The body of Sabrina Patterson was found in a wooded area near her Riverview, N.B. home on Nov. 6, 2010 — a week after she was reported missing. Fred Prosser, her former boyfriend and the father of her two children is now on trial, accused of murdering and sexually assaulting her. Global News takes a look at key dates and events in the case.
Oct. 29, 2010 – The last time friends saw 25-year-old Sabrina Patterson, from Riverview, N.B., was at the Moncton Coliseum on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. But, she isn’t reported missing until later in the weekend.
Oct. 30, 2010 – Patterson was seen on video entering the Fox ‘N’ Hound Pub, in Riverview, at about 1:00 a.m. Her car was later found in the parking lot of the Riverview Mall, where the pub is located.
Oct. 31, 2010 – Patterson is reported missing after she didn’t show up to pick up her two children. Family and friends told police she wasn’t answering her cell phone and said that was out of character for her. RCMP appeal to the public for any information that could help locate her.
Nov. 1, 2010 – The father of Patterson’s children, 31-year-old Fred Prosser, also from Shenstone, goes missing. RCMP say he has not contacted friends or family and was not answering his cellphone. Police did not publicly link the two missing persons investigations until the next day. Police only say Prosser and Patterson know each other and do not disclose the nature of their relationship.
Nov. 3, 2010 – Patterson’s family continue searching for her, distributing flyers and starting a Facebook group. They also plan their own search for Patterson the following weekend.
Nov. 4, 2010 – Prosser is located at his parents’ home in Shenstone, about 30 kilometres south of Moncton.
Nov. 5, 2010 – RCMP lay three charges against Prosser, including an assault charge, in connection with an unrelated incident, involving Patterson, on Oct. 9. Police also accused Prosser of breaching an undertaking to have no contact with her and to stay away from her home. He is also accused of stealing her cellphone. Police also question him about Patterson’s disappearance. He is remanded into police custody until a bail hearing the following Tuesday.
Nov. 6, 2010 – Patterson’s body is found at about 11:00 a.m., the same day her family had organized a search party to look for her. A man located her body in a wooded area along Shaw Road, about three kilometres away from Patterson’s home and about 30 kilometres south of Moncton.
Nov.7, 2010 – Police formally identify the body found in the woods near Shenstone as that of Sabrina Patterson. RCMP begin investigating her death as a homicide and an autopsy is performed on her body.
Nov. 8, 2010 – People gather for a candlelight vigil outside her home.
Nov. 9, 2010 – Prosser’s bail hearing, for charges police said were unrelated to Patterson’s disappearance and the discovery of her body, is postponed. Police lay an additional charge against Prosser, for failing to notify police of a change of address or occupation. Although police have not yet indicated Prosser may be a suspect, investigators search his home for evidence. He remains in police custody until the bail hearing the following Monday.
Friends set up a fundraiser for Patterson’s two young children – her four-year-old son Damien and one-year-old daughter Cassidy.
Nov. 11, 2010 – Hundreds of people turn out for a funeral for Patterson, held at Jones Funeral Home in Sackville.
Nov. 16, 2010 – Prosser’s bail hearing is delayed for a second time, as the judge agreed to the defence’s request to unseal a search warrant for the property belonging to Prosser’s parents. Prosser is set to return to court again on Dec. 1.
Dec. 1, 2010 – Prosser pleads not guilty to all four charges related to the Oct. 9 incident and failing to notify police of a change of address between the dates of Oct. 25 and Nov. 4. Prosser was considered missing between Nov. 1 and Nov. 4. The bail hearing is adjourned until Dec. 15.
Dec. 15, 2010 – Judge Anne Dugas-Horsman denies bail. About two dozen of Patterson’s friends and family members are in the court room wearing purple T-shirts bearing the words “Always in our hearts, Sabrina Patterson” and a picture of her face.
Prosser’s preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 9 and he is to remain in police custody until that time.
Jan. 14, 2011 – New dates are set for Prosser’s preliminary hearing, because the Moncton Law Courts will be moving to a new building shortly after the hearing was set to begin, on Feb. 9. Judge Camille Vautour bumps the hearing to March 23 and 24.
Jan. 30, 2011 –RCMP charge Frederick Bernard Anthony Prosser with first-degree murder, three counts of sexual assault (sexual assault, sexual assault causing bodily harm and anal sexual assault) and two counts of breaching an undertaking.
At Moncton Provincial Court, Prosser waives his right to a bail hearing. the trial is adjourned until the end of February.
Feb. 28, 2011 – Prosser appears in court and elects trial by judge and jury. His preliminary hearing for the murder trial will begin five months later.
March 23, 2011 – Fred Prosser’s trial, charges related to the Nov. 5, 2010, arrest is postponed indefinitely because his defence lawyer was sick and unable to appear in court.
June 4, 2011 – Family and friends organize a marathon in memory of Sabrina Patterson. Almost 100 people take part in the event, held in Sackville, and raise approximately $15,000 for the Crossroads for Women’s mission. The organization offers shelter to women and raises awareness about domestic violence.
July 28, 2011 – The preliminary hearing for Prosser’s first-degree murder and sexual assault trial begins in Moncton. The hearing is expected to last a week and a publication ban is in place.
Judge Camille Vatour, at the request of defence lawyer Scott Fowler, bans Patterson’s family and friends from wearing purple t-shirts with the 25-year-old mother’s picture on them.
