Who Killed Theresa?: 12/01/2005

Saturday, December 31, 2005

New Year's Eve 2005

Better than watching Saturday night hockey with your father: watching Canada beat the USA in the World Juniors.

The Things They Carried

New Year's Eve. Out with the old, bring in the new. But we can't seem to dispose of the past. I've spent the day with my mother, going over which items in the house my parents should keep, what to pass on and what to toss. It's been a hard day.

Loaded in the car are my sister's toys - her dolly china, her books, her toy harp, her radio, her hiking books. Some items my mother was not ready to part with; Theresa's dolls, the family punch bowl, the Bunikins china.

It's always bitter sweet coming home for the holidays. The idea of my parents' liquidating, leaving their home. I'll be glad when we leave tomorrow, and yet so sad.

It's New Year's eve; I carry a full beard and an extra 20 pounds. I vow to lose it all by the first of February.

Heavy.

Friday, December 30, 2005

Observations about Saint John, New Brunswick

It's grey.

It rains all the time.

It's cold and windy.

The view of the Irving oil refinery is really ugly.

The market is beautiful.

The people drink a lot of Tim Horton's coffee.

The boats in the harbour are pretty.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Apes, but not so big...

When I was an undergraduate, me and friend made a 16 millimeter short called Filbert & Morley; a sort of homage to Sci-Fi, horror and geekdome.

We had a showing of our film at Trinity college's George Ignatieff theater and added as a double bill was the original King Kong; a film I consider timeless, a perfect amalgamation of beauty, mystery, horror and adventure.

Well I have just come from Peter Jackson's three-hour yawn (er... kong) and I can tell you I want my money back. What a lifeless, humourless piece of doo-doo.

Run... RUN to the video store and rent the 1933 Schoedsack & Cooper original.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Meme of Four:

Four jobs you've had in your life: Actor, Truck Driver, Tree Planter, Bellboy

Four movies you could watch over and over: Hail The Conquering Hero, Christmas in July, LA Confidential, Emperor's New Groove

Four places you've lived: Los Angeles, New York City, Montreal, Houston

Four TV shows you love to watch: Chapelle Show, The Shield, The Daily Show, The Flinstones

Four places you've been on vacation: The Maritimes, Stoney Lake, Long Sault, The Gaspe

Four websites you visit daily: Isthatlegal.org, heraldsun.com, wral.com, orangepolitics.org

Four of your favorite foods: Bananas, Ice Cream, Sushi, salad

Four places you'd rather be: Paris, China, The Arctic, Egypt

Four albums you can't live without: Electro-Shock Blues, Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Gould's Goldberg Variations, Physical Graffiti

Saskatchewan without starting to stutter

For some reason I always confuse the missing women of Saskatchewan with the missing women of Alberta.

But, no, there are two distinct groups:

So we have the Vancouver missing women, where Robert Pickton is charged with 23 of the over 60 cases, there's Alberta's Project Kare investigating 41 suspicious deaths and 31 disappearances, and a new task force in Saskatchewan investigating the disappearances of 28 women.

Tally it up and that's approximately 137 unsolved disappearances or suspicious deaths in Canada's western provinces alone.

Do you get the feeling that some people aren't very good at doing their jobs?

Friday, December 23, 2005

Grieving and in support of "my brother"

CBC News
The Boisvenu family in Sherbrooke is once again grieving the death of a daughter. Isabelle Boisvenu died in a car accident in the Verendrye nature reserve Thursday morning.

She is the younger sister of Julie Boisvenu, who was raped and murdered near a bar in Sherbrooke three years ago.

Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu cried Friday morning as he spoke to journalists about the death of his daughter.

He found out late Thursday that Isabelle, 26, died after her car crashed on a highway in Abitibi.
Losing one daughter is hard, he said, but losing two daughters is like being robbed.

Boisvenu says that, after Julie was murdered three years ago, Isabelle had been a rock of support. She worked with him after he organized the Murdered or Missing Persons' Families' Association (MMPFA), and she supported his cause.

