Canadian True Crime - 21 Ernest DesRoches

Episode Date: March 15, 2018

From the tiny province of Prince Edward Island comes this story of a tragedy and a survival. It’s the story of a family called The Ellsworths, and a man who would change their lives forever.Support my sponsors! Here's where the discount codes are:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/sponsorsPodcast recommendation:True Crime Fan ClubInformation sourcesCan be found on the episode's page on www.canadiantruecrime.ca in the week after the episode is released.Join my patreon to get early, ad-free episodes and more: www.patreon.com/canadiantruecrime  Social media and contact information: Visit: www.canadiantruecrime.ca Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/canadiantruecrime/ Facebook group: /www.facebook.com/groups/478462932506209/ Twitter:  twitter.com/CanadianTCpod Instagram: www.instagram.com/canadiantruecrimepod/ Email: [e-mail]:Research and writing: Noelle CyrNarration and music arrangement: Kristi LeeAudio production: Erik KrosbyMusic credits:Music below is used under an Attribution License - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Podcast theme music: Space Trip. http://www.dl-sounds.com/royalty-free/space-trip/Scott Gratton - Had You BeenSergey Cheremisinov - 05 FogChris Zabriskie - The House Glows With Almost No HelpKevin McLeod - Blue SizzleKai Engel - ImminenceKai Engel - aspiratoHawkin - -1 Week 1 - rainKevin McLeod - Lightless DawnPodington Bear - Dark WaterKai Engel - DenouementSupport the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My name's John Weir. You don't know me, but you're gonna, because I know the people that have been watching you, learning about you. They know you've done well for yourself, that people like you and trust you. Trust you. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all that information that you've freely shared with the whole world. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all the information you have at it. Yeah, I'll be in touch. Radical starring Kiefer Sutherland, new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount Plus. This is Christy and welcome to Canadian True Crime, episode 21, Ernest De Roche.

Prince Edward Island, or PEI, is an eastern province of Canada and is one of four small provinces that make up what's known as Atlantic Canada, along with the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. PEI has a population of about 145,000 residents and is most well known for farming. It might only be a small province, but it produces 25% of Canada's potatoes. And tiny little Prince Edward Island is actually the location for the universally beloved book by Lucy Maud Montgomery called, Anne of Green Gables. Up near the northwestern tip of PEI is a tiny settlement called St Rock, said to be one of the safest places to live in Canada. But in 1945, a farming family welcomed a new baby boy who would go on to change all of that.

This is the story of a tragedy and a survival. It's the story of a family called the Ellsworths and a man who would change their lives and not in a good way. The Ellsworths consisted of two related families who all lived together in the next settlement to St Rock, a town called St Peter and St Paul. At the core of the family were two sisters, Gloria and Bernadette Ellsworth, two ladies in their mid-20s who were extremely close. They weren't just sisters, they were mothers and they were best friends who shared their lives together. They were lively and enjoyed all that life on PEI had to offer.

Bernadette was married to Ivan and had three young kids, young daughters Janine and Christa, as well as an infant boy named Sean. Bernadette's sister Gloria and her husband Ronald had a daughter of their own called Cheryl and Gloria was pregnant with her second child. Everyone was excited to have another baby in the house. But the Ellsworths and the entire close-knit community had been having some problems with a local troublemaker. Most recently he'd been terrifying the neighborhood by stalking their houses and peeping into their windows. But it didn't end there. He also appeared to have an underwear fetish. He would prowl around in backyards and steal underwear from clothes lines. The community was starting to become increasingly uncomfortable and started to fear for their safety.

The man's name was Ernest De Roche. He and his siblings were born and raised in the same area of Prince Edward Island and were considered to have had a normal childhood. For the most part, as far as anyone knew, his family saw him as a relatively good kid. But as he grew out of his teen years and into his twenties, he began to get in trouble with the law. Before long, Ernest had a reputation for being a moonshiner, a slang term that describes a person who illegally produces high-proof distilled alcohol without government authority. Moonshine is commonly made out of corn mash and, as the name moonshine suggests, is often made under the cover of darkness to avoid detection. Ernest De Roche used an old outbuilding on his family's property for the production of his moonshine. But as we know, moonshining wasn't all that Ernest De Roche was known for.

