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00:00This program is rated 14 plus and contains scenes of violence and mature subject matter.
00:08Viewer discretion is advised.
00:12Our call started around 8.30 a.m. and then just as she says he just left, somebody walks
00:19back into the house and she starts yelling, get the f*** out of my house, get the f***
00:23out of my house and the phone just dropped.
00:30I look everywhere, everywhere, and I saw she's laying down downstairs and there's blood
00:36over the floor.
00:38Forensic pathologists mentioned that she had been hit with a dumbbell at least twice.
00:43There was noticeable tread from what appeared to be a Timberland boot on the floor that was
00:48left inside the pool of blood.
00:50We need to identify who this person is.
00:52Is this a person that harmed Marie and ultimately killed Marie?
00:55One of the heartbreaking things was that those two young children would have been there
01:01whenever their mother was being murdered.
01:06Good evening and welcome to Crime Beat.
01:08I'm Anthony Robart.
01:10When Ottawa police respond to a call at a townhouse in the city's south end, what they discover
01:16reveals a scene of unimaginable brutality.
01:19The victim, 24-year-old Marie Gabriel, a young mother of two.
01:24But who would want her dead?
01:27As investigators would soon learn, Marie didn't spend her final moments with just her killer.
01:34Here now is Final Call, the murder of Marie Gabriel.
01:39Hi there, it's 911. Do you need the police to fire the paramedic?
01:46Yes, I just want to bring my kid here for the mom.
01:50On Monday, March 28, 2022, the Ottawa police received a 911 call.
01:57I look everywhere, everywhere, and then when I look downstairs, I saw she's laying down, downstairs,
02:02and then there's blood over the floor.
02:04I want you to go down there right now and try to wake her up.
02:06The caller was Mr. Jean Fenelon, who reported that he attended his partner's residence, Marie Gabriel,
02:15with his two kids, that he was to drop off.
02:19And upon entering the house, he could not find his partner.
02:24Mary, she's not moving.
02:27She's not moving? Is she breathing?
02:29No, there's nothing at all.
02:31And she's not breathing.
02:32She's not breathing. Okay.
02:33Okay. Okay, so, real quick here, with my help, would you like to start CPR?
02:40Yeah, I can try that.
02:41I'm with my two kids, so they keep coming downstairs.
02:44I don't want them to see it, so...
02:45Okay, I understand, but we really need to try right now because every second counts, okay?
02:51There's actually blood everywhere now.
02:53There's blood?
02:54Where is the blood coming from?
02:56From her head.
02:57And then there's blood, blood, blood on the count.
02:59I understand this is difficult, but you really need to push as hard and as fast as you can.
03:04Yeah, I'm doing that.
03:05Okay.
03:06She's not moving.
03:06She's not moving.
03:07I understand.
03:09Is there any response from her at all?
03:11No, nothing at all.
03:12Nothing? Okay.
03:13It's just like somebody smacked her head or something.
03:15I arrive at the scene.
03:22Uniformed officers are already at the scene.
03:24Paramedics are also now on scene.
03:26Nothing stood out at that location, that neighborhood I'm familiar with.
03:30They direct us to the unit in question where the victim, Marie, was located.
03:35Marie-Gabrielle was found deceased on her back with trauma to her face and a bloody 30-pound
03:43iron cast dumbbell beside her head.
03:46The scene was a very gruesome scene.
03:50There was a lot of blood.
03:52There was a lot of blood spatters.
03:54There was also a lot of footprints.
03:58Marie-Gabrielle was found barefoot, so there was a lot of her footprints within the scene
04:03and some drag marks, and those footprints led to the stairwells, and they stopped at
04:09the stairwells, and the drag marks lead further in the basement towards her last resting place.
04:21It was obvious by the footprints and the drag marks that Marie-Gabrielle tried to get away
04:27from her attacker.
04:28We were aware that the 911 caller was present, and part of our role is to interview that person
04:34to get as much information as we can about what transpired.
04:38I speak to Jean, I identify myself as an investigator.
04:42I ask him a few simple questions, his name and a little bit of background information.
04:46He was sitting in his car on the roadway a short distance from the house, and he had
04:52two small children in the car with him.
04:54We make some arrangements to have the children picked up by a family member, and Jean agrees
05:01to attend the police station to be interviewed.
05:05Coffee's good?
05:07Yes, sir.
05:11So, before we get started, just so you know, it's being recorded?
05:16Yeah, I know, okay.
05:17Sorry, I come into the interview room.
05:20Unfortunately, I did tell you, sadly had to tell you at the scene, that she passed away.
05:28So this is a homicide investigation, okay?
05:32This is still early, well, mid-morning at this point.
05:36You last saw her on Saturday?
05:38He tells us he doesn't have any communication with Marie over the course of the weekend,
05:45and then returns Monday morning to drop off the children.
05:48He explained he arrived at the house, the front door is unlocked, he enters the house,
05:53he's yelling out her name.
05:55So when I knock, knock, knock, knock, there was nothing, no response.
