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The Disappearance of Melanie Ethier · PNW Haunts & Homicides

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  Speaker 1: Fireeyes Media. On September twenty ninth, nineteen ninety six, just
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  Speaker 1: after two am in the quiet Ontario town of New Liscard,
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  Speaker 1: fifteen year old Melanie Etier left her friend's house and
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  Speaker 1: started the six block walk to her own home. This
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  Speaker 1: was a walk that she did often, but this time
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  Speaker 1: she manashed, leaving her family with unanswered questions and unimaginable loss.
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  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to another episode of Truly Twisted. As always,
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Alicia Watson, and every Thursday, I will
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  Speaker 1: be bringing you a story that is always victim focused
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  Speaker 1: and fact based. Today we will be talking about the
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  Speaker 1: disc appearance of Melanie Ettier. Melanie Ettier was born on
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  Speaker 1: Christmas Day, nineteen eighty to her mother, Seln. Unfortunately, her
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  Speaker 1: dad wasn't really in the picture. From what I understand,
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  Speaker 1: he lived in Botswana and he and Seln met while
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  Speaker 1: he was attending school in a neighboring town from her.
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  Speaker 1: He was relocated back home after his schooling was complete.
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  Speaker 1: Seln was a great mother though, raising Melanie and her
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  Speaker 1: sister Jesse in New Liscard in Ontario. The family moved
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  Speaker 1: there when the girls were just six and five years old.
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  Speaker 1: Melanie was always very maternal and protective towards her sister.
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  Speaker 1: This was a very small, close knit community with about
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  Speaker 1: forty four hundred people. Melanie and her sister Jesse were
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  Speaker 1: two of only four black girls living in the community
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  Speaker 1: as well, so that raised challenges for the young teens
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  Speaker 1: at times. Melanie was an honor student at Saint Marie
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  Speaker 1: Catholic Second and she worked at the attached daycare. They
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  Speaker 1: would open early in the mornings and be open later
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  Speaker 1: after school, and Melanie loved working there because she wanted
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  Speaker 1: to be a teacher when she graduated. She had a
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  Speaker 1: good heart and she was close with her family. Her
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  Speaker 1: friends described her as being the salts of the earth.
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  Speaker 1: On Saturday, September twenty eighth, Melanie was hanging out with
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  Speaker 1: one of her best friends. The two girls spent the
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  Speaker 1: afternoon running errands together. They had lunch at Pizza Pizza
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  Speaker 1: and dreamed of what their futures would look like, talked
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  Speaker 1: about their goals. They also went to the home of
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  Speaker 1: one of Melanie's babysitting jobs to pick up her payment
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  Speaker 1: for the last two sits that she did. The next day,
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  Speaker 1: the family was hosting a birthday party for Melanie's grandmother,
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  Speaker 1: and she was planning on getting up early for work
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  Speaker 1: the next day and then making her grandma's cake before
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  Speaker 1: the party. Part of the girl's errands that day was
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  Speaker 1: picking up all of the ingredients for that as well
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  Speaker 1: as a gift for her. While out and about, the
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  Speaker 1: girls ran into Neil Fortier, Melanie's boyfriend, and a few
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  Speaker 1: of his friends. The group all made plans to rent
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  Speaker 1: a movie and watch it together. There was a video
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  Speaker 1: rental place close to Melanie's house, so they suggested that
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  Speaker 1: they watch it over there. She just had to check
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  Speaker 1: with her mom first. They stopped at the video store
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  Speaker 1: between nine and nine thirty pm and rented Sudden Death.
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  Speaker 1: They then walked to her place and Melanie asked her
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  Speaker 1: mom if it was okay for them to watch the
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  Speaker 1: movie there. Melanie's grandmother was over visiting and her room
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  Speaker 1: was crazy messy and she had to clean it before
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  Speaker 1: she could have any friends in there, so her mom
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  Speaker 1: suggested that maybe they go to one of the other
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  Speaker 1: teens homes this time around. The group then made their
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  Speaker 1: way from Melanie's and se Lynne watched her daughter walk
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  Speaker 1: away with her friends for the last time. That was
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  Speaker 1: the last time that she would see or hear from Melanie.