She was more than a daughter. She was a colleague, he says.

Boisvenu says he believes now more than ever in the work he does. Grieving families need support, he says.

The funeral for Isabelle will be held after the holiday season.

My friend Pierre

Yesterday I ran into a friend at the Harris Teeter...

She said she was down. Good friends of hers had suffered a tragic loss. Their daughter was killed in a car accident. Compounding the tragedy was that just one year prior the family's only son had died of cancer. My friend said she didn't know what to take from all this. Maybe love your children, hug them a little tighter. I bought my daughters a box of popsicles, even though I had told them popsicles were for the Summer and would not be bought until after Memorial day.

I could not have imagined that while conversing with my friend another dear friend of mine was about to suffer through the same tragic experience.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada gives us the 2005 Top Ten Insurance Crimes

Watch out CSI, adjusters are the new hot-sexy kids on the block.

(Is there a greater turn-on than a Canadian insurance adjuster?)

Thursday, December 22, 2005

The New Phone Book's Here!!!!

Actually, even better...

It's Kristian Gravenor's year end crime review, courtesy of the Montreal Mirror
(Gravy confided that it's been difficult to come up with this stuff since Allo Police went belly-up, but he still manages to come up with some good ones):

The year in weird crime
The stupidest, meanest and most bizarre illegal behaviour of 2005
KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

Incarceration, deprivation, humiliation, alas! None of these disincentives has yet managed to quell our dark appetite for misdeeds. Such is the nonsensical and anarchic world of misconduct and transgression that some acts bear noting… and here to do just that is our annual description of the lesser-known crimes that coloured our province this year.

Tears for beers A 17-year-boy old allegedly stabbed his friend in the neck in a 1 a.m. dispute over who’d pay what for beer. The friends were drinking in the basement while a parent sat upstairs in the suburban St-Hubert home. James Fournier, 19, died in the attack. In a similar type of stupid beer story, Robert Lafleur was drinking with a buddy at the Bistro Bar l’Original in Gatineau on Sept. 3 when the friend took a sip of Lafleur’s beer without obtaining prior permission. Lafleur took exception and punched the 46-year-old buddy repeatedly in the head, leaving him in a coma.

One way to train your girlfriend Daniel Bédard, 36, of Lotbinière, persuaded his girlfriend to move in with him, a decision she regretted when she realized he was an inveterate alcoholic. On Oct. 2, 2004, she announced that she was leaving him after a mere eight days of co-habitation. His response was to punch her in the face three times. She fled in her car. But he followed, and as she waited at a level crossing, he repeatedly accelerated his vehicle into hers in an attempt to land her car on the train tracks in front of the oncoming train. The cop station was right in front and Bédard was arrested. Fellow inmates decided that Bédard might be a pedophile, so they savagely beat him. Bédard suffered permanent damage and was treated in a 12-hour operation requiring 55 screws in his face. He got 34 months in jail.

Sofa-munching mutt murder On Jan. 20, Quebec City construction worker Serge Dufour, 39, returned home well into the sauce, only to find that his bulldog had chewed up a roommate’s furniture. When the roommate complained, Dufour went to the kitchen, returned with a large knife and cut his dog’s throat. “You’re lucky because I should have stabbed you,” said Dufour to the roommate. The roommate fled. Dufour called a gun-owner friend, intending to finish the dog off. Cops arrested Dufour and he pleaded guilty to assault and threat-related charges, as well as a separate offence in which Dufour had threatened to poke out his twin brother’s eyes. Dufour blamed a bad break-up for his behaviour. “I was so depressed that I took refuge in booze, I was like a stray dog,” said Dufour, apparently without irony, according to Photo Police. On August 19 he was fined $1,400 and given two years probation.

For those whose wives are in grade school Former Montreal mayoral candidate Daniel Cormier, 53, told a preliminary inquest that Quebec’s civil code allows adults to marry children as young as seven. The pastor and former Wisdom Party chief was arrested in June 2002 for marrying a 10-year-old girl. Cormier, who now heads the Downtown Church of Montreal near Place d’Armes, plans to defend himself in court starting Jan. 6 by relying on the 140-year-old law, which he argues was in force when he wed the child in 1999.