He was also a known local peeping tom who had a fetish for underwear. Ernest was often seen dashing between houses in his area and peaking into people's windows. He paid special attention to his neighbors and followed those families with particular interest, including their children. While the families were away from their homes, Ernest would walk into their backyards and go through their clothing lines. He would quickly yank their underwear down from the line, stuff them into his pockets, and briskly walk off their properties, bringing the stolen undergarments back to his house to keep his trophies. The residents of the small town of St. Rock and surrounding towns were quiet, community-minded citizens and an extremely close-knit community, so Ernest and his reputation for deviant behavior really stood out. People tried to steer clear of him and the police kept their eyes on him. In 1971, at age 26, Ernest was charged with possession of stolen property and served about a year in prison.

A year later, in 1973, he was put back in prison for trespassing, but again released back into the community within a year. His next run-in with the law was when the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, went to his house with an arrest warrant for production of illegal liquor. Rookie RCMP constable Hart Eichmann and his partner walked around the house and knocked on the doors, but nobody seemed to be present on the property. So they ventured over to an outbuilding on the property where they believed the illegal alcohol was kept. They knew that Ernest was a troubled man, but didn't suspect him of anything more. The door was locked, so the officers used an axe to chop it down. However, when they got into the building, they saw the stilling machines were still on, and then noticed a gun leaning up against one of the walls. It seems Ernest had made a lucky escape through a trapdoor without being seen.

Having seen the gun, both officers realized what Ernest might be capable of and felt lucky that they didn't end up in some kind of armed standoff. Ernest's reputation and the local community worsened. His peeping Tom activities had escalated, and it seemed he didn't seem to care whether his subjects were women, men or children. He'd also increased the incidences of trespassing into people's yards to steal underwear from their clothing lines. Ernest was starting to creep people out, and the community was starting to feel seriously fearful knowing he was around. They even stopped referring to him by his name and just started calling him the crow. Perhaps in reference to the fact that in many cultures, the appearance of the black scavenger bird is considered to be negative, or even an omen of death. Despite the worried community chatter, as yet, no one had put in an official complaint about the crow. But finally, one brave family decided they'd had enough.

Despite technically living in the next town, the Ellsworths lived close to Ernest De Roche. In fact, from the house where the Ellsworths lived, all you had to do was just look across a field and you could see Ernest's house. He'd been seen many times peeping around their house, staring at their children. The Ellsworths decided it was time to do something about the crow. Together, they picked up the phone and called the RCMP. They put in an official report that Ernest De Roche was seen peeping around and into their house, spying on them, and more alarmingly, their children. They reported that the man had also been doing the same with other families, as well as trespassing on their properties and stealing their underwear. The Ellsworths told the RCMP how scared they were, not only for their own safety, but also for everyone else's.

They stated on no uncertain terms that they wanted Ernest removed from the streets and wanted something to be done to make him stop terrorizing the community. Shortly after this, the police arrested Ernest and he was put into jail. But unfortunately, it ended up being a quick visit and he was released soon after. Once he was a free man, 29-year-old Ernest only had one thing on his mind, to go face to face with the people who were responsible for getting him locked up again. Do you have a passion project that you're ready to take to the next level? SquareSpace makes it easy for anyone to create an engaging web presence, grow a brand and sell anything from your products to the content you create and even your time. When I launched this passion project six years ago, I needed some kind of online hub to manage all the non-podcasting tasks that come with podcasting. I chose SquareSpace because it's an all-in-one platform that seamlessly helps me achieve multiple goals.

It's important to have a website that looks good and I was inspired by SquareSpace's wide selection of clean and modern templates. They can be easily customized with pre-built layouts and flexible design tools to fit your needs. And you can even browse the category of your business to see examples of what others have done. I use the built-in blogging tools to create a new page for each episode and there are so many intuitive options from embedding an audio player so listeners can stream episodes to scheduling posts to be published on a certain date, an easily moderated comment section and automatically displaying recent episodes on the homepage. Every SquareSpace website and online store includes SEO tools to help you maximize your visibility in search engines and I love the powerful insights I can get from the analytics tools, helping me better understand who's visiting the site, where they came from and how they're interacting with it. Do you have a passion project or business idea or something to sell?