06:01So I touch the door, the door just opened.
06:04So I went upstairs, I was like, Mary, Mary, Mary, nothing.
06:10I check the washroom, nothing.
06:13There's no response, and then ultimately he goes down to the basement of the house
06:17and finds Marie on the floor.
06:19So I went downstairs, she was just laying down there,
06:24there was blood all over the floor.
06:26And my thing, my lifted ribs, was like next to her.
06:30One of the number one thoughts that's going through my head is,
06:34who is Marie Gabriel?
06:36Who is the victim?
06:38Why would someone want to hurt her?
06:40Why would someone want to kill her?
06:42How did I find out that she was dead?
06:46I was at work, packing up to go home,
06:48and as I'm driving, I get a call from her best friend.
06:51I called her brother, David,
06:56and I had to break the news to him that Marie was found dead.
07:03And she's crying.
07:04Then I believe my mom called me
07:07and said that the detectives are on their way to the house
07:09and I should get home quickly.
07:12Monday night in March 2022, 9.25 p.m.,
07:17my phone rang and I just looked at my phone
07:20and it was my son, Mimi's brother.
07:24I knew there was something wrong in the tone of his voice.
07:28Your daughter is dead.
07:31When he said these things to me,
07:35everything was churning over and over and over.
07:38Last conversation with Mimi, when did I last speak to her?
07:40How did this happen?
07:41The detectives did not disclose any details
07:43because it was still an investigation.
07:44I found Jean-Bernillon, like, he's the father of the kids.
07:50The mother is gone.
07:51And he starts crying.
07:53And he's telling me the story of basically what happened.
07:55I said to him, okay, like, what do you mean
07:57she was laying in a pile of blood?
08:00And he says, well, it looked like somebody,
08:03like, did it, somebody beat her.
08:04At the start of the investigation, we had no suspects.
08:08Welcome back to Crime Beat.
08:22The murder of Ottawa's Marie Gabriel
08:25was reported by her on-again, off-again partner,
08:28Jean-Bernot Fenelon.
08:29Jean told police he had come home to a horrifying scene,
08:34Marie beaten to death in their basement.
08:36Now, detectives were left with one critical question.
08:41Who would want the mother of two young children dead?
08:46We now return to Final Call,
08:49the murder of Marie Gabriel.
08:53She's my younger sister.
08:55We were close.
08:56We grew up together.
08:58I call her Marie or Nini.
09:00And my father calls her Mimi.
09:01As a young child,
09:05she was always wanting to be outside the house
09:08and playing, playing in the sand, playing in the dirt.
09:12We grew up together in Gambia,
09:14and we came to Canada, Ottawa in 2007.
09:18And her mum, her mum had met somebody else.
09:21I eventually moved back to the UK.
09:24So then eventually, for them to get in touch with me,
09:28it was like having children all over again,
09:31even though they were mini-adults.
09:35We were in middle school when we met.
09:39She was very lively.
09:41She loved to laugh.
09:42She loved to pull pranks.
09:44Marie was very kind.
09:46She was just the most beautiful smile.
09:49She was funny.
09:50And then, once I moved to Fredericton,
09:56our friendship became slightly distant.
09:59But then we'd find our way back to each other
10:01and just pick up like nothing ever happened.
10:05Yeah, she just became a rock to lean on,
10:07and I became a rock for her to lean on, too.
10:11Yeah.
10:13Jean Bernal is the one that told me
10:15that there was a dumbbell beside her head,
10:18and dumbbell was full of blood.
10:20A forensic pathologist mentioned
10:22that she had been hit with that dumbbell at least twice.
10:26She sustained two holes on the side of her right here
10:30and a hole on her forehead.
10:33And just the thought of using a 30-pound dumbbell,
10:37that's obviously quite a heavy object
10:40that takes quite a bit of force to swing.
10:43Obviously, we do see some blunt force trauma-related injuries
10:47and homicides, but the 30-pound dumbbell,
10:49that was not something I had ever seen used before.
10:53The impact was so forceful that it caused two hinge fractures
10:58at the base of her skull.
10:59Normally, you see those kinds of injuries
11:03during a motor vehicle collision
11:06or a fall from a great height.
11:09Marie-Gabrielle was also hit several times
11:12with a stick that we found.
11:13She was hit on her chest, on her back,
11:15on her hands, on her legs, on her forearms.
11:20That's the indentation.
11:22That's a piece of wood.
11:23Yeah, that's her right hand.
11:27The marks on her forearms were described
11:29by the forensic pathologist as defensive wound.
11:33There's the indentation,
11:34the exact measurement of the side of that stick, yeah.
11:37There was also something very important, too,
11:41within the crime scene.
11:43We found a boot print.
11:45There was noticeable tread
11:47from what appeared to be a Timberland boot on the floor
11:49that was left inside the pool of blood.
11:52And with the amount of blood that was found
11:54at the scene of the crime,
11:55it was also likely that there would have been
11:57some bloody clothing that belonged to the accused.