Orgy patrol well armed Two guys went to the Grands Duc strip club in Gatineau on Canada Day and flashed a big wad of cash, which proved persuasive enough to three strippers to accompany them to a party in their room at the Motel Montcalm. One of the dancers made a mysterious phone call, and soon a guy showed up at the door with a rifle, robbing the men and breaking the nose of one. Two of the three dancers fled. Gatineau cops didn’t responded to repeated Mirror queries of what became of the case, but presumably their investigation involved repeated visit to the strip club.

Visit Saguenay and photograph the pervert In late October, an exhibitionist in Saguenay, said to be in his 40s, leapt out in front of a couple near an outdoor pool in Mont-Fortin and showed off his turgid manhood before fleeing in a car. The duo, afflicted with the sight of his friction-happy tumescence, snapped a photo of his car. The next day he leapt out naked in front of another man on a pedestrian pathway, who also snapped his photo and brought it to the cops. The exhibitionist was never caught.

Let’s organize a duel to determine our meanest old broad A 76-year-old lady in Scott, in the Beauce, decided it was too late at night to open her door for the newspaper delivery guy. Good thing, because he had long ago lost his job delivering papers and had since turned to theft. He forced the door, and she whacked him hard with her cane. Police chased the thief in a car and into the woods before finally apprehending Guy Bérubé, 42, who had no previous criminal record. If you enjoyed that story, here’s a bonus: Thérèse Bonhomme, 70, a retired nurse, chased, caught and severely castigated a young guy who stole a stranger’s purse outside her old age home near Valleyfield on July 29.

Can’t a guy pee off his balcony in peace? Christian Dutil, 50, of Lévis, near Quebec City, got into a yelling match with a female neighbour who took exception with him for urinating off his upstairs balcony in August. She called 911 and he came downstairs to discuss the matter, rifle in hand. But he got distracted when another woman walked by, who he decided to call a whore and a bitch, and claim that she gave him AIDS. A tactical squad was called in and Dutil surrendered five hours later. He had previously visited the clink for drunk driving. He got three months probation.

I’m driving fast because my brakes aren’t working and I want to get home before I have an accident Jean-Denis Viens, 23, was being pulled over for an illegal left turn in Gatineau. A police officer stood in front of the young driver’s car, as a gesture to entice him to stop. However, the peace officer was unaware that Viens was on his way to the garage to have his brakes repaired, so he couldn’t stop his car. Viens attempted to swerve around the police officer, Pierre Gignac, 48, but ended up tossing him quite a distance, causing severe damage in the process. Viens apologized for the incident in court on Oct. 28.

The Houdini of the police cruiser Sébastien Charette, 21, had a bad habit of driving the wrong way on the highways near the Ontario border. When cops decided such bizarre behaviour merited a trip to a Buckingham hospital on July 31, they popped him in the back of a police cruiser, wherein the intrepid youth managed to make a mockery of the steel protective cage dividing the criminals from the public defenders by stabbing one officer in the neck. He then snuck into the front, stealing the cruiser and driving it off up to 150 km/h before behind apprehended. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been in a loony bin ever since.

The great paintball massacre Jocelyn Brisson, 33, had a body living in Vanier and a mind living in cocaine-craving-land. On a summer day, he met up with an acquaintance in a parking lot to discuss a business deal. Brisson pulled out a shotgun and shot the guy. Brisson’s weapon, however, shot paintballs. The impact broke the guy’s nose and undoubtedly dirtied his shirt. Brisson drove away in such haste that he banged his car into a woman’s vehicle in Quebec City. He got two years.

A first-round choice in your fantasy league crime pool Jonathan Ferland-Petrin, 19, of Gatineau, got his adult crime career off to an impressive debut by facing 55 criminal charges, many involving theft to feed his drug habit. When he finally went to court, his 15-year-old girlfriend stole his limelight. She caused such a fuss that she was thrown out of the audience and once in the hallway she attacked a security guard. He got two years.

