Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Rapist, arsonist, serial killer and prison escapee Allan Joseph Legere returns to the area of his birth to inflict a reign of terror upon the peaceable residents of the Miramichi River Valley of New Brunswick, Canadian, in 1989.
In a criminal career that involved murder from June 21, 1986, through November 24, 1989,
his disadvantaged youth with a home environment that destabilized his psychosexual development played parts in fashioning an overpowering inferiority complex that left him mercurial in temperament and unpredictably violent, along with an insatiable desire to demonstrate brute strength, power and cunning.
in the late 1980s the miramichi,new brunswick was renowned for it’s natural beauty, as well as the welcoming warmth of its residents
but in october 1989 this peaceful child-friendly community was engulfed by fear…….
there is no trick- or treating in newcastle tonight because this halloween is like no other .a masked killer had forced the residents of the streets
the nightime prowler had invaded people’s homes and brutally ended the life of three local women,despite a huge manhunt the killer had evaded capture for over six months
with seemingly no end to the bloodshed petrified locals in chatham would turn to the church and the comforting words of father james smith.
however concernes would be raised one november night when when the local priest failed to show up for a prayer meeting
as the police entered the rectory the full extent of the attack was plain to see he was tortured his neck was cut his chest was cut the jaw was broken
they found just an acceptional degree of violence and they found father smith badly beaten and he had expired.
an autopsy would later reveal an even more shocking ascpect to the killer’s attack -he had jumped on father smith and separated the ribs from the sternum
as police took on board the fourth murder to hit the Miramichi in just six months , the sadistic nature ofthe crimes left investigators in no doubt what they were dealing with.
this person would have to be an animal ,this person would have to be a person without any conscience.
and one name stood out above all others ,a 42 year old prisoner on the run local man alan legere.and three years previously the notorious legere had been involved in a similarly brutal attack inflicted on elderly storekeepers john and mary glenn denning.
the culprits had gone into the home and beaten them as part of a robbery, this was a robbery obviously that had gone bad.
legere and his two accomplices had remained in the couple’s home for a number of hours .
tragically the brutal onslaught led to the death of john Glenn denning whilst his wife was left with horrific injuries.
she went through a torture and a sexual assault she was basically on hre deathbed when she was brought to the hospital .
allthough three men had been implicated 38 year old alan legere was identified as the ringleader with two young accomlices.
these young fellas weren’t known for the violence that legere was known for it’s not the kind of thing that 18 and 19 year olds would do, even if they were after money it went beyond what any kind of like small time criminal would be doing .
legere was seen as the instigators -the leader ,probably the planner an older criminal working with two younger criminals.
allan legere was sentenced to life in prison once inside he appeared to be willing to conform
but despite his placid demeanor allan legere was not intending to spend the rest of his days behind bars.
in May 1989 legere put his master plan into action
he put urine in his left ear and his earwould get infected so he eventually had to see a specialist he knew he has to leave the institution
prison guards would accompany the the notorious killer to a hospital in moncton.
he had it all planned he had the antenna from this television snapped of hdden inside a cavity in his body
he had a makeshift key ,he had a jacket that he was carrying to hide where his handcuffs were
he was able to loosen his feet shackles and his handcuffs but they did look like they were still on
when legere arrived at the hospital he created an opportunity to separate himself from the accompanying guards.
he says ” I’ve got to use the bathroom”
of course when they get in the washroom it only took 10 seconds to take his handcoffs off ,having freed himself legere then extracted the television antennae from his body
left the washingroom and waving the TV antennea at the two guards like it was a weapon.
they don’t have guns all they’ve got is a bit of teargas and a canister and by the time they realized what’s happening he’s headed out the door .
as legere attempted to flee the scene he hastily made his way through the hospital car park, the first car he came to belonged outpatient peggy olive
with legere at the wheel peggy would see more than one side to the convicted killer during her terryfying ordeal .he’d be a bad guy by threatening and then he’d be try to be the nice guy so his personalities were changing constantly
peggy felt he was capable of anything , despite her concernsthe carjacking would end without bloodshed ,he gets her out of the vehicle he takes the vehicle he drives to a section of moncton that he knows he dumps the vehicle.
despite a heightened state of alert the fugitive would vanish into thin air.
the manhunt continued many including Miramichi police officer bob bruce were convinced he would not return to his homeland
In may 1989 convicted killer allan legere was on the run following a brazen escape from a moncton hospital
allthough his whereabouts were unknown his homeland of the miramishi had subjected to a campaign of murder fueling rumors that the fugitive may have returned to the area.
