Homicide suspect in disappearance of woman ordered to stay at halfway house

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Serge Audette, 70, was out on parole when he discovered he was being investigated within the disappearance of Patricia Ferguson.

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Paul Cherry  •  Montreal Gazette

Printed Mar 18, 2024  •  Final up to date 4 hours in the past  •  2 minute learn

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Being charged final 12 months with manslaughter within the loss of life of a girl whose disappearance wasn’t even thought of a murder for greater than twenty years has taken a toll on the 70-year-old suspect.

On June 2, Serge Audette, 70, was charged on the Montreal courthouse with manslaughter within the loss of life of Patricia Ferguson, a 23-year-old girl who vanished with no hint in 1996. She resided in an residence in Pointe-aux-Trembles and, on the time, was the mom of an 11-month-old lady.

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For causes which can be beneath a publication ban, Ferguson’s loss of life grew to become a murder investigation in 2022 and Audette was charged with manslaughter though her physique has but to be discovered. Audette is alleged to have killed Ferguson on June 6, 1996, the identical day she disappeared.

He was granted bail within the manslaughter case in August.

Whereas the Montreal police investigation was underway two years in the past, Audette was out on parole. He’s serving an indefinite sentence he acquired in 1999 when he was declared a harmful offender after he was convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl.

He was first granted day parole in February 2016 after which full parole in August 2017.

In keeping with a choice made by the Parole Board of Canada final week, his launch into society was uneventful till July 2022 when Correctional Service Canada was knowledgeable of the murder investigation. His parole was suspended and he was returned behind bars.

Since then, Audette has bounced forwards and backwards between a midway home and a federal penitentiary for quite a lot of causes, together with after he was formally charged with manslaughter and for failing a urine check that exposed he had consumed THC.

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“Clearly, the truth that you might be awaiting a brand new trial and the way, as a consequence of (an investigation) of the disappearance of a girl in 1996, you might be topic to a sure media stress which isn’t unrelated to your latest difficulties.

“Your case-management workforce (the individuals who put together an offender for parole) additionally observes a sure exhaustion linked to the supervisory measures that are imposed on you and notes that you just manifest a sense of helplessness within the context of authorized course of which is being up to date,” the parole board wrote in a choice to impose new situations on Audette’s parole.

“So, it’s on this context that you just relapsed into hashish use. Furthermore, sure issues surrounding your travels had been additionally noticed throughout this era, which required particular interventions for you. Regardless of an noticed enchancment, your case-management workforce notes that this final tough 12 months for you has exacerbated your defence mechanisms that had beforehand light over time, thus demonstrating extra emotional fragility which pushed you to put money into psychological follow-up which supplies you house to talk.”

Included among the many situations imposed on him final week is the requirement that Audette reside at a midway home for the subsequent six months.

Audette’s manslaughter case returns to court docket in April.

pcherry@postmedia.com

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