Arson, not eviction On Nov. 2, Serge Linteau, 48, of Quebec City, called 911 when he noticed that his apartment building was on fire. He hadn’t paid rent for six months and had been ordered to move out the day before. Linteau helpfully aided neighbours leave the blazing building, but his story became suspicious and cops looked at his criminal record which involved arson, drug convictions and sexual assault. He’ll be pleading not guilty to various charges in January.

Eat my socks Claude Lefebvre faced charges of extortion and fraud in a $40-million (U.S.) business scam to defraud beer-famous Joseph Coors, among others. The sixty-something Lefebvre had spent over $4-million on plastic surgery and expensive sports cars. During his trial he mocked his victims, babbled incomprehensibly and complained of bad tasting prison vegetables and cheese. He fired his own lawyer on the basis of his breath, which “smells like he ate my socks.” The judge was unimpressed. He gave him 20 years and ordered him to pay back the money he stole.

Legal advice: always count your punches Eric Brun, 28, of St-Eustache, allegedly punched his girlfriend 40 times as punishment for her refusal to prostitute herself to raise money for the good cause of replenishing his cocaine supply. The 28-year-old victim suffered a broken jaw and black eyes, among other injuries. Brun, who has a solid criminal history, vigorously denied the allegation that he hit his girlfriend 40 times, insisting that he only punched her 20 times.

Cops get mooned, goosed and fondled On Nov. 4, Valleyfield police reported that a 19-year-old boy at a party in a mall parking lot had approached their car and mooned them. In June, a 32-year-old Gatineau woman approached several police officers who had just finished a pickup hockey game against local youth. She offered her sexual services for $60. When they refused, she goosed a cop, or, for those unfamiliar with the term, she reached into police officer’s pants to arouse his trouser snake. “You can’t arrest me because I’m not alright in my head,” she said, according to Photo Police. And to complete the police-sex trifecta, SQ lieutenant Yves Maher, 49, was charged for sexually fondling fellow male police officers between 1999 and 2003. He had already quit the force, but was given an unconditional discharge on Nov. 30 after he pled guilty.

Lights, cameras, suicide A 35-year-old threatened to hang himself off a bridge in downtown St-Georges-de-Beauce. In subsequent negotiations, he demanded that TV crews be there to record the historic event. He was eventually talked down and now faces charges of public mischief.

Kids terrified of uncombed man Claude-Jean Gauthier, 24, returned from a camping trip on Sept. 28, 2002, looking somewhat unkempt. He hopped on a city bus full of children aged six to 12, who were returning from a movie downtown. Gauthier’s unwashed face, long hair, straggly beard and mirror glasses did not go unnoticed. One child started screaming in terror. Then another did the same. Soon the bus was full of children, staring and pointing at Gauthier. The bus driver pulled over amid the hubbub and the youth disembarked. Gauthier followed to try to reassure them, but that only worsened things. Police quickly showed up and arrested him, jailed him and forced him to take a psychological evaluation. During his stay in prison, other inmates broke his jaw in two places due to a rumour that he was a child molester. On 20 May this year, Gauthier showed up combed and clean and was quickly acquitted of six charges of criminal harassment.

You can’t beat off at City Hall Pascal Allard of Drummondville lost his job as government liaison agent in March and was banned from Drummondville City Hall after making what was interpreted to be a mocking gesture miming masturbation. He admits to moving his wrist but denies that the motion was meant to mime the fine act of self-pleasuring. Allard argues that such an act would be less grievous than those recently committed by some city councillors: One was recently arrested for drunk driving and another for picking up a hooker in Florida.
Lovers and their photo snaps Mathieu Dufresne, 23, of Quebec City, was having trouble accepting that his true love had left him. After harassing phone calls and other tactics proved a failure, he tried blackmail. She didn’t bite, and he ended up sending intimate photos of her to 24 people, including her teachers. An unimpressed judge inquired about his method of showing his love and sentenced him to six months to be served in the community.

