CANADA • Sophie FITZPATRICK, 7 / Accused: Catherine Dufresne (mother) ~ Chelsea QC

October 23, 2011 - CHELSEA — A seven-year-old girl was pronounced dead in hospital on Saturday after an incident at her home in the tony Chelsea neighbourhood of Kingsmere, and a suspicious death investigation is under way, police have confirmed.

A woman was also rushed to hospital with serious injuries and was still receiving treatment late Saturday afternoon.

MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais police were called out to 80 Chemin Barnes — directly across a gravel road from Moorside, former prime minister Mackenzie King’s residence — at 1:17 p.m.


MRC des Collines police investigate a suspicious death of a 7-year-old girl at 80 chemin Barnes
in Chelsea, Quebec on Saturday, October 22, 2011.
Photograph by: Mike Carroccetto, The Ottawa Citizen / Postmedia News

When officers arrived, they found “an inanimate” little girl and an injured woman inside the home, a Sûreté du Québec spokeswoman said. She would not say whether anyone else was home at the time, and would not say who called police or where the call originated from.

Neighbours said that a couple, Murray and Kathy Fitzpatrick, live at 80 Chemin Barnes with their daughter, Sophie, who was adopted from China about two or three years ago. Sophie was in Grade 2 at Chelsea’s École du Grand-Boisé, and spoke excellent French.

Police have said that whatever occurred at the home on Saturday afternoon involved three people, all from the same family.

Greg Christie has owned Greg Christie’s Ski and Cycle Works shop in Chelsea for 17 years. He said by phone Saturday that Murray Fitzpatrick is a recreational sports enthusiast and has been a regular customer at the shop for the past seven years or so.

“Oh, my God, oh, my God,” he said after being told that Sophie had died. “I don’t know them very well, but this is just blowing me away. It’s blowing me away. I don’t know what’s happened, but this just throws me away.”

Christie said he often sees Fitzpatrick skiing in the area in the winter months, and said he has met the entire family at his shop.

“I see him (Murray Fitzpatrick) out skiing because we’re in the same area here, and we actually ski in a very close area,” Christie said. “And he skis at sort of strange times like me, so I bump into him. He’s been a very good customer at the store.”

Christie said that while he isn’t very close with the Fitzpatricks, he knew that Kathy — whom he described as “very bubbly, very effervescent” — had been wanting a child for years. He said the family is an active one, and that sports is likely Murray Fitzpatrick’s way of blowing off steam from his high-stress financial work.

“If there was something going on, he was very poker-faced about it,” Christie said. “Maybe in his business you have to be that way, but I wasn’t super close (to him).”

Christie described Sophie as “a great little kid.” He said she was shy at first when she moved to Chelsea, but that she soon warmed up and became “a very outgoing” girl.

Nancy Manning lives on Chemin Barnes and said by phone that she knows the family very well.

“They loved her,” Manning said of the couple’s relationship with Sophie. “A very loving family. They did lots of things with her. Laughed with her, swam with her, skied with her, did lots of nice things for her and with her.

“They were gentle and loving with her.”

Asked if anyone on the street has any idea about what happened early Saturday afternoon, Manning said she doesn’t want to spread speculation.

“There’s not a lot of talk,” she said. “We’re pretty subdued, actually.”

One neighbour who asked not to be identified said Kathy Fitzpatrick once worked in Ottawa for the Watertown, New York, PBS station, but is now a stay-at-home mother. She recently hosted a jewelry party at the home.

Murray Fitzpatrick is listed as an investment adviser and financial planner with BMO Nesbitt Burns. A neighbour also said he advertises his services in the LowDown To Hull & Back, a weekly newspaper serving the Gatineau Hills. An online BMO biography says he has taken part in marathons and triathlons, and that he loves golfing, cross-country skiing and downhill skiing.

As investigators combed through and controlled the scene at 80 Chemin Barnes on Saturday afternoon, deer ran past the police tape and a steady stream of visitors strolled by. Most neighbours avoided reporters.

The Fitzpatrick home on Chemin Barnes isn’t far from Lac Kingsmere, where Sophie loved to swim and use her raft, neighbours said. Orange and white Halloween decorations hung by the driveway near a woodcut sign boasting a stylized dog symbol and the family’s name.

