Killing of Melanie Carpenter
1995 murder in British Columbia, Canada
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Melanie Carpenter (April 22, 1971 – January 6, 1995)[1] was a Canadian 23-year-old woman who was abducted and murdered in British Columbia, on January 6, 1995.[2] Carpenter was taken from her workplace in Surrey and found dead in the Fraser Canyon several weeks later. The prime suspect, Fernand Auger, committed suicide before he could be arrested.[3][4][5][6]
Melanie Carpenter | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 22, 1971 British Columbia, Canada |
| Died | January 6, 1995 (aged 23) British Columbia, Canada |
Body discovered | January 26, 1995 |
| Known for | being kidnapped and murdered |
| Parents |
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Disappearance
On January 6, 1995, Melanie Carpenter, a 23-year-old woman from Surrey, British Columbia,[7] had received suspicious phone calls from a man feigning interest in a business deal. Later that day, Carpenter was abducted, presumably by the caller, from where she was working alone at a tanning salon in the Fleetwood town centre of Surrey.[8]
Investigation
The afternoon that Carpenter went missing, a bank security camera recorded a 37-year-old man, Fernand Auger, making a $300 withdrawal using Carpenter's debit card, and the footage was shown on national TV the next day. Auger was a drifter from Ontario, frequently working as a waiter in restaurants, and had been a resident of Calgary, Alberta, until moving to British Columbia days before the murder. In August 1994, Auger had been released from prison in Bowden, Alberta, where he had served a 16-month sentence for armed robbery, and was on parole at the time. Auger quickly became the number one suspect in the abduction, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.[9]
On January 15, 1995, Auger was found dead at a vacant home in High River, Alberta, 55 kilometers (34 mi) south of Calgary, by a real estate agent during a viewing with a client. Auger had committed suicide in a garage on the property by inhaling carbon monoxide fumes from the engine of his car, a Hyundai Excel rented from Calgary.[10][citation needed]
Carpenter's corpse was found by hikers shortly afterwards along an isolated road in a First Nations reserve near Hope, a rural town in Fraser Canyon, British Columbia, 45 kilometers (28 mi) northeast of Chilliwack. Carpenter's body had been abandoned in a crevice and concealed by a white blanket.[11]