The key to successful crime Charles Roux, 23, stole a snowblower, jewellery, a generator and computers, all from the Victoriaville courthouse. He had no trouble entering, as he was the locksmith. He had to return to the courthouse to face 18 charges ranging from theft to fraud, and there was the issue of him having yanked a deposit bag from someone’s hands in the middle of a downtown Victoriaville street. He’s currently facing up to 18 charges in various stages of progress.

Banking with chainsaws A 38-year-old landscaper from St-Romuald went to collect an unpaid bill by hauling a chainsaw into the Salvatore restaurant at a crowded shopping mall. An employee grabbed a knife but police defused the situation before the knife-versus-chainsaw duel could really get started. The man was arrested and the debt remains unpaid.

For Gravenor's past year end round-ups check the archives of Who Killed Theresa,

Here

and here

And Gravenor has a great book out - co-authored by his brother - called Montreal:The Unknown City... a nice peek at the City's underbelly... very Hush-Hush.

Alistair Cooke's Magical Mystery Tour

Ok this is just gross

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

My grandfather on my father's side was a great man...

A life-long member of the Knights of Columbus, a singer and actor, hockey player and hunter, member of the town bowling team, devout Roman Catholic, sustainer of the Allore Lumber Company of Trenton, Ontario.

For Christmas we always gave him a pack of Wrigley's, because he was never without it (my daughter now owns stock in Wrigley's and every xmas she receives a box gratis).

My last memory of him is the day I learned Theresa had died. We were in Trenton, visiting for the Easter holiday. I remember walking in his house and seeing him and Nan crying on the couch.

There are few things I've inherited from his estate. But one item makes me laugh. It is a plaque with a deer on it and a poem called "Hunter's Luck". It goes like this:

Every year I go to hunt,
I hope to have some luck.
I dream of all the steaks I'll have
When I get my buck.

I walk and walk, then sit awhile
So far, a steakless day.
Behind me, a whistle, then a snort, -
The buck went

THAT-A-WAY!

Love it. My brother got the other plaque which hangs prominently in his kitchen, displaying the following nick-nack wisdom:

We get too soon old
and too late smart.

Words to live by.

This is too good...

Canada can't figure out what to do with Karla Homolka, but with a 7-2 majority the supreme court knows where it stands on group sex swingers clubs.

What a f&$#ed-up place.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Listen...

The life of Paul Berkley, and how his wife Monique Berkley and accomplices, Andrew Canty and Latwon Darrell conspired to murder him needs to be attended.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

I've lost my hockey gear

Everything. My skates, my equipment, my #9 Canadiens jersey with "Allore" on the back, my Rothesay Collegiate School jersey... very upsetting.

MIA: if you find it let me know.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Say what you want about Grapes...

It was nice to see Cherry pay respects to fallen Laval Const. Valérie Gignac on Saturday's Coaches Corner.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Pandora could become an obsession

Right now I'm building the ultimate Prog Rock station:

Where else are you going to hear Supper's Ready, The Fiery Furnaces, and Mean Without Hats' I Like in short succession?

The Rogue-Cop Theory

It's an idea not at all pleasant to ponder - because it leaves you helpless.
And I've had more than a few contact me about rogue cops and Theresa.

Rogue-cop theory
Cops have been quizzed in probe into missing prostitutes
By DOUG BEAZLEY, EDMONTON SUN
Fri, December 16, 2005

The RCMP task force investigating a trail of missing and slain women in Alberta has confirmed it has interviewed police officers as "persons of interest" in the case.

Project KARE spokesman Const. Tamara Bellamy wouldn't say whether any of the interviewed officers had been considered suspects.

"Persons of interest just means individuals we want to talk to because they might have information to pass on to us," she said. "A person of interest could evolve into a suspect at some point.

"Of course we've looked into the possibility (of police suspects). We treat all the tips we get from the public with the same amount of respect and attention. We don't discount anything.