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  Speaker 1: It has been twenty eight years since she disappeared, and
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  Speaker 1: her mom still fights for her story to get out
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  Speaker 1: there in hopes of answers. Someday, someone always knows something.
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  Speaker 1: At around ten PM, they arrived at the home of
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Chatwin, one of Neil's friends, to watch the movie.
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  Speaker 1: This was about six blocks from Melanie's house. The teens
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  Speaker 1: watched the movie in the basement of the home and
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  Speaker 1: Ryan's parents were upstairs. No drugs or alcohol were consumed
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  Speaker 1: by any of the teens that night, And I just
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  Speaker 1: feel like this is important to mention because I would
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  Speaker 1: never want there to be theories that stray too far
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. One of Neil's friends
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  Speaker 1: and the girlfriend that Melanie had gone there with had
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  Speaker 1: to leave before the movie ended in order to catch
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  Speaker 1: a ride. Her friend was going to get a ride
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  Speaker 1: home from Melanie's grandmother and left between twelve thirty am
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  Speaker 1: and one am. She noted following Melanie's disappearance vicious vehicle
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  Speaker 1: as she crossed the street. It approached her slowly, and
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  Speaker 1: it immediately made her feel panicked, like it was assessing
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  Speaker 1: her or something because it was dark and there were
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  Speaker 1: headlights on, she couldn't see the driver. She raced the
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  Speaker 1: six blocks to Melanie's home and got her ride with
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  Speaker 1: her grandmother. She is believed to have taken the same
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  Speaker 1: route that Melanie would have. The vehicle she encountered has
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  Speaker 1: been described as a white or light colored Chevrolet Monte
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  Speaker 1: Carlo or similar two door model, with signs of being
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  Speaker 1: in poor condition, including a gray patch on the side
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  Speaker 1: which was likely hiding a hole or some other damage.
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  Speaker 1: Another woman had reported an unsettling interaction with the same
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  Speaker 1: vehicle hours earlier, when she was walking her dog and
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  Speaker 1: the car pulled over to ask for directions. She felt
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  Speaker 1: very uneasy and her dog began barking viciously as they
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  Speaker 1: rapidly drove off. At around from two am on September
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  Speaker 1: twenty ninth, Melanie left to make her way home and
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  Speaker 1: begin the short walk. Like I said, this was a
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  Speaker 1: walk that she had done before. She was very familiar
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  Speaker 1: with these streets. Melanie's route would have taken her through
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  Speaker 1: three intersections, over the Armstrong Bridge, past a gas station
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  Speaker 1: and apartment building, up a back alley or along a
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  Speaker 1: main road, and then finally to the top of Church Street,
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  Speaker 1: where the Ethier residence was located. The last stretch of
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  Speaker 1: her route past the bridge would have been poorly lit,
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  Speaker 1: but there was a full moon that night, believed to
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  Speaker 1: have providing a little bit of natural light, but there
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  Speaker 1: were no street lights along that back road where the
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  Speaker 1: video store was located by her house. Se Lynne was
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  Speaker 1: woken up the next morning at six am when she
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  Speaker 1: heard Melanie's alarm clock going off in her room, but
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  Speaker 1: the alarm never stopped. When she went into check on her,
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  Speaker 1: she was not in her room. She didn't panic right
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  Speaker 1: away because it wasn't uncharacteristic of Melanie to spend the
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  Speaker 1: night sleeping at a friend's house if it was too late,
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  Speaker 1: so she turned off the alarm and went back to
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  Speaker 1: sleep until around nine am. At ten am, Melanie's grandparents
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  Speaker 1: arrived for her grandmother's party, and when Melanie still didn't
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  Speaker 1: return home, they started to worry. Selyn and Melanie's grandfather
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  Speaker 1: drove to the tim Hortons to purchase the cake and
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  Speaker 1: ask around about Melanie. Seln learned that Melanie had left
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  Speaker 1: Ryan's house that night before, and she was filled with dread.
