Unsealed court records name police suspect in killing of Madison Roy-Boudreau
CBC
Newly unsealed court records show police suspect that Steven Laurette murdered a 14-year-old Bathurst girl almost four years ago.
Madison Roy-Boudreau disappeared May 11, 2021, in the northeastern New Brunswick city. Police say she is presumed dead. Her body hasn't been found.
The unsealed records say police believe the 45-year-old man from South Tetagouche, west of Bathurst, was with her when she was last seen alive. No charges have been laid. The allegation he killed her has not been tested in court.
Bathurst's police chief named Laurette during a news conference about the search for Roy-Boudreau, referencing his arrest on a charge of violating a court condition, but police have not publicly named him as the suspect in her disappearance and death.
The documents outline the police theory that Laurette, currently serving a prison sentence for sexual assault, killed her.
The records span 2021 to May 2023 and offer a snapshot of the investigation as of that point. They consist of search warrants executed early in the investigation, lists of things seized, and requests to allow police to retain items that could be evidence.
The documents lay out the evolution of the investigation, from one about whether Laurette violated a court condition to a much more serious allegation.
"Throughout the investigation, the seriousness of the matter evolved from a failure to comply with an undertaking given to a judge, to the offences of taking without lawful authority an unmarried person under the age of sixteen and at this time, the first degree murder of Madison Roy Boudreau," RCMP Cpl. Eric Dupuis, the lead investigator, said in a May 2023 affidavit.
Dupuis stated police seized "a large quantity of exhibits," with some sent for testing and others expected to be tested. Dupuis stated the police wanted to keep possession of the items that could become evidence in court.
"I believe that since Madison Roy Boudreau's body has not been recovered [it] adds a significant layer of complexity to the investigation that explains in great part the slow progress of the current investigation," Dupuis wrote in the 2023 affidavit.
Radio-Canada went to court in 2023 asking for the documents to be unsealed. Court of King's Bench Justice Zoël Dionne recently unsealed the records. Portions of the documents are blacked out.
Laurette objected in court to the records being unsealed and to police retaining items collected during searches.
Laurette is serving a seven-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, who was not Roy-Boudreau, between December 2018 and March 2019.
As part of the court applications to retain evidence gathered after executing search warrants, police affidavits from Dupuis filed in court from Dupuis outline the early stages of the Roy-Boudreau investigation by the Bathurst Police Force.
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