"The conspiracy theory linking an unnamed police officer to the KARE files has been making the rounds in Edmonton's sex trade for months now.

In fact, an entire thread on Project KARE's website bulletin board - where members of the public can exchange tips and ideas about the identity of Edmonton's serial killer - is devoted to the rogue-cop theory.

"Surely most of these girls have had run-ins with police officers, and would know most of them," writes "MissAnarchist" on the KARE message board.

"Under that pretense, the SK (serial killer) could easily convince the girls to get in the car."

Others are more skeptical. "Seeing as there is not any evidence whatsoever leading in this direction, I would NOT think this would be the case," writes "Sash."

Ex-city vice cop JoAnn McCartney also doubts the rogue-cop theory. She pointed out that KARE investigators have any number of less lurid reasons to interview police officers in connection with the murder of prostitutes.

"Maybe a few of the women were acting as informants for certain officers," she said. "And it's not uncommon for vice officers to get calls from prostitutes in the middle of the night, asking for help."McCartney said the only thing that would strongly suggest a law enforcement link to the murders would be sophisticated attempts by the killer to conceal evidence, or misdirect police.

"There are always going to be people out there who think cops are out to get them," she said."This sounds like paranoia."Bellamy pointed out that KARE has received hundreds of tips from the public, many of them fingering individuals in a number of professions."You name the profession, we've heard it," she said."Some of the tips come from vindictiveness - we've gotten tips about a few ex-husbands.

"If it is a police officer ... that would really be horrendous. But ultimately, all we care about is finding the person responsible."

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Alberta/2005/12/16/1355806-sun.html

Have you discovered Pandora, the music genome project?

Right where the douche bag belongs.

Where's Bainbridge?

Congratulations to someone from Bainbridge, New York who - at 11:53 am this morning - became the 50,000th visitor to Who Killed Theresa?

They came via the search words "used truck personal ads otsego county new york". I hope they found what they were looking for (they certainly didn't find it here).

I must confess I did not see this one coming.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Be still my beating heart

I new Linda Fiorentino was special the first time I saw Men In Black. She made her reputation with The Last Seduction, but I'd never seen this Film Noir gem until this evening.

OUCH!!!! Stand aside Barbara Stanwyck!

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Lehigh Blackeye

We could turn a blind eye to Greg Hogan's gambling exploits but for Lehigh's checkered past.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Grandpa's a little slow keeping up with the kids...

but I've recently purchased Green Day's American Idiot. Jesus of Suburbia is as ambitious as anything ever attempted by Pete Townshend and The Who; except I'll bet Green Day never sells the rights to Viacom.

- Jesus of Suburbia -

I'm the son of rage and love,
The Jesus of suburbia,
From the bible of "none of the above",
On a steady diet of soda pop and ritalin,
No one ever died for my sins in hell,
As far as I can tell,
At least the ones I got away with

But there's nothing wrong with me,
This is how I'm supposed to be,
In a land of make believe,
That don't believe in me

Get my television fix,
Sitting on my crucifix,
The living room in my private womb,
While the Mom's and Brad's are away,
To fall in love and fall in debt,
To alcohol and cigarettes and Mary Jane,
To keep me insane and doing someone else's cocaine

-City Of The Damned-

At the center of the earth,
In the parking lot,
Of the 7-11 where I was taught,
The motto was just a lie
It says: home is where your heart is,
But what a shame,
'Cause everyone's heart,
Doesn't beat the same,
We're beating out of time

City of the dead,
At the end of another lost highway,
Signs misleading to nowhere,
City of the damned,
Lost children with dirty faces today,
No one really seems to care

I read the graffiti,
In the bathroom stall,
Like the holy scriptures in a shopping mall,
And so it seemed to confess,
It didn't say much,
But it only confirmed that,
The center of the earth,
Is the end of the world
And I could really care less

-I Don't Care-

I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't,
I don't care if you don't care

Everyone Is So Full Of Shit!
Born and raised by hypocrites,
Hearts recycled but never saved,
From the cradle to the grave,
We are the kids of war and peace,
From Anaheim to the middle east,
We are the stories and disciples of,
The Jesus Of Suburbia

Land of make believe,
And it don't believe in me,
Land of make believe,
And I don't believe,
And I don't care!