12:00Once you look at the whole scene,
12:03the bloody footprints, the drag marks,
12:05piece of wood, the dumbbell that was used
12:09to kill their 30-pound dumbbell.
12:12In my opinion, this crime was a personal,
12:16was very personal.
12:17You said she had a friend over on Friday or Saturday?
12:21Has Jean provided some information about other,
12:24how he described Marie being with other males
12:28and that it possibly may be one of those people
12:32that came in and killed Marie Gabriel?
12:35She did mention one time that she was seeing a guy
12:37and the guy was good to her.
12:39Later on, because I started doing research about the guy
12:44and I found some of his social media pages
12:46and I saw that he was a boxer
12:48and I'm like, okay, so this could be him
12:53because he's a boxer, he likes to fight
12:56and he could have lost his temper
12:58and took a hold of her and beat her to death.
13:00Through looking at their social media history,
13:06it was clear that there appeared to be a new man
13:11in the victim's life
13:12and then it was my duty to look into the nature
13:15of that particular relationship.
13:17Maybe she was or had returned with Jean-Franc Long
13:21and had resumed a relationship with him
13:24because of the children, they wanted to be a family
13:27and the jealous boyfriend or jealous ex-boyfriend
13:31might have been involved in killing her.
13:35That was another theory that was possible.
13:37And he goes on to provide a theory that,
13:41oh, maybe she invited someone over
13:43and that person hit her over the head
13:45or maybe someone came in and hit her over the head.
13:50Jean did bring up a theory
13:52that Marie-Gabriel was involved in sex trade.
13:56Presenting the victim as a high-risk sex worker,
14:00it potentially could lead us down any number of rabbit holes.
14:03It could be any number of unknown persons.
14:05These are all investigative avenues
14:07that need to be pursued
14:08now that this information has been provided to us.
14:11When the officers arrived at the scene,
14:17it was obvious that Marie-Gabriel had not just died.
14:20Like, the pool of blood around her head was darker,
14:24the blood was darker, and it was dried up.
14:27She was killed a few days ago.
14:31It had actually very likely happened a couple days before.
14:34In looking at Marie-Gabriel's cell phone billing records,
14:37it was clear that there were no more outgoing communications
14:42after about 11.50 a.m. on March 26th.
14:45So that suggests to me that she's no longer using the phone.
14:50Either she is deceased at this point
14:52or the phone has been taken from her.
14:54I have all those kids here.
14:56I thought it was going to help me to put them to sleep, you know?
14:59He's like, well, I'm going out.
15:01Raphael describes the weekend prior to Marie's death
15:04as he had spent some time with Marie.
15:07Marie, they were together during the evening.
15:09They had the children with them.
15:11And then he describes the vehicle picking Marie up.
15:15We need to identify who this person is.
15:17Is this a person that is a friend with Marie?
15:21Is this a person that harmed Marie
15:23and ultimately killed Marie?
15:25She came back in the morning.
15:28She came back to me upstairs.
15:30Ozan talks about Marie returning home
15:32and then that Marie called her friend.
15:34She went back downstairs.
15:36She was on the air front the whole time.
15:38This is a new person that we need to follow up with.
15:41This is someone that's going to also help us with the timeline.
15:44The little girl of my brother.
15:45This is now a new widow.
15:46She was laying on my chest.
15:47I was like feeling her, giving her milk, you know?
15:49Welcome back.
16:04Jean-Bernot Fenelon called 911 on the morning of Monday, March 28, 2022,
16:10after his on-again, off-again partner, Marie Gabriel,
16:13was found bludgeoned to death in her home.
16:15With multiple theories circulating around who would have wanted Marie dead,
16:21police now believe she may have been killed days earlier.
16:26We now return to Final Call, the murder of Marie Gabriel.
16:32She keeps telling me to leave, my girl now.
16:36She keeps telling me to leave.
16:37It's unclear when exactly, but Jean indicates that he leaves with the children for the weekend
16:43with the promise that he's going to return the children to Marie on Monday morning.
16:48So I took them, and then she's like, you know what,
16:51just bring them back on Monday, which is today.
16:54So he's now giving me a timeline, saying he last spoke to Marie early morning on Saturday.
17:03So I didn't stay during the full interview, but at one point I came back,
17:09and that's when the information came in during the interview
17:14about Marie Gabriel's friend, Norland Tassi.
17:17She was talking to that Norland girl.
17:20Okay.
17:20So the Norland girl is more like best friend, best friend.
17:24So I followed up on this by calling Norland Tassi that morning.
17:30The day I got the call from the detective, it was a Monday morning, the 28th of March.
17:40And he's like, hi, I'm with the Homicide Department.
17:43I'm calling Gardner Marie.
17:45And the whole world stopped around me.
17:49I broke down.
17:51She informed me that on the Friday before, so March 26, 2022,
17:59Marie Gabriel had left with another man.
18:02She had gone out the previous night, the Friday night, with her boyfriend, Jean-Israelon.