MRC des Collines police are being assisted by Sûreté du Québec.

No other information was available Saturday night.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=5592849&sponsor=

A seven year old girl was found strangled in her room by her father, who was returning from an out of town business trip yesterday in Chelsea. The child's mother had also tried to end her life and was still in the hospital in the evening.

The case has all the appearances of a family drama.

The gruesome discovery was made in the family home of Barnes Road. According to what the Journal has learned from police sources, Murray Fitzpatrick would have found his daughter, Sophie, dead in her room.

A letter was discovered there, in which the terrible act is explained, it was also learned.

Public Safety of the MRC des Collines de l'Outaouais received the call around 13:30 yesterday.

"They found a lifeless girl and a woman injured. They were taken to a local hospital where the girl was pronounced dead. The woman woman remains in the hospital, but we do not fear for her life, said Ann Mathieu, spokesperson for the Surete du Quebec.

"A nice family"

At the request of the RCM Police, the Sûreté du Québec is conducting the investigation. Witnesses, neighbors and family members, including the victim's mother, were being interviewed by police last night to shed light on the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

Read more (French text)

On Sunday, police confirmed a suspicious death investigation was underway but would not confirm the names of the people involved.

Police initially said that whatever occurred at the home on Saturday afternoon involved three people, all from the same family. But the father has since met with investigators and has been cleared of any involvement.

“I know he is not involved in the investigation, but I don’t know where he was,” said Christine Coulombe of the Surete du Quebec.

Meanwhile, a woman who was also rushed to hospital with serious injuries remains in hospital, under police guard. Coulombe said the woman has not met with investigators yet, but is considered an “important witness.” The 53-year-old woman sustained non-life threatening injuries.

Coulombe could not say what injuries the child sustained, but confirmed the incident occurred inside the house.

Investigators remained on the scene Sunday, trying to piece together what happened. They are hoping to meet with the woman as soon as her condition allows.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Police+investigating+after+girl+dies+Quebec/5594584/story.html#ixzz1bcrEybM9

UPDATE: Mother Charged With Murder

The mother of the seven year old girl killed Saturday in Chelsea, was arrested and charged with murder Sunday afternoon.

The girl was found strangled in his room by her father, who was returning from an out of town business trip yesterday in Chelsea.
The child's mother had also tried to end her life and remains in hospital this evening.

http://tvanouvelles.ca/lcn/infos/faitsdivers/archives/2011/10/20111023-072428.html

Mother charged in death of Chelsea girl
Police clear father of involvement in child’s death



The mother of seven-year-old Sophie Fitzpatrick has been charged with murder following the Chelsea girl’s death Saturday.

Catherine Dufresne, who is in hospital under police guard, was arrested and charged Sunday. A lawyer will appear on her behalf in a Gatineau court Monday.

Dufresne suffered serious but non life-threatening injuries in the still unknown events that took place in the family home in the Kingsmere neighbourhood of Chelsea. Sûreté du Québec police had been waiting to speak to her since they began investigating the death of the girl.

“Following the meeting they had with the 53-year-old woman, she was arrested,” said SQ Sgt. Louis-Philippe Ruel.

Ruel said Catherine Dufresne is the maiden name of the woman neighbours knew as Kathy Fitzpatrick.

Earlier Sunday, police said the child’s father, who neighbours identified as Murray Fitzpatrick, was not involved in Sophie’s death.

Sophie, who was adopted from China several years ago, was in Grade 2 at Chelsea’s École du Grand-Boisé and spoke excellent French, according to neighbours. Police would not say what her injuries were, but said she was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Mother+charged+death+Chelsea+girl/5592849/story.html#ixzz1bf6ecs11

Mother faces first-degree murder charges in court
October 24, 2011


A seven-year-old girl was found unresponsive in this house on
Chemin Barnes in Gatineau Park Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011.

A Gatineau woman appeared in court Monday to face first-degree murder charges in the death of her adopted seven-year-old daughter.

Fifty-three-year-old Catherine Dufresne appeared disheveled and showed no emotion as she made the unexpected appearance.