Go to squarespace.com.ctc for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code CTC to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com.ctc with offer code CTC and get your passion project off the ground today. Ernest De Roche had to get revenge. He'd put his ear to the ground and soon gathered that it was the Ellsworth family who'd been the ones to complain to the police. He was sick and tired of being thrown in jail and he resented the fact that it was his own neighbors who were the cause of all the suffering. He was growing angrier by the minute. Ernest went home and drank liquor until plans started to form in his mind. He would get his revenge on the family who called in the complaint to the RCMP. He would get his revenge on the Ellsworths. It was Thursday, February 21, 1974 and it was an icy snowy night.

Ernest bundled up for the cold harsh weather, stepped out of his house and headed towards the lights in the distance. He crossed the field in his family farm until he reached Western Row in St Rock and approached a small one-story bungalow on the empty street. Inside the main living area of the peaceful quiet house was Ivan Ellsworth. His wife Bernadette and her sister Gloria had gone to their local church, Tignish Parish Centre, for a fun night of playing bingo with some friends. Everyone else was at home and had gone to bed. Holding a gun, Ernest walked straight up to the door of the Ellsworths house and tried the door handle. It was unlocked. He opened the door and burst in, surprising Ivan. Ernest immediately demanded that Ivan tell him where Gloria's husband Ronald was.

Ivan, both scared and in shock, didn't respond, likely not wanting to give away the whereabouts of his family, but also not wanting to say the wrong thing. Ivan's silence appeared to anger Ernest even more, so he fired his weapon and shot the man. Ernest would later say, quote, I didn't know where I hit, so I fired a second time. Ivan fell to the ground instantly and started to bleed out. He was unable to move and unable to protect his children from his deadly neighbour. And worse still, Bernadette and Gloria were due home at any moment. While Ivan lay bleeding, Ernest patiently paced the front room. He then ventured towards the back room of the house to wait for the rest of the family to show themselves.

He opened the closet door in the back room and crawled inside. It was the perfect spot to hide while he waited for the rest of his prey. Minutes later, sisters Gloria and Bernadette Ellsworth were just arriving home. They had an enjoyable night playing bingo and were chatting about their evening as they opened the front door and stepped into the house. Immediately Bernadette was horrified to see her husband Ivan on the floor. She yelled out to Gloria that he must be having a heart attack. Bernadette grabbed the phone to call an ambulance for her husband. It's then that she saw the blood and quickly realized he must have been shot.

While Bernadette watched over her husband, Gloria quickly ran down to the back room to take off her jacket. While this was happening, a neighbour named Jean came through the front door. She'd heard the noises from the gunshots and came over to the house to see if everything was okay. Jean said that she had her back to the back room that Ernest was in and Bernadette was facing her. Jean said, quote, Bernadette must have seen Ernie because I went toward the telephone and she whispered to me, go quick, get help, and she practically pushed me down the steps. Jean didn't wait to be told twice and took off to get help. At some point, Gloria's husband Ronald, having heard all the commotion, had also escaped the house safely with their daughter Cheryl. Back to Gloria in the back room.

As Gloria was quickly taking off her coat, thinking that Ivan had a heart attack and the ambulance had been called, she glanced over to her closet to see a man standing in the doorway. Gloria didn't have much time to think. As Ernest de Roche stepped out of the closet doorway with his gun, he sprung forward and shot Gloria multiple times. The fifth bullet went into her side and buried itself in her spine. As Gloria lay on the floor, severely injured and bleeding, she couldn't believe what had happened and that it was him. For a second, she thought it may have been easier to understand had it been a stranger. She prayed for a miracle for her and her unborn child, hoping for anything but death. Bernadette, still huddled over her husband Ivan's body, had heard the five gunshots in the back room of the house.

She laid on the ground in utter shock as she tried to protect her husband who was bleeding out on the floor. She watched as Ernest came out from the back room and walked over to her. Ernest raised his gun and as he continued to walk over, Bernadette looked up and asked him, How come you're doing this to us? What did we ever do to you? Ernest's only response to the young mother was to fire his gun one more time that night, aiming it straight at Bernadette. But he wasn't quite done with his revenge just yet. He stripped the three victims of their clothing, stashing away their underwear in his pockets. Just as he was about to leave the house, he saw two of Bernadette and Ivan's young children.

Four-year-old Janine and one-year-old Krista. In a move that can only be described as pure cruelty, he beat them both with the thick end of his rifle, before heading to the front door to leave the house. The infant Sean lay in another room altogether, sleeping soundly. He remained untouched. Jean, the neighbour, had called for help and returned to the house with her husband. They ran into Ernest who was just leaving the house. He pulled his gun on them. Jean's husband said, quote, Ernie, please don't harm anyone else. Don't harm the kids.