41 years previously in 1948 allan legere had been born in chatham head a troubled neighborhood on the banks of the Miramichi river.
as a single mother louise legere rented out rooms in the family house to make ends meet , one of ther lodges would father her fourth child allan before skipping town.
he grew up without any kind of father influencer, father figure to loook up to allan’s relationship with his mother was difficult
she was someone who wasn’t terribly selective with her partners and she would bring them into the home and the walls probably weren’t terribly well insulated you’d be fully aware of the fact thata she brought somebody into the house.
as allan legere progressed through his early childhood signs behavior would start to surface
he had to share a bedroom with his sister,his strongest influences in his early life was watching his sister dress and undress
he had these sexual urges from early age and used to watch her undress.
outside the family home legere would divide opinion at school, some people really liked him and thought he had a potential as an artist .
and then there’s others that thought he was just a horrible thug who was always involved in fights
people who he liked felt that he was bright and had potential, people he didn’t like they were afraid of him
legere’s troubled childhooud would ultimately be forged by a family tragedy when his elder brother was run over whilst walking over a local bridge.
as his mother grieved she would launch an extraordinary on her increasingly wayward younger son allan
his mother just told him point blank:
” i whish it was you and not your brother”
allan legere’s mother resented him and it wasn’t only his family that was growing tired of his troublesome behaviour.
32 years later in 1989 allan legere was a convicted killer on the run ,having escape custody during a hospital visit in Moncton.
as he continued to evade capture ,fears were growing that the fugitive may return home to the miramashi intent on revenge.
many community people thought that legere had a need to get back and pay people back for his conviction feeling that he wasn’t treated properly
despite concerns three weeks would pass without incident,but then officer mole was called to a house fire in the community of chatham
1989
on the left hand side there would be a small grocery store and on the second floor would have been annie flam’s residence.
annie had run the local store for a number of years, annie flam was well known in the community .
the popular 574 year old was known to be close to her sister in law Nina who lived in the adjoining house .
annie flam and nina were just pillars of the community,everybody loved them,the house fire was devastating ,but despite the ferocity of the flames nina flam had managed to survive.
the entire house had been destroyed by fire at it was really a miracle that Nina herself had escaped the fire however a majority of her body she was covered in second and third degree burns
despite her injuries Nina was able to reveal to police that the fire was not accidental.
they knew from talking briefly with Nina flam that they had a very serious assault that had taken place
a masked intruder had initially demanded money but had then subjected the elderly women to prolonged attack before setting the building ablaze.
he had tied Nina to the bed and strangled her she had feinged death so he left her for dead and she was able to get her restraints off her feet her bed was totally engulfed at that point and the room was in flames
as investigators headed to the burnt house first floor they feared the worst for Nina’s sister in law annie flam.
Annie’s remains were found in her bed with the covers tucked in ,didn’t look as if she had gotten into bed voluntarilyshe had been tucked in by someone.
she had been assaulted before the fire
subsequent autopsy revealed that she had been beaten ,her jaw was broken the 75 year old had also been sexually assaulted before her death
she expired on her own vomit because of the trauma of the injury ,she did not die from smoke inhalation it would actually be assault.
the profile ofthe eldery victms and signs of theft at the scene for the hallmarks of the Glenn Denning murder committed allan legere three years previously
the police knew that he had escaped but no evidence to say that he had actually come back to the area.
however investigators would be forced to reevaluate when victim Nina flam recalled a particular detail from her terrifying ordeal
her attacker had worn a chain around his midriff- a belly chain or a waist chain is consistent with a prisoner
in back of all minds – legere was the prime suspect.
but without a single sighting authorities had little to go on as they desperately searched for leads they were unaware that the bloodshed in the Miramichi had only just begun.
in may 1989 theMiramichi suffered the brutal murder of 75 storekeeper annie flam, with escaped killer allan legere rumored to be in the area fears were growing that the sadistic killing may have been the start of a random revenge campaign against the local community.
despite a heightened state of alert the local terrain would hamper attempts to track him down.
the challenge for law enforcement in this area is that there’s very dense woodland around the communitites themselves
the surrounding area is all something like this ,so all of the searches took law enforcement to areas that were very difficult to search.
allthough there were still no sightings of legere many believed the convicted killer was stalking the neighborhood under the cover of darkness.
