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Fireeyes Media. On September twenty ninth, nineteen ninety six, just
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after two am in the quiet Ontario town of New Liscard,
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fifteen year old Melanie Etier left her friend's house and
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started the six block walk to her own home. This
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was a walk that she did often, but this time
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she manashed, leaving her family with unanswered questions and unimaginable loss.
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Hello and welcome to another episode of Truly Twisted. As always,
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I'm your host, Alicia Watson, and every Thursday, I will
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be bringing you a story that is always victim focused
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and fact based. Today we will be talking about the
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disc appearance of Melanie Ettier. Melanie Ettier was born on
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Christmas Day, nineteen eighty to her mother, Seln. Unfortunately, her
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dad wasn't really in the picture. From what I understand,
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he lived in Botswana and he and Seln met while
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he was attending school in a neighboring town from her.
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He was relocated back home after his schooling was complete.
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Seln was a great mother though, raising Melanie and her
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sister Jesse in New Liscard in Ontario. The family moved
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there when the girls were just six and five years old.
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Melanie was always very maternal and protective towards her sister.
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This was a very small, close knit community with about
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forty four hundred people. Melanie and her sister Jesse were
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two of only four black girls living in the community
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as well, so that raised challenges for the young teens
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at times. Melanie was an honor student at Saint Marie
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Catholic Second and she worked at the attached daycare. They
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would open early in the mornings and be open later
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after school, and Melanie loved working there because she wanted
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to be a teacher when she graduated. She had a
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good heart and she was close with her family. Her
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friends described her as being the salts of the earth.
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On Saturday, September twenty eighth, Melanie was hanging out with
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one of her best friends. The two girls spent the
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afternoon running errands together. They had lunch at Pizza Pizza
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and dreamed of what their futures would look like, talked
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about their goals. They also went to the home of
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one of Melanie's babysitting jobs to pick up her payment
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for the last two sits that she did. The next day,
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the family was hosting a birthday party for Melanie's grandmother,
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and she was planning on getting up early for work
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the next day and then making her grandma's cake before
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the party. Part of the girl's errands that day was
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picking up all of the ingredients for that as well
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as a gift for her. While out and about, the
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girls ran into Neil Fortier, Melanie's boyfriend, and a few
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of his friends. The group all made plans to rent
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a movie and watch it together. There was a video
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rental place close to Melanie's house, so they suggested that
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they watch it over there. She just had to check
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with her mom first. They stopped at the video store
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between nine and nine thirty pm and rented Sudden Death.
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They then walked to her place and Melanie asked her
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mom if it was okay for them to watch the
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movie there. Melanie's grandmother was over visiting and her room
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was crazy messy and she had to clean it before
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she could have any friends in there, so her mom
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suggested that maybe they go to one of the other
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teens homes this time around. The group then made their
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way from Melanie's and se Lynne watched her daughter walk
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away with her friends for the last time. That was
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the last time that she would see or hear from Melanie.
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It has been twenty eight years since she disappeared, and
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her mom still fights for her story to get out
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there in hopes of answers. Someday, someone always knows something.
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At around ten PM, they arrived at the home of
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Ryan Chatwin, one of Neil's friends, to watch the movie.
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This was about six blocks from Melanie's house. The teens
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watched the movie in the basement of the home and
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Ryan's parents were upstairs. No drugs or alcohol were consumed
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by any of the teens that night, And I just
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feel like this is important to mention because I would
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never want there to be theories that stray too far
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when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. One of Neil's friends
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and the girlfriend that Melanie had gone there with had
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to leave before the movie ended in order to catch
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a ride. Her friend was going to get a ride
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home from Melanie's grandmother and left between twelve thirty am
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and one am. She noted following Melanie's disappearance vicious vehicle
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as she crossed the street. It approached her slowly, and
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it immediately made her feel panicked, like it was assessing
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her or something because it was dark and there were
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headlights on, she couldn't see the driver. She raced the
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six blocks to Melanie's home and got her ride with
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her grandmother. She is believed to have taken the same
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route that Melanie would have. The vehicle she encountered has
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been described as a white or light colored Chevrolet Monte
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Carlo or similar two door model, with signs of being
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in poor condition, including a gray patch on the side
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which was likely hiding a hole or some other damage.
