Homicide suspect in woman’s disappearance was ordered to remain in a social reintegration center

Article content

Being charged last year with manslaughter in the death of a woman whose disappearance was not even considered a homicide for more than two decades has taken its toll on the 70-year-old suspect.

On June 2, Serge Audette, 70, was charged in Montreal court with manslaughter in the death of Patricia Ferguson, a 23-year-old woman who disappeared without a trace in 1996. She resided in an apartment in Pointe-aux -Trembles. and, at the time, she was the mother of an 11-month-old daughter.

Article content

Article content

For reasons under a publication ban, Ferguson’s death was converted to a homicide investigation in 2022 and Audette was charged with involuntary manslaughter even though her body has not yet been found. Audette is alleged to have killed Ferguson on June 6, 1996, the same day she disappeared.

In August he was granted bail in the manslaughter case.

While the Montreal police investigation was underway two years ago, Audette was on probation. He is serving an indefinite sentence he received in 1999 when he was declared a dangerous offender after being found guilty of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman.

He was first granted day parole in February 2016 and then full parole in August 2017.

According to a decision made by the Parole Board of Canada last week, his release into society was uneventful until July 2022, when the Correctional Service of Canada was informed of the homicide investigation. His probation was suspended and he was returned behind bars.

Since then, Audette has bounced back and forth between a halfway house and a federal penitentiary for various reasons, including after he was indicted for involuntary manslaughter and for failing a urine test that revealed he had consumed THC.

Article content

Article content

“Evidently, the fact that you are awaiting a new trial and that, due to (an investigation) into the disappearance of a woman in 1996, you are subject to a certain media pressure that is not unrelated to your difficulties recent.

“Your case management team (the people who prepare an offender for parole) also observes a certain exhaustion related to the control measures imposed on you and notes that you express a feeling of helplessness in the context of the judicial process which is being updated. ” the parole board wrote in a decision to impose new conditions on Audette’s parole.

“So, it is in this context that you relapsed into cannabis use. In addition, during this period there have also been certain concerns regarding your travels, which required specific interventions for you. Despite an observed improvement, your case management team observes that this last difficult year for you has exacerbated your defense mechanisms that had previously faded over time, thus demonstrating greater emotional fragility that prompted you to invest in follow-up. psychological that gives him space to speak.”

Conditions imposed last week included a requirement that Audette reside in a halfway house for the next six months.

Audette’s manslaughter case returns to court in April.

[email protected]

Article content

Article content