Ernest just walked out the door and off the property. It was later revealed that he had no more bullets left in his gun. Jean and her husband ran into the house and saw Bernadette and Ivan laying lifeless in the living room. Jean ran to check the rest of the house and found Gloria, gasping for air in the back room, and Janine and Krista also severely injured in their room. Jean was in shock, quote. I was just standing there saying what kind of monster would do this. Ernest De Roche walked back across the snowy wet field. As he reached his house, he walked up the slippery steps and into the house.

His mother wondered where he'd been for the past hour. With underwear still stashed in his pockets and his used gun in one hand, he told his mother that he was just out, quote, hunting humans. He walked off into his bedroom where he stayed for the remainder of the night. The police had been called, told there was an incident involving Ernest De Roche. The same two RCMP officers who executed the search warrant at Ernest's house when he escaped were on duty again. Rookie constable, Hark Eichmann, recalled his partner saying to him

that this was probably just another one of those prank calls. His reply, was, quote, when Ernie De Roche is involved, this is not a prank call. The RCMP officers arrived at Ernest's house five hours after he committed the crime on the Ellsworth family. They found the man in his bed. He was wearing a pair of children's underwear as well as 12 pairs of women's underwear. Some of the underwear he was wearing had been those he'd removed from Bernadette and Gloria Ellsworth after he shot them both.

The headlines shocked the peaceful province. Two dead, two injured and West Prince shooting incident suspect arrested. Ivan and Bernadette Ellsworth had passed away at the scene. Four-year-old Janine had been hit a few times by the blunt end of Ernest's gun. But he saved the most brutal beating for one-year-old Krista, who had been beaten so badly around her face that her eyes had swollen shut. She had to fight for her life in the hospital. But luckily, she and her sister would go on to make a full recovery.

Gloria Ellsworth survived her five gunshot wounds, but she was left paralysed from the neck down. A month after the attack, she would also lose her unborn baby. Three people lost their lives due to Ernest's derouche. In total, Gloria spent a year and a half recovering from her injuries in hospital. She was released as a quadriplegic with a permanent wheelchair and a need for round-the-clock care. A daily reminder of the horrific ordeal. Ernest derouche admitted to his crime and described his actions in a statement given to police 24 hours after he was arrested.

The way he described what he'd done was chilling, clinical, and devoid of any emotion or remorse. I went to the door. It was not locked. I opened it. I asked Ivan where Ronnie was. He wouldn't tell me or he didn't know, so I shot him. The first one I didn't know where I hit, so I fired a second time. After that, I went to the back room and waited. Then I heard Gloria scream and I fired at her. Bernadette was trying to see what was wrong with her husband. She looked at me and said something, so I shot her.

So I guess I went over to her and took her clothes off. Four months after the attack, Ernest derouche appeared in court. Despite his defense lawyer describing him as a, quote, shy, unaggressive man, he was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years. He was transported to Dorchester Prison in the nearby province of New Brunswick to start his sentence. It was 1974 and he was 29 years old. In prison, Ernest was again nothing short of a troublemaker.

He was known to smuggle in contraband and make liquor in his prison cell to keep himself entertained. Prison liquor is different to moonshine. Instead of using corn mash, the most common way to make the liquor is by using old fruit or orange juice, water, sugar, and the most important ingredient is yeast for the fermentation process, which can be provided via moldy bread. But despite these activities, Ernest began to feel locked up in his cell. He wanted more. He missed the ability to make large batches of moonshine,

getting access to drugs when he wanted them, and being able to eat anything he felt like. As the years passed, he began to stir and make loose plans with other inmates. On October the 8th, 1980, 35-year-old Ernest decided to try and escape from Dorchester Penitentiary. He'd spent weeks scheming up the fine details of a plan with two other inmates, 21-year-old Richard Wright and 32-year-old Ronald Enman, who were both serving life for murder. The three men were in separate but neighbouring cells in a segregation unit

that at the same time housed about 17 inmates. The three men somehow managed to saw through the bars of their cells. They then armed themselves with homemade knives and waited for the guards to do their nightly check. Two correctional officers, Leroy Brown and Bill Morrison, both in their 40s, were doing their pre-dawn rounds at around 2-3am. The prison was quiet and nothing seemed out of the ordinary until they realised that three inmates had escaped from their cells.