Even her lawyer was surprised Dufresne made it after apparently being released from hospital earlier in the day.

Police said she was formally charged with first-degree murder over the phone on Sunday, as she was in hospital at the time.

She will undergo a 30-day psychiatric assessment to determine if she's fit to stand trial.

"Each case is different but in this case we're not surprised that the lawyer asked for the assessment," said Crown attorney Sylvain Petitclerc.

Quebec provincial police said Dufresne's husband came home from a business trip on Saturday afternoon to their Gatineau Park home near Kingsmere Estate where he found his daughter unresponsive.

They said his wife was also found seriously injured with signs she had tried to kill herself.

The pair was taken to hospital, where the girl was pronounced dead.

Police said they aren't looking for any other suspects. They have spoken to the husband and cleared him of any involvement.

"The father met with the investigators, had an interview, the investigators concluded he is not involved in the event," said Christine Coulombe with Quebec provincial police, who have taken over the investigation from MRC des Collines.

The husband, Murray Fitzpatrick, is an advisor with BMO Financial in Ottawa.


Police are continuing to investigate the suspicious death of a seven-year-old girl
at her home northwest of Gatineau, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011.


Murray Fitzpatrick, seen here, is a BMO financial advisor in Ottawa's Byward Market.
Police said he was the one who found his injured wife and daughter on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011.

Community in shock

Neighbours said the family was loving and was often seen spending time with their daughter, who was adopted from China five-and-a-half years ago.

"I was saddened. . . I'm still sad," said Chelsea resident Sylvie Gallienne.

"I know the mom, she was a great mother, always smiling," said Martine Pigeon. "You would see that mother-daughter relationship that some people don't have and she had."

Grief counsellors and psychiatrists were on hand at her former Montessori school, as well as the public school where she went for kindergarten and Grade 1.

The daughter's cause of death has not been released, although authorities said an autopsy is scheduled for Monday.

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111024/OTT_mother_charged_111024/20111024/?hub=OttawaHome

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Kathrine Dufresne did not enter a plea. She looked stunned as she appeared briefly and was whisked back to prison or to hospital — court officials weren't sure which.

At the request of her lawyer, Dufresne will undergo a 30-day psychiatric evaluation. She is due back in court Nov. 24 for another brief appearance.

Police found the body of Sophie Fitzpatrick, the adopted daughter of Dufresne and her husband Murray Fitzpatrick, on Saturday in the Kingsmere neighbourhood of Chelsea, Que., just outside Ottawa. Sophie was already dead and her mother was injured in a way police have not yet explained.

Court officials had told reporters earlier Monday Dufresne would be present only by telephone link with the court from her hospital room, where she has been for two days.

Instead, she was whisked in a few minutes before court was expected to deal with her case, and left after just a few moments.

She is represented by Gatineau, Que., lawyer Wayne Lora.

Crown attorney Sylvain Petitclair was cautious in giving details of the case, but confirmed the first-degree charge means the Crown believes Sophie's death was premeditated.

The evaluation is expected to take place in the Pierre-Janet Hospital Centre in Gatineau. Petitclair wouldn't answer questions about the defendant's state of mind but said "she was physically able to appear in court today, so I think she's in good physical condition."

It's normal not to enter a plea, Petitclair said.

The court hasn't addressed the question of bail yet. Petitclair said the Crown will oppose bail in the case.

READ MORE

Police found the body of Sophie Fitzpatrick on Saturday in the Kingsmere neighbourhood of Chelsea.
She was already dead and her mother was injured in a way police have not yet explained.


snipped.....

In order to adopt Sophie from China, Dufresne and Fitzpatrick would have had to submit to a rigorous and expensive process that is carefully monitored by the Chinese government.

The couple would have worked with one of three agencies in Quebec that facilitate the adoptions of Chinese children. After prospective parents submit their applications through an agency, a worker from the Quebec ministry of youth protection visits their home to ensure they are mentally, physically and economically ready to support the child.

Every country has different requirements for people wishing to adopt children from abroad. China only accepts couples who have been married for at least two years and screens to ensure they do not have a history of serious mental illness, long term physical health problems, domestic violence, sexual abuse, child abandonment, drug abuse or alcohol abuse.