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  Speaker 1: She had also not shown up for her babysitting job
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  Speaker 1: earlier that morning. Selynn then reported her daughter as missing
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  Speaker 1: at one pm with the New Liscard Police. Local police
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  Speaker 1: requested the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police in the
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  Speaker 1: earlier days of the search, bringing in a helicopter, a
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  Speaker 1: police dog team, and search and rescue. They searched everywhere,
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  Speaker 1: ground and air. And what's even more unsettling is that
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  Speaker 1: there was no direction, lead, or scent of her with
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  Speaker 1: the dog teams. It's like she simply vanished into thin air.
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  Speaker 1: Police checked surveillance videos along Melanie's likely route, and friends
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  Speaker 1: and neighbors were interviewed extensively. By October eighth, an underwater
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  Speaker 1: search and rescue team began a three day search of
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  Speaker 1: the Wabi River between the Armstrong Bridge that she would
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  Speaker 1: have crossed and the lake that I fed into. According
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  Speaker 1: to the Ettier family, a single item may have been
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  Speaker 1: recovered by police on the first day of the search,
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  Speaker 1: but it was never made public. Melanie had no reason
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  Speaker 1: to leave the community and foul play was absolutely suspected
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  Speaker 1: in her disappearance. Selina and volunteers from the community distributed
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  Speaker 1: posters in New Liscard and communities as far as Timmins, Ottawa,
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  Speaker 1: and even Montreal and Quebec. Despite these efforts, sadly, the
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  Speaker 1: search went cold, but eyewitness statements do confirm that she
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  Speaker 1: at least made it to the north end of the
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  Speaker 1: bridge on her walk. In twenty twenty one, an anonymous
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  Speaker 1: tip came in, leading the police team to Laroque Field,
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  Speaker 1: which was roughly ten kilometers from Melanie's last location, but
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  Speaker 1: nothing was recovered or noted as relevant in the search.
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  Speaker 1: Selyyn considers North Cobalt Cemetery to be the most likely
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  Speaker 1: spot where Melanie's body could be buried. As one of
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  Speaker 1: the suspects. Dennis Labell worked for the cemetery and was
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  Speaker 1: very familiar with the surrounding areas. So let's get into
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  Speaker 1: suspects and theories. There are three viable theories in my
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  Speaker 1: opinion when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. She was abducted
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  Speaker 1: on her way home, either by a stranger or a local.
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  Speaker 1: But a stranger seems more possible as there was three
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  Speaker 1: weddings happening in town that weekend, with celebrations happening just
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  Speaker 1: a street over from Ryan's house. Somebody, maybe a little
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  Speaker 1: too drunk, saw her walking home and decided to take
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  Speaker 1: advantage of her. The highway off ramp was also right
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  Speaker 1: near the main street that she would have walked down.