18:07When we first approached him, he was unaware of Marie Gabriel's death.
18:16When we informed him that Marie had passed, he became extremely emotional, visibly upset.
18:23Analyzing Jean-Israelon's phone revealed that he was nowhere near the scene of the homicide at the time it occurred.
18:30We collect video security footage that clearly places that mail at those locations during those times,
18:39making it almost impossible that he had any involvement in the death of Marie Gabriel.
18:45The Saturday morning, we were on the phone on and off,
18:47and she had told me then that she was completely done with her relationship with Jean-Israelon.
18:55She wanted to break things off with him and everything.
18:59So that morning, when we called each other, that's exactly what she was doing.
19:03She was breaking things off with him.
19:04She was calling him to get out of the house, to pack his things and leave.
19:08And he was just arguing back and forth with her that he wasn't leaving, that he didn't want to leave.
19:14Our calls, I believe, started around like 8.30 a.m., 9.30 a.m. that Saturday morning.
19:22And our last call was around 12.
19:26She goes, he just left.
19:30And I go, okay.
19:32And then just as she says, he just left, somebody walks back into the house.
19:36And she starts yelling, get the f*** out of my house, get the f*** out of my house.
19:41So I was just like, okay, she's standing her ground.
19:43And the phone just dropped.
19:46But the call was still going on.
19:49But I just couldn't hear anything, so I just thought she might have muted me.
19:52So I just stayed on the phone, and I waited for her to come back on.
19:57So I stayed on the phone for about seven minutes.
20:00And I just said, hey, if you can hear me, call me back.
20:05And I hung up.
20:06And then, yeah, I never heard back from her.
20:10We were also missing, during this investigation, Marie-Gabrielle's phone,
20:16which is another piece of information we really wanted to find.
20:21Instead of searching your phone now, we're going to get a search warrant to do it, okay?
20:25Just because it's a criminal investigation.
20:27We're also going to seize your vehicle.
20:29And I'm not saying that you're involved.
20:32We just have to cover all bases, okay?
20:35Well, Mr. Fanelon's vehicle was seized, and no evidence linking to the crime was found in the car.
20:44So we didn't find any blood, basically, in the car.
20:47The purpose of seizing Jean Fanelon's phone is to extract data to either corroborate what he's telling us in his interview,
20:58and to see if he's actually truthful.
21:01Because he speaks about sending text messages, phone calls with Marie-Gabrielle, being at certain locations.
21:09We wanted to confirm that.
21:11One of the first things I did whenever I received this data was I went straight to the location information that was found on the phone.
21:19Basically, what this allowed me to do was see where his phone was and at what time.
21:24And I have a look at the cell phone towers that the cell phone is actually using.
21:29So, some inconsistencies from Mr. Fanelon's police interview in the sequence of events.
21:37Mr. Fanelon said in his original statement that once he left, he went straight to his mother's place, and he stayed there the whole day.
21:46Well, GPS data location on his phone shows that from the Edrington address, he went to his mother's address.
21:55But 20 minutes later, he went to Petrie Island in Orleans, and he stayed there for almost 15 minutes.
22:03Once the phone arrived at Petrie Island, it appeared to stop in the area of the parking lot.
22:09And it remained stationary in the parking lot.
22:12Where the user went in that amount of time, I don't know for sure.
22:18So, on the 30th of March, our search team was given a task with a very narrow search,
22:26just to check the area where the GPS data locations are on the map.
22:31We're trying to find clothing and a cell phone.
22:35So, we're here at Petrie Island, and the search unit had come here,
22:40searched the parking lot area, down in this bush area as well, and down these footpaths.
22:48And they searched all the way down to the entrance of Petrie Island.
22:56Ultimately, we were looking for, and the main piece of evidence was her cell phone.
23:00But unfortunately, at the time, they weren't able to find anything.
23:05The phone then leaves the area of Petrie Island and begins traveling west.
23:09It then travels south down Highway 417, and then exits again,
23:13and eventually it arrives back at the scene of the crime.
23:18It then remains there for about 54 minutes before it begins moving again.
23:23One of the witnesses that we spoke to was another residence of the same housing complex.
23:29She had observed Jean Fenelon coming and going in the afternoon.
23:32And this was one of the first pieces of evidence that we actually received
23:36that began to contradict the story that Jean Fenelon was giving us.
23:41So that was the first moment where I was thinking,
23:45it's possible that he's not telling us the truth.
23:48At this point, we were able to obtain some surveillance video
23:52located at opposite ends of the street that led up to the residence.
23:57Soon after the homicide was reported,
23:59we did also speak to the mother of Jean Fenelon.
24:04Another slight red flag, she said he had arrived in the early afternoon,
24:08which would have actually been about a few hours after whenever he said he had arrived.
24:13And another interesting thing that revealed itself in doing so
24:17was that I realized while he was going to Petrie Island,
24:21while he was returning to the scene,
24:23while he was going back to Orleans,
24:26throughout that time period, he was still texting with Marie Gabrielle.
