When it was just two bodies in a cemetery it was a lot easier to be detached enough to get on with the task at hand. When it became a woman close to my age with a young child it got very hard to maintain any distance. I found myself identifying too much with Melody Burtis, really needing to know what happened to her and her son and at what point it could have been stopped.I thought a lot about the man who killed them. I wondered how he could have been so brutal, so vicious and so irrational. How did he get them both out to Connor Road? Why did he take Harley, too? Were they there already and he came and killed them? I became very angry with this man, more angry with every question my mind raised. It was hard to be objective when I thought it could have been me under his knife or axe or what ever he used.
Yesterday morning I found myself standing outside the court house for about two and a half hours waiting for this man to come out so I could take a picture of him. Spending time with other people who were probably thinking some of the same thoughts as I made it easier to put aside my feelings and focus on the task at hand. It was also nice to spend some time chatting with an old and dear friend (Hi DD).
It was also helpful to see how other people dealt with the waiting and with what ever they were feeling about the whole thing. Paul, as always, devoured the task like a lion with a mouse."Look at that glass," he said. "I can't shoot through that!"
So off he went to find the supervisor and get the glass cleaned. As you can see by the picture of him cleaning it with his hat, that didn't work out very well.
"They told me it's never been cleaned before so why would they do it today," he said with disgust as he put his hat back on.
I love Paul Norbo!
A couple times during the waiting Alex Mihailovich and Grayson Hartsula passed through the scene with a flourish of perfect white teeth. In no time they were gone again ode-de-metro-sexual pheromones wafting off on the breeze behind them as they moved on to something else more important than waiting with us.
I love being the only girl on the scene and being invisible to the naked eye. You learn so much about men when they think you aren't there.Brian Kelly brooded in the corner, talking quietly into his recorder periodically and only coming out of his thoughts long enough for the occasional very funny comment. That seriously intense man in the pink shirt has a lot of depth.
Craig Huckerby came around to the side David Dorricott, Brian Kelly and I were on for a brief hello once or twice before returning to take his station with Paul.
When they finally brought Albert Ouimet out we had gone over the top of tension from waiting and started down the other side to relaxed and ready. It was still as surprise to actually get a look at the face of the man I had already begun to hate.He was very downcast. He looked like he was in hell.
Nothing can excuse what this man appears (very certainly) to have done, but I couldn't look at him and hate him. All I could do was start asking questions all over again. The need to know what happened is great. The need to know is a big part of who I am. I need to know what happened on Wednesday night. I need to know who Melody and Harley Baxter-Burtis were. I need to know who Albert Francis Ouimet is.
Little bits of information, unconfirmed and not yet fitting together in a cohesive story include the suggestion that Melody Burtis has been a recovering drug addict, that she has been the victim of domestic abuse with at least three partners and that she has an older child, a girl who lives with her aunt. I've also heard that Harley was in grade two at Riverview School and am very worried for his classmates and teachers. There is also a story circulating that Melody was involved in a custody battle with Harley's father.In the Sault Star Brian Kelly reported that Albert Ouimet was convicted of assault because of a horrifically violent attack on his girlfriend in 2001.
There is no indication of what Melody's relationship was with Ouimet, only a police statement that they were known to each other and that it was not a random act of violence.
Alex Mihailovich interviewed Melody's neighbour for MCTV and the neighbour said that only Melody, Harley and their dog lived in the house on Salisbury Street.
For myself, years of experience have taught me that any assumptions are bad. (Unfortunately I still make too many.) This time, I will not make any inferences about what I don't know from what I've heard. Instead, I will wait and see what develops at the media conference on Monday. My hopes aren't high for answers there, though.Forensic investigators can sometimes figure out what most likely happened but the why of it, the really important question, usually remains a mystery.
From the look of Albert Ouimet, I would be willing to guess he doesn't even know why.
Paul and I were at Riverview gradeschool at the same time. I'm glad to hear that he's still an awesome guy.