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Another woman had reported an unsettling interaction with the same
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vehicle hours earlier, when she was walking her dog and
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the car pulled over to ask for directions. She felt
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very uneasy and her dog began barking viciously as they
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rapidly drove off. At around from two am on September
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twenty ninth, Melanie left to make her way home and
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begin the short walk. Like I said, this was a
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walk that she had done before. She was very familiar
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with these streets. Melanie's route would have taken her through
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three intersections, over the Armstrong Bridge, past a gas station
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and apartment building, up a back alley or along a
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main road, and then finally to the top of Church Street,
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where the Ethier residence was located. The last stretch of
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her route past the bridge would have been poorly lit,
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but there was a full moon that night, believed to
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have providing a little bit of natural light, but there
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were no street lights along that back road where the
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video store was located by her house. Se Lynne was
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woken up the next morning at six am when she
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heard Melanie's alarm clock going off in her room, but
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the alarm never stopped. When she went into check on her,
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she was not in her room. She didn't panic right
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away because it wasn't uncharacteristic of Melanie to spend the
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night sleeping at a friend's house if it was too late,
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so she turned off the alarm and went back to
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sleep until around nine am. At ten am, Melanie's grandparents
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arrived for her grandmother's party, and when Melanie still didn't
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return home, they started to worry. Selyn and Melanie's grandfather
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drove to the tim Hortons to purchase the cake and
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ask around about Melanie. Seln learned that Melanie had left
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Ryan's house that night before, and she was filled with dread.
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She had also not shown up for her babysitting job
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earlier that morning. Selynn then reported her daughter as missing
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at one pm with the New Liscard Police. Local police
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requested the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police in the
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earlier days of the search, bringing in a helicopter, a
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police dog team, and search and rescue. They searched everywhere,
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ground and air. And what's even more unsettling is that
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there was no direction, lead, or scent of her with
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the dog teams. It's like she simply vanished into thin air.
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Police checked surveillance videos along Melanie's likely route, and friends
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and neighbors were interviewed extensively. By October eighth, an underwater
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search and rescue team began a three day search of
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the Wabi River between the Armstrong Bridge that she would
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have crossed and the lake that I fed into. According
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to the Ettier family, a single item may have been
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recovered by police on the first day of the search,
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but it was never made public. Melanie had no reason
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to leave the community and foul play was absolutely suspected
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in her disappearance. Selina and volunteers from the community distributed
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posters in New Liscard and communities as far as Timmins, Ottawa,
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and even Montreal and Quebec. Despite these efforts, sadly, the
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search went cold, but eyewitness statements do confirm that she
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at least made it to the north end of the
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bridge on her walk. In twenty twenty one, an anonymous
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tip came in, leading the police team to Laroque Field,
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which was roughly ten kilometers from Melanie's last location, but
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nothing was recovered or noted as relevant in the search.
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Selyyn considers North Cobalt Cemetery to be the most likely
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spot where Melanie's body could be buried. As one of
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the suspects. Dennis Labell worked for the cemetery and was
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very familiar with the surrounding areas. So let's get into
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suspects and theories. There are three viable theories in my
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opinion when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. She was abducted
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on her way home, either by a stranger or a local.
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But a stranger seems more possible as there was three
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weddings happening in town that weekend, with celebrations happening just
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a street over from Ryan's house. Somebody, maybe a little
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too drunk, saw her walking home and decided to take
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advantage of her. The highway off ramp was also right
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near the main street that she would have walked down.