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  Speaker 1: If somebody grabbed her, it would have been easy to
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  Speaker 1: disappear into the night, which is truly haunting. Dennis LaBelle
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  Speaker 1: was in a long term relationship with Sullyn's best friend,
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  Speaker 1: Sylvie Chartrand. Sylvie had a sixteen year old daughter who
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  Speaker 1: was also friends with Melanie and her sister Jesse. The
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  Speaker 1: day after Melanie was reported missing, her grandmother had a
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  Speaker 1: relatively unnerving encounter with Dennis and went down to the
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  Speaker 1: basement to smoke a cigarette in Melanie's home. This was
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  Speaker 1: already weird because he had never gone down there and
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  Speaker 1: Celine didn't allow smoking in her house. He told the
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  Speaker 1: person who harmed her granddaughter would have to have been
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  Speaker 1: very strong, as she was capable of defending herself, showing
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  Speaker 1: her deep nail marks on his arms, which he said
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  Speaker 1: Melanie had made when they were play fighting. At this point,
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  Speaker 1: Seln became very suspicious of Dennis, as, according to his
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  Speaker 1: own versions of events, he had gone out of town
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  Speaker 1: on the friday before Melanie disappeared and only returned after
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  Speaker 1: she was reported missing, making it impossible for him to
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  Speaker 1: have encountered Melanie when she visited Sylvie's home on the
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  Speaker 1: morning of September twenty eighth, that and neither of Sylvie's
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  Speaker 1: children had ever reported seeing them playfight. The wounds also
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  Speaker 1: looked fairly recent. In the years following these interactions, Celyne
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  Speaker 1: distanced her family from Denis over her suspicions. On two occasions,
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  Speaker 1: he called seln while he was in a hotel room,
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  Speaker 1: threatening suicide. On both occasions, she ran to his aid,
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  Speaker 1: believing that he was prepared to make some sort of
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  Speaker 1: deathbed candes profession about his role in her daughter's case,
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  Speaker 1: but he never did. Interestingly, he apparently had a long
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  Speaker 1: history of making sexual advances against miners and even served
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  Speaker 1: jail time for it. In twenty twenty one, Sylvie admitted
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  Speaker 1: that six of her daughter's friends had come forward describing
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  Speaker 1: how Dennis had sexually harassed or assaulted them. A friend
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  Speaker 1: later told police that on one occasion, when Denis Leavell
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  Speaker 1: had spotted an unfamiliar black girl in town, he commented
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  Speaker 1: that he had an affinity for quote unquote black chocolate.
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  Speaker 1: On one occasion around two thousand, Dennis Leavell followed one
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  Speaker 1: of his daughter's friends into the sun room of his
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  Speaker 1: house and told the girl that he wanted her to
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  Speaker 1: experience an orgasm, which is so disgusting. And years later,
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  Speaker 1: Dennis was briefly jailed for sexually assaulting one of his
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  Speaker 1: daughter's friends in the family home while everyone was asleep,
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  Speaker 1: but he was acquitted in court and released, which like why.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, Dennis Lavelle was sentenced to serve time
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  Speaker 1: in prison after pleading guilty to a similar offense, and
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  Speaker 1: he was released after several months. On multiple occasions, he
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  Speaker 1: lured teenage girls to a hotel room, often telling them
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  Speaker 1: that he needed a babysitter for a fictional child. Around
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  Speaker 1: ten years after Melanie disappeared, Dennis lard her younger sister, Jesse,
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  Speaker 1: with a similar trick. Dennis's father had recently died, and
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  Speaker 1: he offered Jesse to do some cleaning for his mother's
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  Speaker 1: house that afternoon, but instead he drove her to a
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  Speaker 1: hotel on the outskirts of New Liscard. He coaxed her
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  Speaker 1: inside with this imaginary cleaning job, and Dennis locked the
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  Speaker 1: door and consumed cocaine strip naked, made sexual comments towards her,
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  Speaker 1: sat on the bed used the hot tub for about
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  Speaker 1: four hours while Jesse was just pretending to text on
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  Speaker 1: her phone and avoid his advances. Jesse had plans to
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  Speaker 1: meet her boyfriend at around two forty five that day
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  Speaker 1: and finally convinced Dennis to let her leave, which is
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  Speaker 1: smart because you know, if she's meeting somebody and she
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  Speaker 1: doesn't show up, that makes him look bad, so he
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  Speaker 1: really had no other choice. But she completely cut ties
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  Speaker 1: with him and the whole family after this incident, which
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  Speaker 1: convinced her that he definitely had a role in her
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  Speaker 1: sister's disappearance. One woman known only in the media as
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  Speaker 1: Josephine interviewed for the podcast called The Next Call in
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  Speaker 1: that she stated that Dennis had come to Sudbury and
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  Speaker 1: arranged for her to babysit for his girlfriend at a
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  Speaker 1: remote hotel, but confessed that it was a lie while
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  Speaker 1: driving there, and then spent the next two hours commenting
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  Speaker 1: on her body while drinking heavily. According to Josephine, Dennis
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  Speaker 1: later spread rumors that they had sex that night, and
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  Speaker 1: his behavior led her to believe that he was responsible
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  Speaker 1: for assaulting Melanie Ettia, saying that she may have had
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  Speaker 1: a similar interaction with Dennis and violently fought back if
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  Speaker 1: she rejected him. In twenty twelve, Dennis arranged for a
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  Speaker 1: teenage girl to babysit his granddaughter, which she found to
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  Speaker 1: be a lie. When she arrived at the hotel room,
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  Speaker 1: he again made sexual advances, and the girl later pressed charges.