-Dearly Beloved-

Dearly beloved, are you listening?
I can't remember a word that you were saying,
Are we demented? Or am I disturbed?
The space that's in between insane and insecure
Oh therapy can you please fill the void?
Am I retarded or am I just overjoyed?
Nobody's perfect and I stand accused,
For the lack of a better word, and that's my best excuse

-Tales Of Another Broken Home-

To live and not to breathe,
Is to die in tragedy,
To run, to run away,
To find what you believe,
And I leave behind,
This hurricane of fucking lies,
I lost my faith to this,
This town that don't exist

So I run,
I run away
To the light of masochists,
And I leave behind,
This hurricane of fucking lies,
And I walked this line,
A million and one fucking times,
But not this time

I don't feel any shame,
I won't apologize
When there ain't nowhere you can go,
Running away from pain,
When you've been victimized,
Tales from another broken home

My friend J-Anne Wemmers needs crime victims to participate in a volunteer research study. Personally, if we want to reform the system in Canada, I consider it an obligation for crime victims to participate. We should be greatful that someone is willing to do research for our benefit,

so sign up.

WERE YOU A VICTIM OF CRIME ?

Dr. Jo-Anne Wemmers of the University of Montreal is conducting a study on the experiences of crime victims following their victimization. If you are 18 years old or older and were a victim of a crime in Canada in the past 12 months, regardless of whether you reported it to the police or not, we would like to learn about your experience. Contact the following number for more information on the study.
1-877-343-6111 ext: (2)3665
e-mail : katie.cyr @umontreal.ca

Friday, December 09, 2005

Regina Reynolds

You know when people ask me dumb-ass questions like, what do I want after 27-years? This is what I want: Police that stay on the case. DNA evidence that gets preserved FOR 30 YEARS! A community without a memory like a sieve. Justice.

Thanks to Richard Jones for passing this story on to me.

Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Man guilty of Sidney grad's murder College student killed in 1975
By Mark Boshnack
Tri-Towns Bureau

Friends and relatives of a Sidney High School graduate who was raped and murdered in 1975 expressed a range of emotions Monday after a Madison man was found guilty of the crimes.
Donald Sigsbee, 68, a retired cabinetmaker from Madison, was convicted by an Onondaga County jury on Monday. Prosecutors successfully used DNA evidence from the crime scene and from a drinking straw Sigsbee used and discarded.

Steve Reynolds, the victim's brother, said he was staying at a hotel there along with his brother, mother, family and friends, who had attended the trial.

"We never want people to think that all of what happened to my sister is closed because it never can be," said Reynolds, speaking by telephone from Syracuse. The verdict is "justice served," he said.

The immediate family had moved from the area in the years following the murder. Steve Reynolds lives in Memphis.

Reynolds was a student at Morrisville State College when she disappeared while hitchhiking Nov. 6, 1975. Her body was found 13 days later near Otisco Lake, 15 miles southwest of Syracuse. Authorities said she was stabbed in the heart.

In the case against Sigsbee, the first count of murder charged him with intentionally killing Reynolds, who was 19 years old at the time. The second count charges him with causing her death during a felony rape.

Sigsbee will be sentenced April 19. He faces a minimum 15 years and a maximum 25 years to life in state prison.

The murder happened so many years ago, Steve Reynolds said, "we never thought anything would be resolved" until about a year ago, when Sigsbee was arrested.

That occurred in March 2003 after police matched the semen to the DNA in a saliva sample authorities recovered from a drinking straw Sigsbee dumped in the trash at a fast-food restaurant.

"We had to come to terms in the past year, again, with what happened," Steve Reynolds said.
He said the family wanted to thank the New York state police and District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and his office, for the successful prosecution of Sigsbee.

