25 years ago Quebec native, Louise Gaudreault fell madly in love with island life in Dominican Republic.
She decided to plant roots and bought a horse ranch, made friends and raised her son like a Dominican. It was her dream life, but on Good Friday last year, the dream was snuffed out.
Louise’s body was discovered by her farm workers when they showed up to work at 7a.m. on April 2nd. They found their boss lying face down on her bathroom floor wearing a white nightie. Not sure what to do, the workers called Louise’s good friend, Natalie Bisiaux for help.
Bisiaux rushed to the ranch and what she saw is forever etched in her mind.
“When I touched her I saw she was cold…She was dead many hours before and I don’t know why because I didn’t see anything….Then I saw the cut from the knife here, here and here,”
Bisiaux gestures making slashing signs with her finger over her neck and chest. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Dominican police quickly developed a theory. Their early police reports state that Louise’s murder was a burglary gone awry – but then that theory was dismissed.
According to police documents, nothing in the house had been stolen. Louise’s wallet was even left sitting on the counter, all her money still inside.
Annie, Louise’s sister, got on the first flight to Dominican Republic, putting her life in suburban Vancouver on hold.
She arrived at the ranch and said after inspection, she noticed there was one thing missing from her sister’s home.
Annie told 16:9 that as she gathered her sister’s diaries to read, looking for clues to who might have wanted her dead, and discovered that the most recent one was missing.
Louise’s family and police wonder if there’s something in the missing diary that could give clues as to who wanted Louise dead.
People in the nearby town of Cabarete and friends of Louise tell police that there is one man who had been badmouthing Louise around town, saying she “˜deserved to pay’.
That man, they say, was Quebec native and celebrated artist, Robert Desautels.
Louise’s friends said Desautels was furious at Louise because a few weeks before her murder his friend, Luis Bonilla, died in an accident on her ranch. Louise had asked Bonilla, a local handyman, to help her with some electrical work on her property.
She wanted to patch together electrical wires to help a poor family living near the ranch that she knew was without electricity. But Bonilla, not a trained electrician, made a fatal error. He touched two of the wrong wires together and burned before Louise’s eyes.
Bonilla spent one month in the hospital, fighting for his life, but eventually he passed away.
According to Louise’s family, in an email to her son, Tommy, Louise tells him about Bonilla’s death and how terrible she feels about it. She wrote of Desautels, “I hope not to see Bob. He is capable of making a scene.”
Within days, Dominican police arrested Desautels and took him in for questioning. After three days Desautels says he gave his motorcycle to police and was released and his passport was returned.
The following day, Desautels flew back to Montreal, leaving his island home and the investigation behind.
Meantime Annie was faced with another problem. She says she tried to contact Canadian consular officials in Dominican Republic to inquire about having her sister’s remains repatriated.
She says she was told that the government offices were closed for the Easter Holiday weekend and would not reopen until Tuesday morning and she could not expect to receive assistance until that time.
In the meantime Annie says the Dominican Police called her, asking her to come and pick up Louise’s body from the morgue.
She says they told her they had finished their autopsy and didn’t have the proper refrigeration to store Louise’s body. Annie says not knowing when she could have her sister’s body repatriated, she panicked and had her sister’s remains cremated.
“Yeah, I think that is the biggest mistake we did,” said Annie, back in her home in Vancouver, nearly 8 months after her sister’s death.
Unsolved
Months after the murder many questions remain unanswered and Louis’s murder case remains open.
When Annie examined the autopsy report later, she says she noticed that the report was very vague.
“On the autopsy they did nothing, they did nothing, they didn’t even cut nail…from the autopsy report we see what they’ve done,” said Annie. “Nothing, we don’t even have the time of death,” she said.
Canadian expert homicide investigators, Dave Perry and Ron Wretham, of Investigative Solutions Inc. near Toronto reviewed the Dominican autopsy report. They commented that the report was “vague”.
16:9 wanted to find some answers to this murder mystery. In November, 2010 reporter Robin Gill traveled to Dominincan Republic to find out what progress had been made in Louise’s murder investigation.
Annie decided go down at the same time, bringing her husband, Yuri and connecting with Louise’s son, Tommy, still living on his mother’s ranch.
The three requested a meeting in Santo Domingo at the Canadian Embassy with consular officials and the Dominican Police. 16:9 was not permitted to attend the meeting, but Annie and Yuri reported after that they were told Foreign Affairs officials were working with the Dominican Police and that the murder investigation was still active.
Investigation
While in Dominican Republic, 16:9 discovered an important document at the police station. Dominican police has issued an arrest order naming Robert Desautels and two other men, “Juan” and “Chilo”.
The official court order bears the magistrate’s seal and is dated August 14, 2010.
When 16:9 asked Annie and Yuri to comment on this document, they said they were not aware of its existence, and Foreign Affairs would not comment on the case, or the document.
16:9 tracked down Robert Desautels in Montreal to ask him whether he has been contacted regarding the order for arrest in Dominican Republic. He told 16:9 he has not been contacted by Dominican or Canadian authorities since he left the island in April.
“If they had something against me I would have known now. The police would have asked Canadian police for my deportation. They have nothing against me,” Desautels told 16:9.
Desautels insists he is innocent. “I didn’t do it… I wasn’t there… I won’t go in front of T.V. to tell you I didn’t commit a murder,” he said when we asked him for a television interview.
He did, however, admit that he was furious with Louise after his friend, Luis Bonilla, died on her ranch.
“I realize it was an accident. I was really upset. This is a reaction normal to say she would have to pay for it. The way I was saying it…means more or less she’s got to pay, not with her life, but she’s got to pay money,” he emphasized.
Desautels says his arrest in Dominican where he traded his motorcycle for his passport was nothing more than a framing job.
“They will arrest me, and they’re not interested in what I have to say. All they are interested in to get some more money from me,” he said.
Back in her home in Vancouver, Annie showed 16:9 a box containing what she feels could be potential evidence. For 16:9 cameras, Annie pulled her sister’s hairbrush, toothbrush, crime scene photos and, shockingly, her sister’s watch still covered in blood from the night she was killed.
Annie told 16:9 she gathered these objects, hoping they might contain clues about her sister’s killer.
But until the case is solved, Annie told 16:9 she can’t get used to life without her best friend. “Part of me is gone. Half of me is gone. But closure? I don’t know what that will be right now,” she said.
autopsy
Autopsy
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