At least one spouse must have stable employment. According to Quebec’s international adoption secretariat, couples can expect to spend between $19,500 and $22,000 from the day they submit their application to the day they bring their new child home.

Post adoption support is available through the Quebec ministries of health and youth protection.

This summer, China changed a long-standing guideline requiring parents of adopted children to submit a report detailing the child’s development every six months until the age of 18. Parents are now required to submit a report every five years.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Woman+accused+killing+daughter+makes+surprise+court+appearance/5598854/story.html?cid=megadrop_story

Dufresne is due back in court November 24th.

Quebec girl's autopsy results withheld
October 26, 2011


Sophie Fitzpatrick, seen here at a Chelsea Nordiq event in 2009, was found dead Saturday. Her adopted mother, Kathrine Dufresne,
is charged with first-degree murder. (The Low Down to Hull and Back News)

Quebec provincial police will not release results from an autopsy on the seven-year-old girl found dead at her family's home in Chelsea on Saturday, CBC News has learned.

A police spokeswoman told CBC News that autopsy results on Sophie Fitzpatrick would be held for the pending trial.

Police have deemed the death suspicious and the girl's mother, Kathrine Dufresne, 53, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Dufresne appeared in a Gatineau courtroom Monday and the judge ordered a 30-day psychiatric assessment.

The death has shocked the small community just north of Gatineau, where Dufresne was very active. The mother and daughter were said to be inseparable.

"I remember the day she got Sophie, she was so happy and proud," said Diane Villeneuve, who works at a local grocery store. "She came and showed Sophie to everyone. She did everything for Sophie, she was always with Sophie."

Police said Murray Fitzpatrick arrived at his home Saturday where he found Sophie — his only daughter — unconscious.

He also found his wife seriously injured and called 911. The mother and daughter were taken to hospital, where the girl was pronounced dead.

Police cleared Fitzpatrick of any involvement in the girl's death.

Dufresne will next appear in court Nov. 24.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/10/26/ottawa-murdered-chelsea-girl.html

Remember Sophie Fitzpatrick – A Community Tribute
October 31, 2011

There will be a community tribute for Sophie taking place this Saturday, November 5th from 1PM – 3Pm at the Chelsea Community Centre (220 Old Chelsea Road). Everyone is welcome to attend.

The children of the community will be given the opportunity to release balloons in honour of Sophie.

http://www.bitsofchelsea.ca/events/remember-sophie-fitzpatrick-a-community-tribute/

Mother killed herself before jail transfer
January 13, 2012


Sophie Fitzpatrick died Oct. 21. Her mother, Kathrine Dufresne, was charged with her death.
Dufresne committed suicide Wednesday in the Hull Detention Centre.


Facebook photo of Kathrine Dufresne. She died Wednesday night after hanging herself in the showers of the Hull jail.

snipped.....

On Monday, based on a 30-day psychiatric assessment, Dufresne had been found fit to stand trial in Gatineau court. Lora, in turn, had quickly retained an independent psychiatrist to get a second opinion on Dufresne’s mental state and contest the ruling at her next court appearance on Feb. 28. Lora said his client did not seem “down” on Monday after the ruling.

But on Wednesday, Dufresne, who was on suicide watch, was found hanging in a shower at the Hull jail.

She is the second person awaiting trial to commit suicide in a Quebec prison this week. On Monday, Paul Laplante, who was accused of murdering his wife, hanged himself with a sheet at the Rivière-des-Prairies detention centre in Montreal.

Dufresne had been under 24-hour surveillance, but on Wednesday morning, she was granted 10 minutes of privacy to shower — and she used that time to take her own life. The guard outside the stall grew suspicious when Dufresne’s shower ran long.

“The guard broke down the door and found her hanging,” Stephane Lemaire, the head of the union representing Quebec prison guards, said.

Dufresne was unconscious and died around 9 p.m. Wednesday night. Police are investigating.

She was to be transferred to the Tanguay Detention Centre for women in Montreal on Thursday, Lemaire said. The Hull jail has both men and women in custody.


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