24:30The part that stood out, or parts, I should say,
24:33that stood out the most about that interview
24:34is Jean Fenelon's criticism towards Marie Gabrielle.
24:39I would call her like the f***er, you know?
24:43Because, you know, like, if you're a woman, you want to be respected,
24:46so why are you cheating?
24:47Why are you doing all those kind of things, you know?
24:49In the moment I'm listening to Jean describe Marie Gabrielle,
24:54and I'm thinking to myself, there is no love there,
24:59there's no compassion there, he doesn't care about Marie one bit.
25:03He called her names, he said she was cheating on him,
25:06he didn't show any emotions,
25:08but that doesn't give us grounds to believe that he killed her.
25:13Because she was with him, and he didn't want her to hang out with me,
25:20and he would make a fuss about that,
25:22so she became very distant towards me.
25:25Sometimes, I'd be having two or three months' conversations with Mimi,
25:31and then suddenly, Mimi was gone.
25:34I challenged my daughter over,
25:36why are you often changing your phone number,
25:40why are you often disappearing for months at a time,
25:43and she confided that Berno was quite hands-on with her,
25:49and he would lose his temper, smash her phones up.
25:54Like, pushing me and all that,
25:57even like, choke me by the neck,
26:01like, all those kind of things.
26:04But I always keep it cool, I never fight her.
26:08He talks about the past arguments,
26:11physical arguments they've had,
26:13maybe from both parties at this point, I don't know.
26:15There was something there that wasn't added up.
26:17Like, either they're living together,
26:20and they're jointly involved in raising the children,
26:23or they're separated,
26:24and they have some sort of separation agreement,
26:27and child custody agreement.
26:28And he described the situations as being merged,
26:32which didn't make sense to me.
26:44We FaceTimed every single day.
26:46You're going to see the baby.
26:48I want the baby.
26:52Hi, Asher.
26:53Oh, okay, I'm sorry.
26:55Okay.
26:55Oh, I'm sorry, Asher.
26:57Yeah.
27:01These are the text messages from the Friday night.
27:06So, Friday the 25th, at 11.30.
27:10I text Marie, and I say,
27:12Where are you?
27:13Berno is freaking out.
27:15And Marie responds,
27:17F*** Berno.
27:18Berno said he wants to cut my legs off.
27:23She then proceeded to text me
27:25Saturday morning at 4.49 a.m.
27:29She said,
27:30Hey, sis, I'm home.
27:31I can't do it anymore.
27:33And I'm literally here crying while texting you.
27:36I don't want anyone of them.
27:37I'll stay by myself and raise my children
27:40and just do me.
27:43Later that morning on March 26th,
27:45Marie is again texting Jean Israelon
27:48about Jean Fenelon
27:49and how he's refusing to leave the residence.
27:53The text messages she sends at 10.24 a.m. read,
27:57I need help.
27:58This guy don't want to leave the house.
28:00This guy wants to fight me.
28:02He wanted to put his hands on me.
28:04He's fighting me right now.
28:06I should have been like,
28:07Hey, maybe I should call the cops
28:09to go check in on her.
28:11I heard a faint voice
28:12and I could recognize that it was his,
28:15but I didn't hear what he said.
28:17I didn't hear a threat or anything.
28:21She tried to reach her the following days
28:23by calls and text messages
28:27with negative results.
28:29I do believe that the homicide would have taken place
28:32probably very close in time
28:36to when that phone call with Norland was cut off
28:38and she wasn't able to reach her again.
28:40Based on the fact that Mr. Fenelon
28:44had failed to provide us with the information
28:47that he went to Petrie Island
28:48and he also failed to tell us
28:51that he returned to the scene,
28:52which to me are two big mistakes he made.
28:56Compiling all this information,
28:58I was satisfied that we had enough grounds
29:00to arrest Mr. Fenelon for murder.
29:02So he came in on his own
29:08on the alert that would return his card
29:10and we arrested him.
29:12Until I arrest someone,
29:13I don't have a motive, right?
29:14I don't know a motive.
29:16Hello, sir.
29:17Hello.
29:18How are you?
29:19How are you doing?
29:19I'm very good, thanks.
29:21Nice to meet you.
29:22This is March 30th, 2022.
29:25This is my first time meeting Mr. Fenelon.
29:27He had been arrested a few hours before.
29:29I want to establish cooperation.
29:33What did I do?
29:34Mm-hmm.
29:34Huh?
29:35Yeah.
29:35What did I do?
29:36That's a good question.
29:37Exactly.
29:38So I'm here.
29:39Like I'm here because I called the police
29:41and said, oh, I found my girlfriend
29:42laying on the ground dead.
29:44You find that to be unfair?
29:46It is really unfair.
29:47I've decided to do what's called a reenactment.
29:50Tell me exactly the words she used.
29:52She's like, get out of my house.
29:54Okay.
29:55Get out of my house.
29:56That's why she said,
29:57she pushed me, pushed me,
29:59get out, get out, get out of my house.
