'Mommy, don't': Woman guilty of murdering daughter

[Catty1]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia...sa-guilty.html

'Mommy, don't': Woman guilty of murdering daughter
Last Updated: Friday, January 30, 2009 | 10:38 AM AT
CBC News


Karissa Boudreau captured everybody's heart, said her aunt, Chastity Grear. (Bridgewater police)


Penny Boudreau emerges from court in Bridgewater, N.S., in June 2008. (CBC)

A Nova Scotia woman has been handed a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 20 years for strangling her only child after she was given an ultimatum by her boyfriend.

Penny Boudreau, 34, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in the death of 12-year-old Karissa Boudreau last year.

The girl's frozen body was found on the outskirts of Bridgewater on Feb. 9, 2008, about two weeks after her mother reported her missing.

Boudreau, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, told the court, "I'm sorry."

In handing down the sentence, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice said Boudreau can no longer call herself mother.

Karissa's relatives sobbed loudly as Crown attorney Paul Scovil read out the grim details of the girl's final moments in an agreed statement of facts.

Boudreau's boyfriend, Vernon Macumber, told her she had to choose between him and her daughter if she wanted to save their relationship.

It was dark and snowy on Jan. 27, 2008, when Boudreau drove the girl to a remote spot on William Hebb Road in Hebbville, near Bridgewater.

They got out of the car and argued. Boudreau tackled her daughter, knelt on her chest and strangled her with a length of twine.

Boudreau could feel the girl's hands digging into the ground as she struggled.

Karissa's last words were, "Mommy, don't."

Boudreau then put the body in the car and threw out the twine in a coffee cup.

She drove to a spot along the LaHave River, and as she dragged the body, pulled down Karissa's pants to give the impression the girl had been sexually assaulted. She then rolled the body down an embankment.

Boudreau later tossed several pieces of Karissa's clothing in the garbage can at the local swimming pool.

When she got home, she told police her daughter had run away. She also called friends and teachers to spread the story.

The grim truth of what happened to the 12-year-old girl came out as a result of an undercover police investigation.

Boudreau gave the details to officers posing as organized crime bosses, who said they could help her destroy evidence held by police.

The story of Karissa has gripped the small Nova Scotia community ever since her mother made a tearful plea at a news conference for her daughter's safe return.

Boudreau said they had had a fight in the parking lot of a grocery store, and when she came back to the car, Karissa was gone.

Several searches of the area turned up no sign of the young girl.

Two weeks later, a passerby discovered Karissa's frozen body on the bank of the LaHave River.

Boudreau was charged with first-degree murder last June. At the time, police said they believed Karissa knew her killer.

Boudreau can apply for parole after 15 years under the faint-hope clause.

[sparks19]

I hope she fries

She chose her boyfriend over her daughter... she wanted to save their relationship? WTF?

[Catty1]

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9010551.html

Neighbour: Mother partied after killing daughter

BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Fri. Jan 30 - 10:33 AM

BRIDGEWATER — Scott Saunders lit candles in the windows of his third-floor apartment every night Karissa Boudreau was missing.

Inside, he felt sick because he knew what most people didn't. He knew Karissa wasn't coming back.

Day and night, he listened to a drunken Penny Boudreau in the apartment next to his, fighting with her boyfriend. Bodies banged against the thin walls, he heard yelling and screaming.

Then one day, he heard Vernon Macumber yell, “I can't believe you did that to her. I can't believe you killed your own f...ing daughter!”

“It was all in my gut,” Mr. Saunders said, and the weight of what he was hearing was too much. He called the police, and what he had to tell them helped build the case against Penny Boudreau.

In an exclusive interview with The Chronicle Herald, Mr. Saunders said he was to be a prime witness in the case against Ms. Boudreau. He has given video and audio taped statements to major crime investigators, but with her guilty plea today, his evidence is no longer needed.

Mr. Saunders said he listened to the fights and relayed to the police what he was hearing as it was being said. Because of that, police were able to get a wiretap on Ms. Boudreau's phone which added to the evidence they were gathering.

“From the very minute Karissa went missing, I had no doubt, absolutely no doubt in my mind, that this woman would be held responsible for this.”

Mr. Saunders said that's because Ms. Boudreau's behaviour completely changed once Karissa disappeared. Up until then, she wouldn't acknowledge him in the hallway. She just kept her head down when he said hello.

Their apartment was always quiet.

But on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, the day she told police her only child had disappeared, Ms. Boudreau started partying. And she didn't stop for days.

“Her child was missing and she was carting alcohol into the house, partying, there was noise, banging, screaming, hollering, partying. There was definitely a change in her personality there. . .They were partying up until two days after the body was found. It was a 24/7 party.”

