, 1978

"It's quite a puzzle," said Lennoxville Police Chief Leo Hamel in a recent interview with The Campus concerning the disappearance of 19-year-old Champlain student Theresa Allore, Theresa has been missing since last Nov. 3 when she was last seen at Dewhurst Dining Hall at approximately 6:00 p.m.

The C1 student is described as being approximately 5'6" tall and weighing 115 pounds, with red frizzy hair and blue eyes. She was last reported wearing a T-Shirt and blue corduroy pants, with a long beige sweater and Chinese sandals.

Police Chief Hamel said that approximately 26 people have been questioned concerning the case but he did not want to comment directly on any information that he has gathered. Hamel, who is leading the investigation, urged anyone who has any information to contact him at 562-8333.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Quebec's newly formed Association of Families of Victims of Crime held its first meeting on Sunday


Christian Carretta, Marcel Bolduc, Michel Surprenant et Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu

Association des familles victimes d'actes criminels
Donner un sens à la mort violente d'un proche
Caroline Touzin
La Presse

«C'était à vous la petite fille qui s'est faite couper en morceaux.» Michèle Labelle a entendu cette phrase plusieurs fois de la bouche des enfants de l'école primaire dont elle est directrice. Chaque fois, elle lui faisait l'effet d'un coup de poignard et la cruauté de la mort de sa fille de 20 ans revenait la hanter.

D'abord résolue à reprendre son travail pour oublier le meurtre de sa fille, Valérie Aubin, découpée en morceaux à Anjou et retrouvée dans le fleuve en juillet 2003, Mme Labelle a fini par prendre une année sabbatique, incapable de faire face aux commentaires des élèves. De retour en poste depuis septembre, la dame souffre encore lorsqu'elle croise une petite Valérie qui déambule dans les corridors.

C'est pour aider des familles comme celle de Mme Labelle que Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, dont la fille Julie a été tuée à Sherbrooke par un récidiviste en 2002, a créé l'Association des familles victimes d'actes criminels.

L'Association tenait sa première réunion hier, dans un restaurant de Laval, après avoir reçu un appui moral et financier du ministre de la Justice, Jacques Dupuis, lundi dernier. Quatre pères de famille qui ont perdu leur fille, assassinée ou disparue, dont M. Boisvenu, s'étaient alors rendus à l'Assemblée nationale pour demander d'améliorer le traitement réservé aux familles victimes d'actes criminels.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

OK, THIS IS A LONG ONE...

Qu'est-il arrive a Theresa Allore? 

La Tribune
Jeudi 16 Novembre 1978
par Serge Gosselin

LENNOXVILLE - Pourquoi Theresa Allore, lorsqu'elle a quitte ses amis au refectoire du college Champlain a Lennoxville a 19 heures, leur a t-elle dit qu'elle serait a sa chambre a Compton deux heures plus tard, alors qu'il faut a peine une heure, sur le pouce, pour relier ces deux endoits?

"le pouce" is hitchhiking. So - translation - "why didn't Theresa Allore, when she told her friends she would see them in two hours, not make it back to her residence?"

M. et Mne Robert Allore, les parents de Theresa qui est disparue dupuis le 3 novembre, croient qu'en elucidant ce qu'elle se proposait de faire pendant cette heure, ils pourront voir plus clair dans tout ce mystere.

Theresa's parents want an answer to this mystery.

Meme si la disparition remonte a pres de deux semaines, les policiers de la Surete municipale de Lennoxville et les parents se pendent en conjectures sur ce qu'il pu advenir de Theresa agee de 19 ans, vendredi soir le 3 novembre; s'agit-il d'une simple fugue d'une jeune etudiante ou d'un enlevement?

bla, bla, bla, I think you get this... is she a runnaway or was she abducted?

Pour M. Robert Allore, arrive tout droit de St-Jean au Nouveau-Brunswick en compagnie de son epouse et du plus jeune de ses fils, il faut esperer pour le mieux, mais il faut egalement s'attendre au pire.

"epouse": that's my mom. "jeune de ses fils": that's me. Ya, I went along with them to Quebec. Frankly, I was fourteen, and really didn't understand what-the-hell was going on.

"Il y a plus d'1 million d'hypotheses quant au sort qu'a pu subir notre fille en cette soiree du 3 novembre, il y a bien peu de chances pour que nous puissions deviner la bonne", de dire M. Allore, dont l'imagination vogue depuis quelques jours du scenerio le plus optimste au plus pessimiste.

With a million possibilities, my dad is hanging on to hope.

L'hypothese de la fugue, elle ne tient pas trop solidement en raison de certains elements recueillis depuis le debut de l'enquete dirigee par le directeur du service policier de Lennoxville, M. Leo Hamel.

D'apres la description qu'en fait son pere, Theresa Allore est une jeune fille autonome, intelligente, possedant un certain gout de l'aventure.

M. Allore a beaucoup d'estime pour la plus agee de ses trois enfants, mais il ne parvient pas a comprendre pourquoi elle s'entetait a faire de l'auto-stop, pratique qu'il lui a deconseillee a plusieurs reprises.

My dad says Theresa was bright, independent, with a taste for adventure - and he had warned her against hitchhiking. This would be his undoing - everyone picked up on this and ran with the idea that whatever happened to Theresa, she deserved the consequences.

Depuis pres d'une annee, Theresa vit eloignee de sa famille, elle a meme travaille pendant quelques mois avant de renenir aux etudes en septembre au college de Lennoxville.

