CALGARY – In 1997, Suzanne Hay shot her abusive husband and tried to cover up the crime.
After nearly two decades, a Calgary man is coming forward with details about the brutal murder that happened near Wetaskiwin.
Scott Hay, Suzanne Hay’s son, is now sharing their story and reaching out to other victims of domestic violence.
There was a much different reality behind the glossy smiles of the Hay family photo.
Scott Hay says abuse happened on a weekly basis.
“We spent a lot of time together bonding, but then there was the times when you would be working on something and his temper would snap and in a split second he would just back hand you and lay you out.”
Suzanne and Bruce Hay’s marriage was on the brink because of the abuse.
Then on December 3rd, 1997, after a violent altercation over money, Suzanne shot Bruce while he lay soaking in the tub, then slit his throat.
“In her rage or frantic rage, she went downstairs and loaded a 243 hunting rifle, came up and poked it through the door jam and shot him through the chest,” Scott Hay said.
Scott, 18 at the time, returned home just hours after his father’s murder.
Suzanne had cleaned up the crime scene and told Scott his father was missing.
After searching the property, Scott called the RCMP. It took officers less than hour to find Bruce’s body.
“My father’s body hadn’t touched the ground by like 400 metres, because she had lifted his body in a tractor bucket and carried it out to this dead animal pit and she put some straw bales over his body. But those search dogs, probably within 45 minutes, had located him.”
Investigators focused in on Scott, trying to get a confession. Finally his mother broke down and told police what she had done.
“I understand how my mom could lose her cool and do it but I also understand she had another way out.”
Suzanne pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four years.
Scott has written a book about his family’s experience and his mother penned the afterword.
It reads in part;
“Children have the right to be cared for, protected, loved. no family should have to endure the pain ours did. we did not deserve the life we lived, and your father did not deserve to lose his life the way he did.”
A book launch for Hays book “Bleeding Hearts”takes place Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Sunnyside Hillhurst Community Centre.
Comments