Suddenly the three inmates appeared out of nowhere and overcame the two officers at Knife Point. They then reinforced themselves in the entire cell block and made sure that no others could get through the doors. The prisoners wrote a note which detailed their demands and waited for the other officers in the facility to see. When the situation was discovered by other prison officials, the three men then passed the note through their barricade.

It said that the hostages would suffer unless they were supplied with food and drugs. According to a prison spokesperson, this sort of prison hostage situation was different from the usual because their demands were very small. He said the inmates hadn't even specified exactly what kind of drugs they wanted. The prison officials could see that at the time, correctional officers Brown and Morrison were unharmed. Obviously, the entire prison was put on lockdown.

All 350 inmates were locked in their cells with no visitors allowed to even drive onto the premises and things would stay this way until the hostage situation was taken care of. Prison negotiators tried to communicate with the men to free the hostages but refused to give in to their demands. The three men would not bargain or communicate further, except to be persistent about their demands for food and now a request for medication for one of the men in the cell.

On the second day of the painfully tense wait, the situation hadn't changed. A prison spokesperson would state that their game plan was to keep the hostage takers awake and starved of food to get them to surrender the hostages. No food was delivered to the entire cell block for three days so no food also for the 14 innocent inmates also locked in the barricaded cell block

but there seemed to be no negative reaction from them. In fact, there was a lot of conversation and even some camaraderie happening between them and the hostage takers. The 14 inmates who were inadvertently being held hostage alongside the corrections officers had chocolate bars, peanuts and other food that they shared with the three inmates in control of the situation. They were likely bound by the unspoken prison code.

On day three, inside the barricade, the two hostages, Bill Morrison and Leroy Brown, were feeling desperate. The three hostage takers, including Ernest De Roche, weren't pleased with how the media was reporting the situation. They'd been getting facts wrong so the men had forced Bill and Leroy to write a statement that pointed out all the areas in the media reports and demanded that the statement be read on a local Moncton New Brunswick TV station.

That time had passed and the statement hadn't been read yet and the three hostage takers were getting even angrier. Bill and Leroy, the two hostage correctional officers, were scared that the convicts would retaliate and take their anger out on them so made a split second decision to try and escape. They were able to successfully overpower their captors and yelled out for assistance

and then started towards a ladder that led to the next landing of the cell block. Outside the barricade, officers heard screams for help coming from the shower area. The authorities made a quick decision to end the standoff so the emergency response team was ordered into action immediately. Correction's officer Henry Cormier was ordered to fire some warning shots into the air to create a diversion while the emergency response team got to work on trying to break down the barrier with a high-speed cutting torch.

He fired four shots high and to the right to avoid hitting anyone but couldn't really see clearly where he was shooting. Three tear gas shells were then fired into the area and two more diversionary shots were fired out of the gun. At the same time, correctional officer Bill Morrison was standing on the ladder during his escape and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down. He'd been shot.

He cried to Leroy, My God, I've been shot. I'm going to die. The emergency response team rushed in and took control of the hostage situation. 43-year-old correction's officer Bill Morrison was rushed to the hospital but tragically, he was pronounced dead when he arrived. Ironically, the warning shot fired blankly into the air

as a diversionary tactic to free the hostages ended up causing the death of one of them. Ernest De Roche, along with Richard Wright and Ronald Enman were convicted for attempted prison break and forcible confinement of their correctional officers. They were transferred to Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario at the end of 1980. 15 years later, Paul Bernardo would be sent to the very same prison.

So here's Ernest De Roche at age 36. He's killed two people, seriously injured two more and caused the death of an unborn baby. He was indirectly responsible for the death of a corrections officer not to mention a failed prison escape, moonshining, trespassing and peeping tom behaviors. Prison time at Kingston Pen is not going to go easy on him, right? Wrong. For unknown reasons, Ernest was continuously allowed

to be let out for temporary escorted absences in town. In fact, between 1980 and 2011, he was let out around six times a year, over 180 times in total. Temporary releases are granted when it's considered that the inmate will not present an undue risk to society during the absence. For example, by reoffending. In the case of escorted releases,

the inmate is obviously escorted by prison officials the entire time. These temporary absences are granted for a variety of reasons like medical, administrative, community service, family contact, parental responsibility, personal development such as rehabilitation or compassionate reasons. But according to the Guardian newspaper in 2011, many of Ernest's derotious visits were said to have been for benign social reasons like shopping trips, social events

and community get-togethers. And as for whether his being allowed outside prison would have presented an undue risk to society, that one didn't make sense either. To date, Ernest had failed to show any remorse for his crimes and had failed to register for any kind of treatment or rehabilitation program even though a sex offender treatment plan had been recommended for him at a minimum.