Elle en est a sa premiere d'etudes au college regional Champlain, campus de Lennoxville, ou elle a enregistre des suces scolaires, comme elle la confie a son pere la derniere fois qu'ils se sont parles au telephone le 31 octobre dernier. Neanmoins, il est permis de croire que si Theresa a quitte de sa propre volonte, c'etait impevu.

Theresa was doing well at school, after having dropped out for a year. My parents last talked to her Halloween night

Elle a dit a une amie qu'elle serait a sa chambre deux heures plus tard, son compte bancaire ne laisse voir aucune transaction recente, elle avait prete pour quelques jours son sac-a-dos dont elle ne se separait jamais lors de ses sorties de week-end, il ne semble pas manquer de vetements a sa chambre, elle aurait pu en apporter avec elle si elle avait l'intention de s'absenter; voila autant de faits qui incitent M. Allore a croire qu'il ne faut pas retenir avec trop de certitude l'hypothese de la fugue et qu'une partie de l'enigme pourrait etre resolue en determinant ce que Theresa voulait faire entre son depart du refectoire de l'ecole et son arrivee a sa chambre au Kings Hall de Compton.

Nothing was missing from her room, no money drawn from her bank account - so much for the runnaway theory

Dupuis ce temps, les parents de Theresa sont sans nouvelle d'elle.

Avises de sa disparition vendredi dernier, ils sont arrives dimarche a Lennoxville ou ils resident depuis, attendant qu'a un moment ou a l'autre, leur fille donne signe de vie.

Mais, toutes leurs journees ne sont pas faites que d'attente puisqu'a sa facon, M. Allore donne un coup de main aux policiers-enqueteurs en verifiant les effets personnels de sa fille, rencontrant des confreres, ou des consoeurs d'etudes, contactant des amis ou des parents de l'exterieur de la ville.

Mais, bien peu d'indices ont ete recueillis jusqu'a maintenant.

Pour un, M. Allore s'interroge sur le fait qu'il soit impossiblr d'en apprendre davantage du cote des etudients du college; il pense que certains etudiants pourraient en savoir plus que ce qu'ils lui ont revele jusqu'a maintenant.

"C'est sur le campus que se trouve la clef su mystere de la disparation de notre fille", pense M. Allore.

This was "le pire" for my parents, "the worst". They got no help when they went to Quebec. The investigator was ineffectual, the school administration told them to go home, everyone was playing amateur psychologist - Was Theresa a troubled child? Was she pregnant? Did Theresa need theropy?; was she a lesbian? They asked my parents if she was adopted, were my parents happily married? Total bullshit, mom and dad got so fed up they hired a private detective - then things really began to come to light (more on that later). 

De meme, il a fallu pres d'une semaine avant que certaines compagnes de Theresa porte a l'attention de la Surete municipale son adsence prolongee et inexpliquee.

M. et Mne Allore, qui demeurent somme toute confiants de retrouver leur fille sous peu et qui n'affichent pas trop l'anxiete qui les tenaille depuis plusieurs jours, ont l'intention de regagner en fin de semaine leur domicile de St-John.

Marie depuis bientot 20 ans, le couple Allore souhaite que leur fille soit de retour avant leur depart.

Ya. Sadly this never happened

Du cote policier, l'enqueteur Leo Hamel a repris les recontres avec les amis de Theresa et les personnes susceptibles de l'avoir recontree dans la soiree de vendredi. On croit qu'elle pourrait avoir ete apercue du long d'une route a faire de l'auto-stop, portant un long chandail en laine beige.

Toutes les informations concernant cette affaire peuvent etre acheminees au directeur Leo Hamel a son bureau de la Surete, situe a l'hotel de ville de Lennoxville.

Footnote: November 16th is a bad day. On this day in 1999, Julie Surprenant disappeared from a bus-stop in Terrebonne, Quebec. Most believe Julie is dead, her body never found. The lead suspect in her disappearance is Richard Bouillon, currently serving ten years for various sexual transgressions.
Student Missing

The Touchstone
November 16, 1978

The Touchstone was a student newspaper. After the initial article in The Record on November 13th, professional English publications never mentioned the case again until five months later when her body was found.

Champlain student Theresa Allore has been missing since last Nov. 3. She was last seen at Dewhurst Dining Hall at approximately 6:00 pm. The first year student is described as being approximately 5'6" tall and weighing 115 pounds, with red frizzy hair and blue eyes. 

FTR: Theresa's hair was a recent perm and a die-job

She was last reported to be wearing a T-shirt and blue cords and was distinguished by a long beige sweater and black chinese sandals. Any information concerning the nineteen-year-old's disappearance should be reported to Bill Matson, campus principal of Champlain College. The College is working on an intensive search in conjunction with the Lennoxville Police.

Curious that they are told to report to Bill Matson instead of the police - though this could be a natural thing. FYI: Matson came from the U.S. Army where he worked in Army Intelligence. His motto was "I know when to keep my eyes wide and my mouth shut. Matson was master of information and wanted to keep everything he learned close to the chest, especially in the matter of a missing student, lest blame fall on the college. Also note: the "intensive search" was a sham. When my brother suggested to Matson that a search should be undertaken, Matson's response was - and I quote - "I'm not going to turn this campus upside down for some goddam kid".

Police had no comment on the disappearance of the Compton resident but urge anyone who has seen or heard anything to bring it immediately to the attention of Matson as all information is vital.

I strongly doubt the police wanted information filtered through the school officials.