one disturbed brak -in offered up evidence that would be hard to ignore a gentleman came home saw someone running through his backyard he chased him however he was able to ascape
the next day the owner of the home went out and found a pair of eye glasses law enforcement recovered them and they were prescription glasses
and they matched up to the same prescription glasses that legere had been issued in prison.
decades earlier allan legere had been renowned as wayward teenager in Miramichi area.
but despite his rebellious image,legere felt his diminutive stature was holding him back, he was small and he was skinny
and in a neighborhood like that one ,if you were a bit lippy and talked too much somebody would give you a slap upside the head
there was only one way to avoud that which wass to be big enough so they didn’t dare do that to you .
body building would first become one of allan legere’s liftetime passions.
behind the scenes legere also took great pleasure in his own brand of petty crime ,he prided himself of being able to go into a house or a trailer with people at home and steal what he wanted.
there were stories of people waking up and he was standing overthem in the bed ,basically just looking at them.
those who didn’t wake would soon find out allan legere had paid him a visit he’d always leave something behind to to let them know that he had been there a takeout clothing and leave on the bed on top of people that were sleeping he even cut the underwear off
he enjoys feeling control and power because he didn’t have much else he didn’t have the breaks in life that the richies as he used to call them had.
allthoug legere would live away from the area in Moncton the focus of his crimes would remain on the Miramichi.
as his break -ins escalated ,police would find him hard to pin down as he went to extreme measures to cover his tracks
he would take a hard -covered book ,put it in the living room on the carpet, reach underneath and light the pages on fire so that would work as a downdraft like almost live a stove
seven years later , allan legere was convicted killer on the run, allthough he hadn’t been cited,police suspected legere had returned home on a revfenge campaignand was potentially involved in the chatham murder of 75 year old annie flam
people did not want to talk about allan legere they were scared if they said something the reporter and journalists they were going to get rargeteddid not want their name to appear and printe ever
for ovre six months the Miramichi would suffer just minor crimes
but that would all change on the night of 13th of october 1989 in the community of newcastle
someone was walking by and saw flames coming from the home of linda donna daughney
linda was41 and donna 45 were both popular members of their close- knit communitythe daughney sisters were a unmarried pair of sister that lived in the former town of newcastle
having investigated the arsenal attack and brutal murder carried out at the flam residence , officer mole was trying try remain objective as he approached the scene.
when the investigator entered the building,the horrific scene that lay before him left little doubt that the twisted killer has struck again.
just a degree of violence throughout the house was just incredible and they found one body and then they found another body and then they look around and they see blood everywhere-the fire ,police says was deliberately set to hide evidence of a grisly double murder
the attacker had gone into the house,had brutally beaten both of those girls had sexually assaulted them badly badly beaten, broken bones.
the cause of death was strangulation and blunt trauma caused by severe blows to the head.
this is the man everyone is afreaid of finding on their doorstep
you just wonder how could somebody be so aggressive and brutal to other people way beyond what is necessary to kill the person ,he wants to destroy things , he wants to destroy people-if someone had a house or an atachment to the house , destroy it.
the DNA analysis identified allan legere ,that it was his genetic material that was left at both of those crime scenes.
and with no specific vendettas against the victims it appeared that anyone in the Miramichi was a potential target . everyone knew that allan legere was out hunting after dark
a massive manhunt would focus its search at night ,but legere’s knowledge of the area made hin an elusive adversary ,this wooded areas are sort of like allan legere’s playground he was very familiar with them this areas where he grew up in
police would come to a fence where they would have to climb over it ,he always seemed to know where the holes were in the fence line so he could go through it.
on a rare occasion when officer bruce came close to capturing the fugitive he discovered they were dealing with an armed assailant .
it was one of the darkest nights,it was pitch black and the law enforcement were actually at a run down these tracks
they must have got fairly close because they heard a gunshot and at the same time saw muzzle flash and they immediately dove off this track into the ditches on both sides to avoid being shot at.
after the first shot was fired it was just duck and continue running the second was duck and don’t get back up because officer bruce and his colleagues could not see anything to hit or even shoot at .
as the killer disappeared into the night, many felt he was in complete control
as the search continued those who had lived alongside legere in his adult years would recall more than one side to the former Miramichi resident.
he help with the disches and he was just the nicest guy in the world,he was little bit dangerous a little bit exciting he married had kids
it looked like he was going to somehow find his way into sort of at least the lower middle class and yet he couldn’t seem to hold that together
he wanted to perceived as someone strong and powerful and competent and he tried to even convince himself of that but his feelings of inferiority were just to overpowering for him so he constantly tried to compensate
if you becom known as fearsome that gives you the right to swagger into a room and allan legere desperately wanted it and he’d found an avenue that allowed him to be the person inside the community that he felt he always should have been.