Several of the correctional officers that dealt with Ernest admitted quietly to reporters that they didn't understand why he was continuously allowed on escorted releases from the prison given his track record of bad behavior. Media outlets tried to gain access to details of these decisions but were unsuccessful. Prison officials also let him out for work releases. A structured program of release for a specified period of time

involving work or community service outside the penitentiary. But some of these schedule releases were cancelled because of some offence Ernest had committed. For example, several times correctional officers found empty liquor bottles in his cell. Another time, according to the Guardian newspaper, correctional officers conducted a routine search and found $345 cash in Ernest's pocket which is prohibited in the prison system.

Ernest just explained it away saying it was left over from one of his shopping trips. Shockingly, Ernest De Roche's case management team would recommend that he should be granted temporary unescorted sessions outside of prison to give them a chance to assess him properly. So he would be allowed to leave for the day without any kind of prison escort or supervision. He'd essentially be left to his own devices. Ernest's reason for wanting these sessions to happen

was that he had to, quote, get some things in place. The police and correctional centre staff greatly opposed this especially in light of the fact that Ernest continued to publicly state that he didn't regret any of his actions and that the attack on the Ellsworths was all their fault. The prison file noted that this proposal for unescorted leave was denied stating it was because he didn't have a specific plan on what he wanted to do with his unescorted time.

But while Ernest wasn't allowed to have unescorted leave he still continued to have escorted day visits outside the jail. In 1994, 20 years after the attack on the Ellsworth family Ernest's parole review stated that he is a man who poses a serious risk to the public and is more than likely to reoffend if he had the chance. The report went on to state that he refuses treatment, psychiatric and psychological

and continues to show no regret or remorse for any of his criminal actions. The report ended with a mention of ten serious offences and three minor offences that Ernest has committed since he'd been in prison. At the time, the media tried to obtain details of all these offences but a prison spokesperson said these kind of details are not released to the public unless they result in criminal charges. In 1999, 25 years after the attack

the Guardian newspaper wrote a feature to commemorate the Ellsworth family tragedy and tried to speak with two of Ernest's de Roche's sisters. They confirmed that most of the family had visited Ernest in prison in either New Brunswick or Ontario. At the time, he was 54 years old. Ernest's sister Mary wouldn't talk much about the murders only saying, quote, we're trying to put that behind us. His other sister Esther said the crime shocked the family

because they believed he would never hurt anyone and he'd never spoken about the murders or the Ellsworth family to any of them. She said they would always love him but what he did was in the past. At the time, she said she believed her brother would be released someday, quote, I've talked to parole officers and they told me he went in there, he must come out.

We'll never forget it. We think about him every day. We're suffering too. But the person who was really suffering was Gloria Ellsworth who at that point had spent 25 years in a wheelchair. She also spoke with the Guardian saying that her wheelchair was a constant reminder

of the appalling crime that left her a quadriplegic and without her beloved sister and brother-in-law. Not to mention, the baby she was carrying. She said she originally had a chip on her shoulder but time heals, quote, it makes you less bitter. I know I never would have met the people I did if this hadn't happened. What she's referring to is the local community

in the town of St. Peter and St. Paul where she still lives to this day. At first, after the attack, the government suggested that she should be institutionalized due to the high care needs of living with quadriplegia. But Gloria didn't want to be institutionalized. She wanted to try and live as normally as possible and be an active mother in her daughter Cheryl's life.

So the community got together to fundraise with the goal of building a house that was wheelchair friendly and getting her a special wheelchair accessible van to get around in. Thanks to their fundraising efforts, Gloria was able to continue to live in her hometown, raise her daughter and watch her grow up. As of 1999 when the Guardian article was written,

Cheryl was married with a child of her own. Gloria went on to become an inspirational figure in her local community. She said her key to survival was to never give up and never give in, quote, I waited for miracles at first but after so many years, if the miracle doesn't come, you stop waiting. Some say the miracle was that I lived.

