Unsealed court records name police suspect in killing of Madison Roy-Boudreau
Documents show police suspect that Steven Laurette, who hasn’t been charged, killed Bathurst girl in 2021
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.
No body helps explain 'slow progress,' officer says
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.
The RCMP took the lead on the investigation in 2022 based on the belief Roy-Boudreau was in Middle River, southwest of Bathurst and in RCMP jurisdiction, after she was last seen. What led to that belief has not been explained.
Dupuis wrote that Roy-Boudreau's father Jason Boudreau reported her missing at 11:18 p.m. on May 11, 2021, after she missed school and didn't come home.
Police initially said the girl with brown hair was last seen that day around 7:30 a.m. when she left her home to go to her nearby school bus stop, which was close to Grange Avenue and Chaleur Street.
Later, Dupuis wrote in his affidavit, police determined she was last seen alive that morning willingly getting into a 2007 grey Ford Ranger truck driven by Steven Laurette, who was the lone occupant.
About three hours after Roy-Boudreau was last seen, police allege in the affidavits that Laurette walked into a Giant Tiger store wearing brown shoes. He bought blue shoes, and minutes later, the records say, he was seen wearing blue shoes.
Laurette was under court-imposed conditions when Roy-Boudreau disappeared.
The documents say Laurette was arrested May 13, 2021, for violating one of those conditions. He was charged the following day, though that charge was later withdrawn.
A search warrant issued May 14, 2021, granted Bathurst police authority to search the truck Laurette was driving the morning Roy-Boudreau disappeared.
The documents say police were searching for Roy-Boudreau's belongings, clothing fibres, bodily substances and fingerprints.
The records say the search resulted in police collecting a swab of potential blood on the passenger seat cover and hair from the passenger seat. The documents don't say if blood was confirmed.
The records state several items have been sent, or would be sent, to a lab for testing. The results are not described in the documents.The records indicate police carried out several searches of the truck over the following months as the investigation evolved into one of an alleged murder.
One warrant issued in 2021 relates to an item seized in June that year that the document says could offer evidence about the commission of the abduction and alleged murder. The details about what the item is and where it was located are blacked out in the unsealed documents.
Police carried out a series of searches in areas around Bathurst after Roy-Boudreau disappeared.
Police search Middle River area
On Aug. 9, 2021, police began searching in Middle River, a rural area that's roughly nine kilometres from where Roy-Boudreau was last seen alive.
"These searches have led to obtaining additional evidence, which are currently being processed," Stéphane Roy, who was the Bathurst police chief, said in a video statement Aug. 11, 2021.
That statement announced that Roy-Boudreau's disappearance was deemed a homicide. Police have not said what led to that determination.
Roy said the force had a suspect. However, they didn't name Laurette as that suspect.
In the unsealed documents, the language used shifts to police alleging Laurette committed first-degree murder, a homicide that's planned and deliberate.
In the days after Roy's announcement, police obtained another warrant to search the Ford Ranger truck, the court records show.
The documents say police collected a long list of items like medical masks, coffee cups, dozens of cigarette butts, tools, a long brown hair, and a snowbrush with red stains. There's no information in the records about what caused the stains.
The records say the truck was later returned to its owner, Laurette's father. The documents don't suggest his father was in any way involved in the alleged crimes.
Police have continued to search the Middle River area over the years. RCMP Cpl. Hans Ouellette has said nothing was found during a search in October.
RCMP didn't provide an interview for this story. Ouellette said in a statement that no arrests have been made or charges laid in connection with Roy-Boudreau's death. He said police are continuing to search and receive tips from the public.
"Any detail, even if it seems small, could assist with furthering this investigation and bringing answers to Madison's family and her community," Ouellette said.
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With files from Pascal Raiche-Nogue