She brought in lobster and carried up blue bags filled with alcohol. Mr. Saunders said he could hear “large amounts of sexual activity” going on in the apartment, and there were times the pot smoke was so strong, he put a towel across the bottom of his door.

The slamming against his walls was so bad, his wall vibrated and cracked, Mr. Saunders said.

He said Bridgewater police were called to their apartment “numerous times.”

The phone in Ms. Boudreau's apartment was on the other side of Mr. Saunders' bedroom wall, and he could hear their conversations. One night, he heard Mr. Macumber crying on the phone to a male relative.

“They're blaming me for the whole thing, I don't know what I'm going to do,” he wept. “They're going to blame me, I don't know why she won't just tell them.”

Mr. Saunders said he could plainly hear what was being said as the couple fought, so he called the police. “As I was hearing them, I repeated word for word to the major crime unit what they were saying. I'd say, 'He just said this,' then I'd say, 'He just said that.'”

Mr. Macumber now lives with relatives in New Ross and still drives the red Neon that once held Karissa's dead body.

Mr. Saunders, who spent two years working with child drug addicts in Africa, said this was the most traumatic experience of his life. “Every night that kid was missing, I lay in bed saying, 'God help me. God help me.' There has to be justice.”

He only ever met Karissa once. It was about a week before she went missing and she was looking for a missing cat. There were posters all over town.

“She was desperately looking for this cat to return. She said, 'Please, if you see this cat I don't want the $500 reward. I just want to find the cat and return him to his owner.'”

She was worried about the cat being out in the cold. “We're going to find this cat before he dies in the winter,” she said.

Three weeks later, her frozen remains were found on the bank of the LaHave River just a couple of kilometres from her home.

Mr. Saunders credits police with doing an “awesome job” proving who killed Karissa. “These were dedicated people out to get to the bottom of this and they were not giving up; not giving up.”

[lvpets2002]

I agree & How Disgusting.. RIP baby girl.. And for that sorry ***** Piece of ***** for even asking the woman to choose is even more disgusting..

I hope she fries

She chose her boyfriend over her daughter... she wanted to save their relationship? WTF?

[caseysmom]

I hope she makes a lot of "friends" in prison.

I also hope she rots in hell.

[shepgirl]

I hope she fries

She chose her boyfriend over her daughter... she wanted to save their relationship? WTF?

OMG...what kind of relationship demands that you murder your own daughter? This is surreal, just could not believe what I read.
I think the "friends" she amkes in prison are not going to be the kind she wants...some of those women are going to really let her have it.
Feel sick just reading this.

[Catty1]

It sounds like the boyfriend didn't think she would actually KILL her daughter, from what he said.

But sounds like they were both really into the booze.

That poor girl.

[lvpets2002]

Oh yes I get it Lets Hide Behind the FFF Bottle.. No I dont think soo.. I think the guy should be charged with something & serve time as well.. The mother just should be Hung..

It sounds like the boyfriend didn't think she would actually KILL her daughter, from what he said.

But sounds like they were both really into the booze.

That poor girl.

[Catty1]

Helene - I didn't mean to excuse them for one minute. People with booze problems are accountable and responsible to get HELP.

Sure, alcoholism (if that is what they have) is a disease, but it's up to THEM to get help.

I've got a few years sobriety in, so I didn't say that lightly.

I wish the dad had gotten full custody...how could anyone allow the girl into a mess like that?

[blue]

Cant we just take them behind the chemical shed and shoot them?

[Medusa]

The stories just become more and more tragic. The "mother" is probably a dead woman in prison.

[shepgirl]

What I don't understand is that it looks like the boyfriend won't be charged with anything. Isn't he considered an accomplice at the very least?

[blue]

In the US he would be considerred an accomplice after the fact.

[Catty1]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia...sa-guilty.html

As for Macumber, [Crown Attorney] Scovil said there was no evidence he wanted his girlfriend to kill her daughter. He said Boudreau made it clear that she was solely responsible.

"We suspected very strongly that he must have had an idea. But there was no evidence to suggest that he either had concrete evidence or assisted in any way," Scovil said.

[lvpets2002]

In my opinion she needs to be.. However yes Mary the mother will have met her faith in prision.. They dont like child abusers or killers.. As I see it an eye for an eye.. That poor baby girl was at the mercy of her mother & to have face death from her own mother.. It just sickens me to no end..

Candace I understood the point you were making.. Not to worry & I know it was just a statement & not a accuse.. Its just you hear all the time of it was the bottle or they were abused as a child & I just dont allow anyslack for it..

The stories just become more and more tragic. The "mother" is probably a dead woman in prison.