She went on to say that she can't change what happened and she couldn't bring her sister back even though she would love to. She had to learn to live with what happened. The Guardian also spoke with Krista and Janine, the orphaned daughters of Ivan and Bernadette who had now grown up and had children of their own. Krista was just one year old when she was severely beaten

by the blunt end of Ernest Roche's gun. Luckily, she said she couldn't remember the incident. None of them could and their baby brother, Sean had slept through the whole thing. Janine placed blame on the local police saying the outcome may have been different had they taken the complaints of the Ellsworth family more seriously from the beginning.

Krista said there was one question that they wanted an answer to but never received, quote, I want to know why he did it and whether he feels sorry for what he did. As for how Gloria Ellsworth felt about Ernest at that time, she said she didn't hate him, quote, I pity him more than anything but I never want to see him again.

When asked her thoughts about the possibility of him getting out of prison one day, she said, quote, it's not for me to say whether he's well enough to get out. I wouldn't say keep him in but I still hope that they do. Ernest was far from being released. In 2003, four years after those interviews, he was evaluated again.

Now aged 59, the report described him as someone that should not be released and needs serious psychiatric and psychological help. The file read that he is, quote, remarkably devoid of any emotion with respect to the murders and injuries he caused. The following year,

the prison contracted a third party to perform a psychological risk examination on Ernest. They reported that he was not able to tell the difference between rape and consensual sexual acts. Although he'd now spent 30 years in jail, he'd not taken any steps to mitigate the risk factors relating to his sexual behavior. He continued to refuse sex offender treatment

and still did not show any remorse for his actions. As a result, the parole board did not allow him to be released. In 2008, Ernest finally agreed to accept sex offender treatment in anticipation of his next full parole assessment. But days before his treatment was due to start, he cancelled. He denied that anything was wrong with him, saying he was not a sex criminal

and he didn't need the treatment. Two years later, in 2010, Ernest was caught making a home brew operation in his cell and trading it to other prisoners in exchange for contraband items. Only a month or so after that, he was again allowed out on an escorted day absence. In 2011, Ernest waved his parole hearing

after learning that the Ottawa Citizen newspaper would be attending it. But the parole board went ahead and reviewed his prison file in his absence, including the details of him being found to respond equally to rape and consensual depictions of sex. He was denied full parole,

with the board saying, quote, this pattern was considered to be evidence of deviant sexual preferences and coupled with your refusal to participate in sex offender programming is extremely troubling to the board as you demonstrate no insight into your offending and thus have not mitigated your risk.

Ernest De Roche is now 72 years old. It's not known whether he continues to receive approval for escorted absences, but it seems unlikely that he will ever be released from prison. Today, survivor Gloria Ellsworth is 68 years old and a proud mother, grandparent, and now great-grandparent.

She still lives in St. Peter and St. Paul, not far from where she was shot five times on that snowy night. As a quadriplegic, she continues to depend on the love and support from her community to help her around town, and they are happy to give it to her. In 2016, she was still using

her original 1989 van to get around in, with the aid of a friend or family member to drive her. But the van was starting to feel its age and fast becoming unreliable. So again, the community got together to fundraise to get her a new one. Gloria was excited to get the new van, which would help her visit her daughter,

grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and to just get out and about without the anxiety the old van gave her. Despite being the survivor of a terrible tragedy that she now prefers not to talk about, Gloria Ellsworth continues to be an inspiration with her zest for life and amazing attitude. Quote,

You just pretend you're not disabled and you keep going. You pretend you're the same as the rest. Don't let that stop you. Thanks for listening, and special thanks to our sponsor, T-Runners. Remember, for $10 off your first box, go to www.trunners.com with the code C-T-C-1-0.

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Carrie B, Stephanie P, Evan W, Kilogram J, Sherry C, Todd C, Liz, Ashley C, Jamie K, and Deb C. Thank you all so much. This episode of the Canadian True Crime Podcast was primarily researched and written by Noel Sia with audio production and scoring by Eric Crosby. I'll be back soon with another Canadian True Crime story.

See you then. My name's John Weir. You don't know me, but you're gonna. Because I know the people that have been watching you, learning about you. They know you've done well for yourself, that people like you and trust you. Trust you. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all that information

that you freely shared with the whole world. Now imagine what they're gonna do with all the information you have at it. Yeah, I'll be in touch. You