he definitely wanted the community to know hwo he was , he had very piercing eyes and when he talked to you he liked to get right up close which would intimidate you into stepping back a step
he was unpredictable in a way that people didn’t understand and once he went off , there were no limits there were no bounds.
legere’s animosity would become increasingly extrem as he targeted other elements of the Miramich community
he expresses his sustain for the catholic church and then he would go on about the gold the wealth of the catholic church and then he would quote in versus satanic verses
three years later in december 1989 father james smith would become the fourth victim of a sadistic killing spree
having linked legere to three of the murders,police was convinced the fugitive had perpetrated the latest crime.
law enforcement were sure at this particular point that when the priest was killed there was no doubt that allan legere was responsible
it just seemed like this was the ultimate crime to really punish the community for whatever reason.
and as before allan legere disappeared without trace and was free to kill again.
in 1989 escaped fugitive allan legere was the prime suspect in the murders of four miramichi residents
having evaded capture for more than six months ,the elusive killer had just fled the scen of father smith’s murder and was known to aborted a train to Quebec when it was searched by police
the police did walk up to him and they were told to look for a tattoo of an eagle on one of the sholders, they ask if he would mind rolling up his sleeve and in that supernatural calm that he seemed to be able to call upon in situations like this he pulled up his sleeve,there was no eagle on his arm
they had the wrong arm
having foiled authoritites once more the fgugitive had freedom in his sights he made it to montreal and he managed to pawn off some jewelry that he’d stolen from the Daughney sisters
but despite the obvious risks legere made an extraordinary U-turn.
most people you think in his situation would just keep going try to get out of the country but why would you want to even just think of going back to Miramich- but allan legere doesn’t think like other people
he hijacked a trucker and headed to east which is back towards Miramich and so everybody was made aware.
law enforcement did have roadblock set up with the RCMP it was one of the roadblock that actaully caught him .
although legere had eventually been cornered he was holding the truck driver captive at gunpoint alegere comes out of the truck and basically says ” yeah it’s me you got me” he surrendered quietly, meekly no muss no fuss
legere only wants to display his violence and aggression where he knows he can win,he’ll do it with an elderly women or someone who’s weak and disabled in some way then he show how violent he his
but with armed police officers , no – he’ll just give up and end it right there.
news of legere ‘s arrest would offer huge relief to the Miramichi community it was like a dream come true -finally he’s in custody,there was jubilation after he was taken to custody
part way through the day ,church bells ringing the church bells were not ringing because it was noon but because allan legere had been captured.
two years later allan legere would be found guilty
of four counts of first-degree murder
witness statement provided by survivor Nina flam would play a major role in his conviction
as life finally returned to normal for the residents of the miramichi many was left wondering why one of their own had waged such a brutal war on their community
allan legere always thought people were able to get him,prosecutors, police the average person that’s just the way he was
he lived a fairly disadvantaged life as a young person in the community,saw what other people had and committing these crimes he saw it as an opportunity to kind get even.
but was it just allan legere’s challenged upbringing that sparked his murder campaign or was he born to kill ?
legere was born a psychopath a mental disorder he was born with ,he doesn’t have any conscience -now if we do something wrong we’ve got a conscience but allan legere showed no caring and no remorse
not necessarily a born killer but he certainly had these predispositions and they emerged and he just felt so weak inside that he just was living his whole life to compensate for it and to let people think that he was something other than what he really is.
lots of people grow up with higher knocks in their life and people go through horrible things when they’re young but they don’t go out and kill people so he had to have it in him from birth to kill because how else would you explain it.
decades later allan legere’s reign of terror is now an horrific chapter from the past but the community of the miramichi is yet to erase this brutal killer from its memory
obviously the family members who were victims the relatives the community itself is scared ,lot of turmoil and the’ll never forget but as a community they will survive and hopefully be better from it
allan legere makes news every times his name is mentioned , he still frightens people
it’s raw they are convinced decades after you did it the first time that if he gets out he would do it again
and those who knew him well are convinced that the convicted killer has only one thing on his mind.
he wanted his television back-there’s a reason he wants his tv back
officers search the tv and they found a couple more handcuff keys. he started then planning his next escape.
still today he’s thinking about it right now ,it doesn’t pass a minute of his day without thinking about getting back to that community and how he can do it……….