30:01So I get out.
30:02I went inside the car again.
30:04I was just sitting there.
30:05And then she kept dropping bags
30:07one by one, one by one outside.
30:09So what I'm trying to do is basically
30:11let's bring him back to the actual scene.
30:14Let's bring him back to that actual day.
30:17Like this.
30:18Okay, so it kind of showed me
30:19how she was doing it.
30:21Like?
30:22Yeah, like, like,
30:23without hurting me,
30:24but, you know, kind of show me.
30:26You really want me to do that?
30:27Yeah.
30:27Yeah, she was like, like this.
30:28Yeah.
30:29Like this, you know.
30:29Yeah.
30:30Get out of my house.
30:30Get out of my house.
30:31Okay.
30:32And then I was like, fine.
30:33And then I left.
30:34She had the phone the whole time.
30:35She just pushed me with one hand.
30:36Oh, she was pushing you with one hand.
30:37Yes.
30:38Okay.
30:38So in this particular stage of the statement
30:42that Mr. Fanlon is providing me,
30:45he's confirming that Mary had a phone in her hand.
30:48She was on the phone,
30:50which this corroborates the actual statement from Norland.
30:54There's a gap in the timeline.
30:57And on the 26th,
30:59the 1130-ish mark between 1130 and noon
31:03is a critical time.
31:05This is the end of cell phone activity of Miss Gabrielle.
31:09So on this day, did you ever come back?
31:14No, I was, but I didn't come back.
31:17Okay.
31:18I didn't get inside the place, so.
31:20Because initially you said you stayed at your mom the entire day
31:22and you were there all day.
31:24Okay.
31:25Okay.
31:27Now, sometimes, you know,
31:29people think about things after the fact.
31:32Okay.
31:34Do you remember returning here on the Saturday?
31:41I don't think I did.
31:45Oh, yeah.
31:45I left with two kids.
31:46I left with two kids.
31:48Mm-hmm.
31:49And then I came back for my two other kids.
31:52The first was my brother's kids.
31:54Yeah.
31:55And then after that, it was my two kids.
31:57We didn't, like, there was no agreement,
32:00like, saying bad things to each other, no.
32:02So the original timeline provided by him,
32:06he leaves at the 1130-ish mark,
32:08and then he never returns up until the Monday morning
32:11when he discovers her body.
32:13This is a major blow to the actual timeline.
32:18He brings us back to the actual house
32:20about an hour-ish after when you originally left
32:24when there is that altercation.
32:26Based on the evidence that we've gathered here so far,
32:29all right,
32:30we know who killed and caused the death of Mary.
32:34Okay?
32:34What if there's something?
32:35And that was you.
32:37That was me.
32:38That was you.
32:41I didn't kill Mary.
32:43Who did then?
32:45I don't know.
32:48You think it's me, but I have no idea.
32:51This is where he needed to know
32:53that there was absolutely no doubt
32:56in the mind of the investigators,
32:58especially Detective Guy Seguin,
32:59that he was the one responsible
33:01for the murder of Mary Gabrielle.
33:03So this is the tracker
33:06that was connected to you, okay,
33:09pertaining to your phone.
33:12So everywhere we go with our phone,
33:14it leaves a trace.
33:15You leave your mom's place,
33:17and you go to Petrie Island.
33:19I didn't go exactly into Petrie Island.
33:23I passed by Petrie Island.
33:24He wants to distance himself
33:26very much from Petrie Island.
33:30And what brought you there,
33:31going from your mom to there?
33:34Well, maybe took her up nine.
33:38Or what evidence are they going to find
33:40in that vicinity, even in the water?
33:44There's no knife.
33:45There's nothing.
33:46Well, I'm not talking about knives
33:47or any item whatsoever
33:50that will be connected
33:51to either you or Mary.
33:55I don't think there's anything.
34:01Like a cell phone,
34:03I completely don't know about it.
34:04What I found here,
34:05he was non-confident
34:08about Petrie Island.
34:10He was the nine at first.
34:11Now he's back at Petrie Island.
34:15Petrie Island was a red flag to us.
34:18We need to resend a search team
34:21at Petrie Island.
34:33Welcome back.
34:35Marie Gabriel was beaten to death
34:37in her basement.
34:38Her body left for two days
34:40before being discovered
34:42by the very man now arrested
34:44and charged in her murder,
34:45the children's father,
34:46Jean-Bernot Fenelon.
34:48With Jean denying any involvement,
34:50police make the decision
34:51to return to Petrie Island,
34:53where they believe
34:54he may have discarded key evidence.
34:58Here now is the conclusion
35:01of Final Call,
35:03the murder of Marie Gabriel.
35:05That morning,
35:09we decided to come to Petrie Island
35:11after Detective Sugain
35:12decided to expand the search.
35:15We searched the parking lot
35:16a little bit.
35:17Eventually, we decided,
35:18let's go have a look
35:19at the shoreline
35:21because the search unit
35:22hadn't searched this area.