Aug. 2, 2011 – Judge Camille Vautour orders Prosser to stand trial for first-degree murder and sexual assault, after defence lawyer Scott Fowler waives the remainder of the preliminary hearing. Vautour does not set date for the jury trial.
Fowler also met with the Crown and both agreed to ask the court to adjourn Prosser’s other trial — for his Nov. 5, 2011 arrest on assault and theft charges — in order for the murder trial to take precedence.
Sept. 7, 2011 – The murder trial is set to begin on July 16, 2012 and is scheduled to run until Aug. 17.
June 10, 2012 – The second annual Sabrina Patterson Memorial Marathon raises $18,200 for Crossroads for Women.
July 17, 2012 – Jury selection begins for the five-week first-degree murder trial. Lawyers select 12 jury members — seven men and five women — out of a field of more than 300 people. Jury selection takes place at the Moncton Coliseum — the last place friends say Sabrina Patterson, after a hockey game on Oct. 29, 2010.
July 18, 2012 – The murder trial begins, but Judge George Rideout declares a mistrial after the Crown reveal one of the jury members had posted comments on an anti-Fred Prosser Facebook page. Sabrina Patterson’s family alerted the Crown to Tara Thorne, juror No. 12, and comments she made more about one year earlier.
Rideout sets Nov. 20 for the selection of a new jury.
Nov. 20, 2012 – A new jury of seven women and five men is selected and the second attempt at trying Fred Prosser can move forward.
Nov. 21, 2012 – The first-degree murder trial gets underway.
The Crown tells the court it will use testimony and DNA evidence to prove Prosser killed Patterson, saying tests found Patterson’s blood was on the 33-year-old man’s clothes and in his truck.
RCMP Cpl. Blake Kierstead told the court he was one of the first to be contacted about Sabrina Patterson’s disappearance. Kierstead said he visited Fred Prosser’s home the day she was reported missing, the day before her Prosser, her on-again off again boyfriend, also disappeared. Kierstead explained an undercover officer was placed in the cell with Prosser, after his Nov. 5, 2011 arrest, to observe him.
Patterson’s sister, Denise Murphy, told reporters outside the court it’s hard to relive the tragedy again.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Murphy said. “It’s going to be hard on the family and everybody that’s involved.
Five weeks have been set aside for the trial.
Nov. 23, 2012
Crown witness Anthony Terris testified he searched the woods near his home early Nov. 6, 2010. He said he drove up and down Shaw Road, pointing a flashlight into the woods. After getting out of his vehicle and walking along the trees a couple of times he spoted a garbage bag with legs sticking out of it.
RCMP discuss where Patterson’s body was found that morning. Cpl. Margot Estabrooks, one of the first officers on the scene, took more than 100 photos at the scene. Members of Patterson’s family break down in the courtroom as Estabrooks described the images she captured.
Another officer testified that some of the victim’s clothing had been removed and investigators found gun shot shells, cigarette butts and a beer bottle nearby.
Cpl. Pat Gould said he found a pair of stained jeans in Fred Prosser’s bedroom. He said a test showed it could be blood, so the jeans were seized.
The Crown prosecutor, in her opening statement, said the blood on the jeans was Patterson’s.
Nov. 26, 2012
The jury learns Mounties misplaced some of the almost 600 pices of evidence in the case for a number of months. Prosser’s defence lawyer, Scott Fowler, said police told him about the missing evidence in June, before his client’s first trial date.
Cpl. Matt Roy told Fowler the envelope of evidence was located in a fridge in a secure bond room about 12 days before the start of the trial in November. Roy said he believed the evidnce was “overlooked” and was never missing to begin with.
Nov. 27, 2012
Forensic pathologist Dr. Kalman Protzner, who performed the Nov. 7, 2010 autopsy on Patterson’s body, tells the court the victim was choked to death, but also suffered “multiple blunt injuries to her head.”
He said some of the injuries may have occurred shortly before or after she died.
Crown prosecutor Annie St. Jacques asked Protzner, who is now retired, if it was possible she was raped. He said it was.
Nov. 28, 2012
The Crown wrapped its case presenting more DNA evidence. Forensic scientist Joy Kearsey told the court DNA found in Prosser’s truck box liner matched that of Patterson. There were also traces of her DNA on Prosser’s body, but Kearsey said tests did not conclude when or how the DNA was deposited.
Nov. 29, 2012
In a surprise move, the defence told the court it would not call any witnesses.
“I’m shocked there was no evidence in the defence,” Patterson’s sister Denise Murphy said.
Nov. 30, 2012
In his closing arguments, defence lawyer Scott Fowler alleged Patterson’s body was put in the woods by somebody else after Prosser was already in police custody.
The Crown said DNA evidence and testimony prove Prosser murdered and sexually assaulted Patterson.
Dec. 3, 2012
Judge Camille Vautour tasks the jury with deciding if Fred Prosser is guilty of murder and sexual assault. After eight and half hours of deliberations, the jury told the court they needed another day to discuss the evidence.
Dec. 4, 2012
The jury finds Prosser guilty of first-degree murder and on two counts of sexual assault. Judge Camille Vautour sentences him to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. He is also sentenced to serve five and seven years, concurrently, on the sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault causing bodily harm charges.
*With files from Global‘s Brion Robinson, Rebecca Lau and Laura Brown, The Canadian Press, Moncton Times and Transcript, Sackville Tribune Post and Dave Crase.
Comments