This is the story I filed the morning Ottawa teachers Bob and Bonnie Dagenais were gunned down 10 years ago this week. It’s a story that should not be forgotten.
GARY DIMMOCK
They found the reputed killers fast asleep in a stolen pick-up truck, .12 gauge shotguns at their side.
Their run of cottage break-ins in West Quebec ended early yesterday in what police described as an “inhuman” home invasion and the senseless killing of two former teachers.
The boy and his partner, 26-year-old Rene Michaud, were wanted for scores of break-ins at cottages in West Quebec.
Bob and Bonnie Dagenais, popular and retired Ottawa teachers, were gunned down at close range after Dagenais, 52, heard something outside their lakeside cottage in Val-Des-Monts, some 40 kilometres north of Ottawa.
Their alleged killers came on a noisy all-terrain vehicle just before 1 a.m.
One by one, they climbed off the four-wheeler and trudged through fresh snow. Each armed with stolen .12- gauge shotguns, they approached the cottage by its side door, leading to a wraparound deck.
Moments after hearing something outside, Dagenais got out of bed and pulled on his trousers. His wife, 51, stayed in the bedroom while her husband went to investigate.
By now, the intruders were breaking through the side door. He rushed to the wall phone, just a few feet from the door, and called 9-1-1 for help.
The teacher was now face-to-face with the intruder as he gave instruction over the phone.
It was around 12:50 a.m., according to 9-1-1 records, when his wife started screaming and the phone went dead.
One intruder drew his shotgun, pointed it at close range and fired, killing Dagenais as his wife looked on.
One of them cut the telephone wire to the receiver, still in the victim’s hand when police arrived.
In an act police are calling “deliberate and cowardly,” the second intruder walked over the dead body to get to the terrified wife.
Just a few feet in front of her, he fired the shotgun, hitting her in the chest, apparently killing her instantly.
The respected teachers were killed for nothing, police said. To the couple, married for 30 years, their lakeside cottage was their coveted getaway.
Set on a slope leading to Dodds Lake, this is where the retired couple spent as many weekends as they could.
And for nothing more than being home when armed thieves came smashing in, they were killed, police said.
The killers didn’t wear masks or try to hide their identity, police said.
It is still uncertain if the intruders knew anyone was home. The couple’s beige minivan was parked on the other side and may have been hard to see.
The 9-1-1 call triggered a quick police response from MRC des Collines officers based in Wakefield.
And for acting on every tip it gets, the small police force is being credited for the quick capture of the alleged killers.
In the hours leading to the double-killing, police believe the thieves were behind a handful of other break-and-enters.
One by one, the thieves used a stolen all-terrain vehicle to break-in to the homes.
A nearby homeowner spotted fresh tracks in the snow and figured someone was breaking into cottages again.
An MRC des Collines officer decided to follow up on the call, hoping to catch the thieves red-handed.
Trudging through the snow, the officer followed tracks into the night. The officer stopped when he noticed that tracks led directly to a stolen pick-up truck, parked alongside a nearby road.
Inside, a 15-year-old boy and Rene Michaud, 26, were fast asleep.
The officer is being credited for the quick capture of the alleged killers.
The boy and Michaud were being questioned into the night. It is suspected that both of the alleged killers had been abusing either drugs or alcohol, police said.
Police spent much of yesterday working around the clock, combing the normally quiet scene for evidence and breaking the terrible news to next of kin.
The news of the killings ricocheted through the community yesterday and has left detectives wondering why the couple weren’t spared.
“They were killed for no reason,” said Surete du Quebec agent Marc Ippersiel. “They didn’t have to kill these people. They weren’t doing anything wrong to anyone,” he said.
They didn’t fight off their killers. They just called for help, nothing more.
“The woman was just standing there, crying. And they killed her.” Agent Ippersiel said.
Detectives say they can’t recall another time when homeowners were executed during, of all things, a break and enter. They said the people that did this, have “no respect for life.”
Michaud and the young offender are expected to appear in court tomorrow to face charges in the double killing, police said.
Michaud has a long history of trouble with the law, and is considered violent.
Michaud is hard to miss — he has several tattoos on his face, including two handguns tattooed on his forehead, both barrels pointed at one another.
One police officer yesterday shrugged, and said surely the couple would have willingly handed over whatever the intruders wanted.
But they were never even asked, rather just shot in a place they loved.
@crimegarden
