Mommy Don’t; The Karissa Boudreau Case
On January 27, 2008 at 8:35 p.m, Police received a call about a 12 year old girl that had gone missing. The girl’s mother, Penny Boudreau said that her daughter, Karissa Boudreau, was missing from her car that was parked at the parking lot of a local grocery store in Bridgewater, NS. Penny Boudreau reported that she and her daughter had gone to the grocery store but Karissa waited in the car and when she came out of the store, her daughter was gone, leaving her cell phone behind.
Karissa’s mother went searching around her daughter’s most frequent hangouts, but found no trace of her. Karissa was last seen wearing pink crocs, jeans, a t-shirt and a black hoodie. Seeing as it was the middle of winter this would indicate that she wasn’t planning to run away and it was most possibly a case of an abduction or some sort of foul play.
Penny Boudreau made a tearful plea to the media begging Karissa to come home, also asking the community for any information that would aid in finding her daughter. Following the media attention, an extensive search began to find the missing 12 year old girl.
While the community was searching for Karrisa, around 3:50 p.m. January 29, 2008, a man driving down the road noticed something pink laying the snow. Remembering what the media had released about the missing girl, and in particular, that she was wearing pink crocs at the time she went missing. The man pulled his car over to take a closer look and it was indeed a pink croc. He contacted the Police reporting what he had found. The shoe was taken and tested for DNA that was later confirmed to belong to Karissa.
On February 9, 2008, at 11:35 a.m, Bridgewater Police got a 911 call from a woman reporting that her nine year old son found a body. The woman had pulled over to the side of the road to let her son to urinate out of sight. He went to the edge overlooking a river when he saw what looked like human toes sticking out of the snow. The boy yelled for his mother and when she ran over she also observed the toes. They waved down a passing vehicle and had him confirm what they had seen. Bridgewater Police Department were the first responding officers on scene and secured the area.
Police observed the body and were able to say that it was the body of a young caucasian girl, and it looked to be the missing girl, Karissa Boudreau, upon facial and physical appearance. Based on the medical examiner’s observations, he believed the body had been placed at the scene before rigor had set in. She was in a spread out position, and appeared to have been supple at the time she came to rest there. He also believed she was placed there shortly after death. There were ligature marks around her neck and the position of the body and the state in which Karissa was discovered was not released to the public.
Shortly after, it came out that Penny Boudreau did not have a good relationship with her daughter. She claimed her former boyfriend, Vernon MaCumber, gave her an ultimatum; either Karissa goes or he goes. MaCumber denied this claim stating it was taken out of context and that he just wanted a better living situation for all of them. After an extensive interview the Crown Attorney believed he did not mean he wanted Penny to kill Karissa. Shortly after, Penny was arrested and charged with first degree murder.
After Penny’s arrest, the details came out that she drove Karissa to the quiet roadside and tackled her to the ground. She then proceeded to strangle her daughter with twine while kneeling on her chest. In her final moments, Karissa dug her hands into the frozen ground and struggled as her mother tightened the twine wrapped around her neck. The last words Karissa ever spoke were “Mommy, don’t” as she looked her mother in the eye. Penny even went as far as pulling down Karissa’s pants and underwear in an attempt to make it look like a sexual assault had taken place.
Later, Penny Boudreau would plead guilty to the lesser charge of second degree murder and in doing so received a life sentence. She must serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole. At her sentencing, the Judge’s last words to Penny were “You can never call yourself mother,” as she glared at Boudreau. “The words, `Mommy, don’t’ are there to haunt you for the rest of your life.”
UPDATE: June 2018. Penny Boudreau has been granted four escorted leaves from prison over the next year. Boudreau was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 20 years for killing her daughter Karissa, but has been granted four escorted leaves from prison over the next year to attend church.
In a June 28th written decision, the Parole Board of Canada said the woman must be escorted by two correctional service staff who are to remain within sight and sound of her at all times during the four hour leaves. She was granted these leaves after serving only 10 years of her sentence for murdering her 12 year old daughter, Karissa.