The top two officers in the Miramichi Police Force did not mince their words when reacting Tuesday to the death of infamous serial killer Allan Legere.
“Burn in hell,” said Deputy Chief Randy Hansen.
“I’ll echo that,” added Chief Brian Cummings. “This individual touched a lot of lives in an unfortunate way, and the Miramichi had to live through this period of time. It’s been a long time coming, but they can rest easy now.”
Both men began their policing careers as cadets within weeks of Legere’s time on the run — Hansen with the Chatham Police Force and Cummings in Sussex.
Hansen said the normal routine for new officers to be paired with a coach officer was essentially thrown out the door, with the department wanting as many patrol cars on the roads as possible to hunt for Legere.
WATCH | ‘A calmness inside’: Miramichi reacts to death of Allan Legere:
More than three decades after he terrorized Miramichi, the city reacts to the death of serial killer Allan Legere
Allan Legere, 78, died Monday while serving a life sentence at the Edmonton Institution in Alberta.
“My on-job training was kind of trial by fire,” Hansen said. “We were flat-out busy, very little time with coach officers.”
The death of the 78-year-old Monday at the Edmonton Institution in Alberta, where he was serving a life sentence, feels like closure, he said, but Legere has left a permanent mark on the community.
“It was always a community where people never really locked their doors. They trusted people. But that all changed,” Hansen said.
“That chapter’s always been open as long as he was alive. He escaped once before and who’s to say he couldn’t have done it again.”
Serial killer Allan Legere was arrested on Route 118 in what is now the city of Miramichi. In November 1991, he was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder. (CBC)
Cummings said his thoughts were with the families of the victims and all those who were involved in the investigation.
“Even though the Miramichi was terrified, the entire province was terrified in 1989,” Cummings said.
“I’d be shocked if there wasn’t one or two glasses raised in the Miramichi last night with that news.”
‘Whole town was pretty terrified’
Francine Ward grew up in the Miramichi area and was a child when Legere escaped.
“I remember a whole town was pretty terrified,” Ward said.
“I know when I got off the bus, it was just home right after. There was no going out. … I think there was a curfew, actually.”
Francine Ward, who was a child when Legere was on the loose, said she felt a calmness upon learning he was dead. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
It wasn’t until Legere was captured that anyone in town could regain a sense of normalcy, Ward said.
“I think he put fear in all of us back then.”
It wasn’t until Tuesday, when Ward learned of his death, that she said she felt a calmness. Even though he was in a maximum security prison, people were still worried, she said.
“I guess maybe because he was always applying for parole all the time, right? And maybe people thought eventually they were going to let him out at some point or something, but I guess now he’ll never be allowed out, right?”
Victim’s family feels sense of peace
When he escaped, Legere had been serving time for the murder of John Glendenning and severe assault of Mary Glendenning.
While Mary survived the attack, her sister-in-law Shirley Watling said the experience was “absolutely devastating” for Mary and the rest of the large family.
Watling described Mary as “an angel,” who took comfort in time with family until her death in 2013.
“Easygoing, very soft spoken, big heart. Very church-going person. Her and John both were,” Watling said in an interview with CBC News on Tuesday.
“She was just good to everybody, and never said a word against anybody, ever.”
Watling said Legere’s death brings a sense of peace for her and others in the family.
Officer hopeful ‘nightmare is finally over’
Ken McGee was another rookie officer during the manhunt for Legere and says the experience has haunted him ever since.
He was often sent to check on reported sightings of Legere, he said, and was called in one night when he was off duty.
McGee rushed to the area of the sighting, where he was paired with an RCMP officer from out of town.
While the two were trying to cut off where they thought Legere was running along railroad tracks, other officers close to Legere were shot at, he said. So McGee and his partner had to take cover in the woods beside a golf course for hours.
Ken McGee was a young officer in Chatham when Legere was on the run, and responded to many reports of sightings before the serial killer was captured. (CBC/Radio-Canda)
McGee inadvertently left the headlights of the RCMP car on, but was told by the Mountie not to go turn them off because Legere could be waiting to ambush them. After spending hours hiding out, they were finally relieved by other officers who told them Legere had gotten away.
McGee said when he got back to the station, a senior police officer yelled at him for leaving the headlines on, calling him a coward and saying, “If anybody else dies, it’s your fault.”
Weeks later, when Legere murdered a priest, Father James Smith, McGee said he thought back to what the officer had told him.
“I lived with that moment for the rest of my life,” McGee said, adding that he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he suffered from post-traumatic stress as a result, with constant nightmares of Legere chasing him.
“Maybe that nightmare is finally over, not only for myself, but for all those people that lived through that, the families that lived through it.”