Sherri Kinsella, who was among those who attended at least part of the trial, said she was two years younger than Regina Reynolds, but her sister was a classmate.

"Everybody knew Reggie," Kinsella said. Following the verdict, she said Reynolds "can finally rest in peace."

Sue Hayen, who was in the victim's class at Sidney, said she also attended much of the courtroom procedure.

"We all know the family," she said.

About how she handled dealing with her friends death all these years, she said, "I think you lay it to rest after such a long period of time.

But "a lot of those feelings resurfaced during the testimony in the trial," she said. Her reaction to hearing details of Reynolds death, was "you wish you could turn back the clock and she were alive today."

Sitting in the courtroom, she said she was impressed by the number of troopers who were present.

"They never let this case drop," she said about troopers and the district attorney.
Sidney science teacher David Pysnik, who was not at the trial, said he is one of the remaining teachers on staff who had Reynolds as a student.

He described the verdict as "a great sigh of relief."

"A lot of people are thankful the justice system has worked," Pysnik said. "And now we can continue to move forward."

Jurors deliberated for eight hours Friday before adjourning for the weekend. They returned their verdict Monday morning.

Sigsbee became a principal suspect at the time of the killing after investigators found several of his business cards near the body, which had been dumped in a shallow ravine about 300 yards off a rural road.

Authorities, however, were unable to charge him because of a lack of other evidence. However, a state police investigator preserved a semen sample taken from Reynolds' body.

During the three-day trial, dueling DNA experts offered differing opinions about the probability the semen belonged to Sigsbee.

William Shields, the only witness called by the defense, told jurors he thought the state police lab-test results were inconclusive. Shields, a biology professor from the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry who has worked for the defense in the O.J. Simpson and Scott Peterson murder cases, said he would neither include or exclude Sigsbee as a suspect.
But Russell Gettig, testifying for the prosecution, told jurors the probability of someone other than Sigsbee being linked to the semen was less than 1 in 115 million.

Gettig, a forensic scientist with the New York state police crime lab, said he based his conclusion on a comparison of the DNA from a sample of the victim's blood, the semen sample found in her body, the saliva sample recovered from the soda straw and a court-ordered known sample from Sigsbee.

A complete DNA profile could not be developed from the semen sample because it apparently degraded over time, Gettig said. But what was developed was consistent with the defendant's DNA sample, he said.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Homolkum

"She does not represent a real and imminent danger to commit a personal injury offence..."

I would understand Quebec's Superior Court judge striking down the 14 restrictions against Karla Homolka on the basis that they are unmanageable - and therefore unenforceable - but on the basis that she is not a threat?

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Sorry I've been a little non-responsive...

...I'm preparing for final exams early next week.

But this reminded me, though I've taken a break from acting, my daughter is making her theatrical debut this evening in the Long Leaf Opera Company's Christmas production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Break-a-leg Mimi!

Gian Carlo MenottiÂs - Amahl and the Night Visitors

The annual presentation of the world-famous AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS Purchase your tickets early as all shows last year sold out. Dec. 1, 2, and 3 at 8pm and Dec. 3 & 4 at 2pm St. Philip's Episcopal Church, (Main Street in downtown Durham with security parking) Dec 10th at 8pm and 11th at 2pm Mebane Arts Center, purchase tickets directly from their box office Dec. 16 & 17, 8pm at East Chapel Hill High School Auditorium Call 919-338-2642 for Special Group Rates

ÂÂdelightful production and a great way to start out the holiday season.Â--Susanna Rodell Â The News and Observer

ÂÂpowerful and utterly gorgeous mezzo voice of Denise Payton, who plays AmahlÂs mother. Richly textured, strong, utterly confident, it made the listener yearn for more.Â--Susanna Rodell Â The News and Observer

Amahl, a crippled shepherd boy, tries to tell his mother about what he has seen outside; an enormous star with a long tale. His mother, used to his habitual lying, grows angry; she is even angrier when Amahl tells her, that there is a knock at the door and there are three kings who have come to visit themÂthen the magic begins!

Who Killed Theresa?