Allan Legere

Map of the Canadian province of New Brunswick where casual crimes took place

Allan Legere (born February 13, 1948 ), also known as the Miramichi Monster , is a Canadian serial killer , rapist and arsonist who escaped from custody for several months in 1989 and murdered four people. The search for him is considered to be one of the largest manhunts in Canadian history and his conviction was one of the first to find a defendant convicted primarily on evidence of a genetic fingerprint .

First murder

On the night of June 21, 1986, Allan Legere and two accomplices broke into shopkeeper John Glendenning's home in Black River Bridge , New Brunswick , with the aim of stealing a safe . In the course of the attack, Glendenning was beaten to death, and his wife was beaten and raped. Due to the seriousness of the crime and his already numerous previous convictions, Legere received life imprisonment .

Escape

On May 3, 1989, he was allowed to visit a hospital because he had an ear infection. His hands and feet were handcuffed and two prison guards escorted him to a hospital in Moncton . Upon arrival, he asked to use the toilet. While one of the guards stayed in the vehicle and the second waited in front of the door, Legere managed to loosen the shackles through metal parts hidden on his body and escape into the parking lot, where he pushed a woman into her car and fled. She was released shortly afterwards.

Further course

In the following days, there were several break-ins, thefts and robbery of a man whose car was stolen and later found in Newcastle in the area around today's town of Miramichi , which at that time still consisted of small, independent communities . A few days later, two witnesses saw a man in a field believed to be Allan Legere.

Murder of Annie Flam

On the night of May 28, 1989, three and a half weeks after escaping, a car driver passing by by accident discovered a fire in a small grocery store in Chatham . On the ground floor of the building, emergency services found an almost passed out and injured woman. Her sister was found dead on the first floor. Investigations later revealed that Legere attacked and raped both women and then set the house on fire.

Fear in the population

In the next few months there were further incidents that will be credited to Legere. One of the two witnesses who saw a man in a field in May 1989 noticed a burglar at his garage on the evening of June 1. He chased him, but couldn't get hold of him. Not far from there, a kind of makeshift camp and the fugitive's sunglasses were discovered. The police also suspected Legere was still in the region. Panic spread among the population. According to media reports at the time, large parts of the population literally locked themselves in their homes after dark and only dared to come out again at dawn. A reward of 2,000 Canadian dollars was offered.

Murders of Linda and Donna Daughney

The two sisters Linda and Donna Daughney lived just a few kilometers from the location of Annie Flam's murder. On the morning of October 14, 1989, a local resident noticed a fire in the Daughneys' home. In the course of the rescue work, both were found dead - they too were raped and beaten to death. Neighbors of the two said they were seen alive at noon the previous day. But it was noticeable that the porch light had not been on in the evening, which was otherwise always on. A driver remembered driving past the house around 3:30 a.m. that night when the lights were on and two truck drivers reported that they had a man on the train tracks near the house in the early hours of the morning, shortly after 5:00 a.m. see the Daughneys standing. Due to the overall circumstances and the almost identical course of events as in Chatham, Legere was quickly identified as the likely perpetrator. A few days after the double murder, the reward was increased to 10,000 Canadian dollars. Because of the continuing fear in the population and the never-ending crimes, local politicians called for more police forces to search.

At the end of October 1989, evidence of the whereabouts of Legere after burglary in two vehicles was concentrated. A police dog picked up his track, several houses in the vicinity were evacuated, but he managed to escape again. In the meantime, a DNA comparison had been completed, which proved Legere's perpetration of the previous murders.

Murder of Father James Smith

On the evening of November 16, 1989, Father James Smith from Chatham Head was expected at the church. After he failed to show up, a friend who had a key opened the parsonage door and found Smith murdered. Investigations revealed that he must have been killed on the night of November 15-16. Neighbors had seen him alive the evening before when he was inspecting his porch around 9 p.m.

The perpetrator spent the day in the parsonage, eating food, washing his boots, throwing away bloody clothes and even taking phone calls saying "Wrong connection!" On the evening of November 16, shortly before the church members showed up, he short-circuited Smith's car and fled with it. A cab driver recalled seeing the blue Oldsmobile drive by at high speed around 6:45 p.m., just under 30 minutes before Smith's body was found.

Legere had boarded a train going to Montreal that evening and left the stolen car at a motel. Although police boarded and searched the train a few hours later, he was able to escape again. He rented a hotel near the Montreal train station under the false name Fernand Savoie and stayed there for several days. In town he had new glasses made and sold previously stolen jewelry to a dealer.

arrest

On November 23, 1989, Allan Legere forced a taxi driver in Saint John to drive a distance of 150 kilometers to Moncton while holding a sawed off rifle . Due to ice and snow, the taxi came off the road and got stuck in a snow bank. Legere asked the taxi driver to get out of the car, hid his gun, and stopped a car that happened to be passing by. Both were taken towards Moncton by the driver, an off duty policewoman. Legere revealed himself shortly afterwards and threatened her with his weapon. After spending months in the woods, he was very emaciated and barely recognizable. During a subsequent refueling stop, he took the car keys and went to the sales room to settle the bill. Meanwhile, the policewoman managed to start the car with the help of a duplicate key and to flee together with the taxi driver. Police officers arriving at the gas station could no longer find Legere. Roadblocks have been set up.

A few hours later, Legere forced a truck driver who was stopping at a rest stop to take him on towards Moncton. He told him that he wanted to fly to Iran from the airport there . After a change of direction requested by Legere, the truck was on a route normally not used by trucks. This was noticed by a truck driver colleague who informed the police via CB radio . The stop signs of the arriving patrol car were ignored, whereupon the truck was followed for over half an hour. The driver finally told Legere that he “could not go any further”, whereupon the latter gave him permission to pull up to the right and stop. Legere then surrendered to the police officers. His escape, which lasted more than six months, ended on November 24, 1989.

process

Allan Legere was one of the first offenders to be convicted on the basis of DNA found at the scene . The creation of the now generally known genetic fingerprint was a novelty in the fight against crime at that time . The process and the judgment against him thus also had a certain fundamental character with regard to the general ability to provide evidence through DNA in courts in Canada. The trial of Legere, who pleaded “not guilty”, ended on November 13, 1991 with a conviction of fourfold willful murder and life imprisonment. Until 2015, he served his sentence in Canada's only maximum security prison, the Special Handling Unit in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines . He was then transferred to the Edmonton Institution Prison.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Victims of Violcence Section 745 (section "Allan Legere") ( Memento from January 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ CBC News Canada: Legere murder accomplice granted day parole
3. ^ The Globe and Mail: Allan Legere's long shadow
4. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/allan-legere-s-transfer-to-lower-security-raises-fears-in-miramichi-1.2943190