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If somebody grabbed her, it would have been easy to
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disappear into the night, which is truly haunting. Dennis LaBelle
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was in a long term relationship with Sullyn's best friend,
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Sylvie Chartrand. Sylvie had a sixteen year old daughter who
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was also friends with Melanie and her sister Jesse. The
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day after Melanie was reported missing, her grandmother had a
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relatively unnerving encounter with Dennis and went down to the
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basement to smoke a cigarette in Melanie's home. This was
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already weird because he had never gone down there and
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Celine didn't allow smoking in her house. He told the
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person who harmed her granddaughter would have to have been
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very strong, as she was capable of defending herself, showing
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her deep nail marks on his arms, which he said
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Melanie had made when they were play fighting. At this point,
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Seln became very suspicious of Dennis, as, according to his
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own versions of events, he had gone out of town
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on the friday before Melanie disappeared and only returned after
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she was reported missing, making it impossible for him to
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have encountered Melanie when she visited Sylvie's home on the
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morning of September twenty eighth, that and neither of Sylvie's
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children had ever reported seeing them playfight. The wounds also
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looked fairly recent. In the years following these interactions, Celyne
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distanced her family from Denis over her suspicions. On two occasions,
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he called seln while he was in a hotel room,
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threatening suicide. On both occasions, she ran to his aid,
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believing that he was prepared to make some sort of
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deathbed candes profession about his role in her daughter's case,
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but he never did. Interestingly, he apparently had a long
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history of making sexual advances against miners and even served
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jail time for it. In twenty twenty one, Sylvie admitted
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that six of her daughter's friends had come forward describing
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how Dennis had sexually harassed or assaulted them. A friend
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later told police that on one occasion, when Denis Leavell
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had spotted an unfamiliar black girl in town, he commented
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that he had an affinity for quote unquote black chocolate.
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On one occasion around two thousand, Dennis Leavell followed one
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of his daughter's friends into the sun room of his
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house and told the girl that he wanted her to
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experience an orgasm, which is so disgusting. And years later,
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Dennis was briefly jailed for sexually assaulting one of his
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daughter's friends in the family home while everyone was asleep,
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but he was acquitted in court and released, which like why.
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In twenty fourteen, Dennis Lavelle was sentenced to serve time
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in prison after pleading guilty to a similar offense, and
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he was released after several months. On multiple occasions, he
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lured teenage girls to a hotel room, often telling them
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that he needed a babysitter for a fictional child. Around
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ten years after Melanie disappeared, Dennis lard her younger sister, Jesse,
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with a similar trick. Dennis's father had recently died, and
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he offered Jesse to do some cleaning for his mother's
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house that afternoon, but instead he drove her to a
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hotel on the outskirts of New Liscard. He coaxed her
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inside with this imaginary cleaning job, and Dennis locked the
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door and consumed cocaine strip naked, made sexual comments towards her,
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sat on the bed used the hot tub for about
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four hours while Jesse was just pretending to text on
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her phone and avoid his advances. Jesse had plans to
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meet her boyfriend at around two forty five that day
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and finally convinced Dennis to let her leave, which is
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smart because you know, if she's meeting somebody and she
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doesn't show up, that makes him look bad, so he
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really had no other choice. But she completely cut ties
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with him and the whole family after this incident, which
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convinced her that he definitely had a role in her
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sister's disappearance. One woman known only in the media as
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Josephine interviewed for the podcast called The Next Call in
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that she stated that Dennis had come to Sudbury and
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arranged for her to babysit for his girlfriend at a
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remote hotel, but confessed that it was a lie while
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driving there, and then spent the next two hours commenting
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on her body while drinking heavily. According to Josephine, Dennis
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later spread rumors that they had sex that night, and
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his behavior led her to believe that he was responsible
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for assaulting Melanie Ettia, saying that she may have had
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a similar interaction with Dennis and violently fought back if
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she rejected him. In twenty twelve, Dennis arranged for a
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teenage girl to babysit his granddaughter, which she found to
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be a lie. When she arrived at the hotel room,
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00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:22.679
he again made sexual advances, and the girl later pressed charges.