35:24And it'd be a great area
35:26to get rid of evidence,
35:27you know, throwing anything
35:28in the water.
35:31On March 31st,
35:32this was covered in snow
35:34and the water was frozen.
35:37And that's where we saw
35:39the boot,
35:39the Timberland boot,
35:41just at the frozen edge
35:43was the boot standing right there.
35:46And then when we continued
35:47to look around,
35:48we saw some clothing
35:49just at the beginning
35:51of the ice shelf,
35:52close to the edge of the water.
35:53There was gray,
35:56like a hoodie sweatshirt
35:58and some black pants as well.
36:01During that time,
36:03another investigator
36:04located the other boot
36:06on the beach
36:07just a little bit further down.
36:10Ultimately,
36:10we couldn't find her cell phone.
36:12A few days later,
36:15the ice would have melted
36:17and would have lost
36:18all of this evidence.
36:20And eventually,
36:21we sent both boots
36:22and the clothing
36:23to the Center of Forensic Science
36:24to be analyzed for DNA.
36:26Marie-Gabrielle's blood
36:28was found
36:29on all four items.
36:33The inside back collar
36:36of the shirt
36:37was swabbed
36:39and it returned
36:40to be Mr. Fenelon's DNA.
36:43As for the boots,
36:44the boots were covered
36:45with blood spatter
36:46and it returned
36:47to Mr. Fenelon's DNA.
36:54Fenelon's trial
36:55occurred in the fall
36:57of 2024.
36:59It lasted seven weeks.
37:02I did testify
37:03at the trial.
37:05One of the tricky things
37:06in files like this
37:08is that the suspect
37:09resides at this address.
37:10You expect to find his DNA.
37:12In this case,
37:13the location information
37:14was so important
37:15that I knew I had to
37:17go up there
37:18and do a good job
37:19to ensure that justice
37:20was going to be served
37:21in this case.
37:23It was daunting.
37:25Every opportunity
37:26he had
37:27insulted me.
37:29He made gestures
37:31towards me
37:32and even
37:32when I gave
37:34a tiny little bit
37:35of evidence,
37:37he laughed at me.
37:39Shockingly,
37:40I heard
37:41that she was weakened
37:44from his previous beating
37:46with the wood.
37:47she was on the floor
37:49defenceless
37:49and he towered her
37:50above her
37:51with that dumbbell.
37:54There's yet been a word
37:55invented for how I feel
37:58to this day
37:58and for that.
38:00I go to work at 10.
38:01Jean Fenelon portrayed himself
38:03as a good person.
38:04I'm done at 5.
38:055.15,
38:06I'm there, you know.
38:07That's how serious
38:08honest I was with him.
38:10He said he was a security guard,
38:11that he was a good father,
38:13that he wanted to live
38:14with Marie-Gabriel
38:15as a family unit.
38:16He was relaying to me
38:18that he was a victim
38:20of Marie-Gabriel
38:22being unfaithful
38:23towards him.
38:25Based on Mr. Fenelon
38:26saying that he believed
38:27that Marie-Gabriel
38:28was involved
38:29in the sex trade industry
38:30and it could be anyone
38:31that killed her,
38:32there was no information
38:34in our database
38:37involving Marie-Gabriel
38:39in any sex trade work.
38:43In my mind,
38:45listening to him
38:46describe Marie that way,
38:48he was trying to justify,
38:50in a sense,
38:51her death.
38:51She deserved to die.
38:54I believe the motive
38:55for Mr. Fenelon
38:57to brutally kill Marie-Gabriel
38:59was jealousy
39:00and control.
39:02We're going to switch gears here
39:03and talk about
39:04the reports over in Gatineau.
39:06When we were reviewing
39:07this case at the beginning,
39:09we learned that there were
39:09three incidents
39:11in Gatineau, Quebec.
39:13Those who may not know,
39:14Ottawa and Gatineau
39:15are just separated
39:16by a couple bridges
39:17and the river.
39:19They lived together
39:21in Gatineau before.
39:22They had been living together
39:23since 2017.
39:26We understand that
39:26she had called
39:27the Gatineau police
39:28indicating harassment,
39:29potentially even threats
39:30that may have happened.
39:32She called,
39:33the police officer said,
39:35I'm like harassing her.
39:37I'm not harassing her
39:38because I'm calling for my kid.
39:39I want to know
39:39if they're okay or not.
39:40In November,
39:41she reached out
39:42to social services
39:43and she moved from Gatineau
39:46to a shelter,
39:47a hotel,
39:48in downtown Ottawa.
39:51And the next day,
39:53he called the Gatineau police
39:54to report that she left
39:56with his children
39:58and is concerned
39:59for the safety
40:00of his children.
40:01As a result,
40:02the Gatineau police officer
40:03reached out to Marie-Gabriel
40:04by phone.
40:06She said,
40:06no, I left with the kids
40:07because he threatened
40:09to cut my throat
40:10and he says
40:12he has a million ways
40:13to kill me.