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  Speaker 1: This eventually made him serve time in prison for the offense.
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  Speaker 1: While in prison, Selne visited him and directly asked about
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  Speaker 1: his involvement in her daughter's case. He denied any involvement,
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  Speaker 1: and sadly, he died of a stroke in twenty sixteen
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  Speaker 1: before any confession could be pulled from him. And while
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  Speaker 1: Dennis seems like a viable theory, there are other theories
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  Speaker 1: about Melanie possibly being mistaken for another girl in town
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  Speaker 1: when she was attacked, or maybe the victim of a
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  Speaker 1: serial killer. Today, Melanie would be forty three years old
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  Speaker 1: and she was last seen wearing a green Nike jacket,
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  Speaker 1: blue jeans, a white T shirt with a pepe logo
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  Speaker 1: and a blue heart, and black boots. Melanie was described
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  Speaker 1: as five five and one hundred and twenty pounds. Roughly,
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  Speaker 1: she's a black female with brown eyes and long braided
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  Speaker 1: black hair. The Ontario Provincial Police say that the case
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  Speaker 1: will never be closed until it is solved, and that
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  Speaker 1: they would like to remind the public that even the
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  Speaker 1: smallest detail could have a significant impact. Any person with
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  Speaker 1: any information regarding the disappearance is asked to contact them
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  Speaker 1: at one eight eight eight three, one zero one one
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  Speaker 1: two two or seven oh five three two nine six
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  Speaker 1: one one one, their nearest police authority or crime stoppers
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  Speaker 1: anonymously reward money climbed from two thousand dollars to fifty
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  Speaker 1: thousand dollars over the years for any information that could
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  Speaker 1: possibly lead to Melanie's recovery. There are two billboards along
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  Speaker 1: Highway eleven that still ask you know what happened to me,
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  Speaker 1: so why don't you help? I truly hope that someone
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  Speaker 1: is able to help one day. While her mother believes
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  Speaker 1: that it is very unlikely that Melanie is still alive today,
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  Speaker 1: she still deserves justice and her family deserves answers. And
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  Speaker 1: I do hope that you enjoyed this week's story. If
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  Speaker 1: you like the show, don't forget to leave me five
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  Speaker 1: stars wherever you are listening now. It really is the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: best way to help me reach new audiences, and it
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  Speaker 1: means so so much to me. If you have a case, suggestion,
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  Speaker 1: or something that you would like me to cover, please
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  Speaker 1: email me at Alicia at fireeyesmedia dot com or feel
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: free to message me on social media. I will see
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  Speaker 1: you next week for another episode. And in the meantime,
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  Speaker 1: remember are wanted, you are loved, and you deserve to
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  Speaker 1: be here, and I will see you next week. Truly
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  Speaker 1: Twisted is a proud production of Fireeyes Media, a woman
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  Speaker 1: owned and operated network. This show is hosted, researched, and
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  Speaker 1: edited by me, Alicia Watson, and I would love if
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  Speaker 1: you would email me any case, suggestions or comments you
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  Speaker 1: may have at Alicia at fireeysmedia dot com. Fireeyes Media