40:14The officer asked her
40:17if she could attend
40:18the police station
40:19in Gatineau
40:19to file a report
40:21and Marie-Gabriel
40:22never went to police
40:23to file a formal complaint.
40:26I remember getting
40:27a text message
40:28from Mimi
40:29telling me
40:29that it may be
40:30her last text.
40:33Just in case
40:34something happens
40:35to me or my kids,
40:37just know
40:37that I tried.
40:39Last night,
40:40I took the kids
40:41and left their fathers home
40:42as I was fearing
40:43for my life
40:44and theirs
40:45as they started
40:47saying things
40:48that make someone
40:49fear for their life.
40:51I'm at a safe place now,
40:53right now,
40:55just letting you
40:56or anyone know.
40:57She'd already indicated
41:00that wherever she goes,
41:01he was tracking her down,
41:02finding her,
41:03where she was.
41:05After a month
41:06in a shelter,
41:07social services
41:08found her a place
41:09at 1485 Etherington
41:11where she moved.
41:13As a result
41:13of moving there,
41:14she reached out
41:15to the Ottawa police
41:16and she explained
41:17the situation
41:17to the police officer
41:19and she told the officer
41:21that I don't want
41:23to prevent
41:23Mr. Fenelon
41:24to see our children,
41:26but I want him
41:27to stop communication
41:28so the officer
41:29contacted Mr. Fenelon.
41:31He told him
41:32to stop calling her,
41:33stop threatening her
41:34and warned him
41:36about criminal harassment.
41:39I absolutely think
41:39that more could have been done.
41:41I remember sitting in court
41:42and hearing like
41:44police officers
41:44have been there
41:45a couple of times
41:46and I'm like,
41:47why didn't they like
41:48follow up?
41:48Why didn't they go through
41:49and check again?
41:51It's actually mandatory
41:52in the province of Ontario
41:54to arrest
41:54whether the victim
41:55wants a charge
41:56or not
41:57if there's evidence
41:58of the offence.
41:59There was no additional
41:59reports of any violence
42:01until we got a call
42:02about this incident.
42:04Without physical evidence
42:05that indicates
42:06that there was
42:06some level of violence
42:07or a crime
42:08that's been committed,
42:08you're left
42:09with leaving
42:10the couple together.
42:12Once Marie-Gabrielle
42:14moved to the Edrington address,
42:16her daughter
42:17became sick.
42:19So based on this,
42:20Marie-Gabrielle
42:21allowed Mr. Fenelon
42:22to move with her
42:24at the Edrington address
42:26in January 2022.
42:28What stands out
42:29about this case
42:30is how much
42:31Marie was threatened,
42:33how she was fearful.
42:37Mr. Fenelon
42:37was found guilty
42:39of first degree murder
42:40and sentenced
42:41to 25 years in prison.
42:44So it was definitely
42:45a relief
42:46whenever the verdict
42:48was handed down
42:49and it was
42:49what I very much believed
42:51to have been right.
42:54Her smile.
42:57I miss her smile.
43:03Her laugh,
43:04her voice.
43:08There's many things
43:09to miss about Marie.
43:14When I see the photos,
43:17it's crazy
43:17because it's almost like
43:19she's looking at you
43:21and I'm looking back
43:23at her
43:23so it's kind of like
43:24you want to have
43:25a conversation with her.
43:28I have a tattoo
43:32on my wrist.
43:34It's a purple ribbon
43:37which symbolizes
43:39survivors of domestic violence.
43:41You're not,
43:41I have it ripped,
43:43it's torn,
43:44broken
43:44because Mimi
43:48wasn't a survivor
43:49of domestic violence.
43:52She's a victim
43:53of domestic violence.
43:55There's other women
43:56out there
43:57and men
43:58suffering like
44:00my daughter suffered,
44:02putting up with it.
44:05Everybody said
44:06she got justice.
44:07She got justice.
44:13Yeah, 25 years
44:22ain't enough.
44:24Nowhere near enough.
44:27But it's what
44:28your laws call justice.
44:32I'll accept that
44:33on her behalf.
44:37To this day,
44:41Jean Fenelon
44:42continues to deny
44:44that he had anything
44:45to do with Marie's murder
44:46and that he ever
44:48threatened her.
44:49He has filed an appeal.
44:51In 2024,
44:53Alison Urascovich
44:54was named
44:54Outstanding Crime Analyst
44:56of the Year
44:57for her work
44:57on the Marie Gabriel case.
44:59Thank you for joining us
45:03tonight on Crime Beat.
45:05I'm Anthony Robart.
45:08Want more episodes
45:09of Crime Beat?
45:10Listen to the
45:11Crime Beat podcast
45:11now for free
45:13on Apple Podcasts,
45:14Spotify,
45:15or wherever you find
45:16your favourite podcast.
45:18And for past episodes
45:19of Crime Beat,
45:20go to the Global TV app,
45:22visit GlobalTV.com
45:24or check out
45:25our Crime Beat
45:26YouTube page.
45:29I'll see you next time.
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