N.B. family deaths likely murder-suicide

EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick – Edmundston City Police believe the death of a 5-year-old girl and her father may have been a murder-suicide.

The bodies of Danny Pelletier, 38, and his daughter, Valerie Pelletier, were discovered in Pelletier’s home at about 8 p.m. Sunday by a neighbor.

Inspector Prime Boucher, lead investigator in the case, said Wednesday that police were awaiting the results of autopsies done Monday.

“The house was secure, everything was locked up,” Boucher said of the 47th Avenue residence. “There was no evidence of a break-in or a fight inside the residence.”

Pelletier’s home was a single-family dwelling in a quiet residential neighborhood of the city.

“There was no indication of any violence, and we found no firearms or knives used at the scene,” he said in French. “We believe we are looking at a murder-suicide.”

Boucher would not divulge how the father and daughter died, but there were reports Wednesday that the girl, found on a bed in a bedroom, was suffocated, and Pelletier had hanged himself in the cellar of the home. Police would not verify the reports.

Police believe the incident happened between 7 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday.

Pelletier, a long-haul trucker for R.F. Chamberland Trucking of St. Agatha, Maine, was expected at work Monday morning.

“He told me he would be at work Monday morning,” Mark Chamberland, one of Pelletier’s employers, said Wednesday morning. “There was no indication of anything wrong when I talked with him.”

Pelletier had been working for Chamberland for about five years.

“He had talked of taking a week’s vacation when I talked with him,” Chamberland said. “There was no indication of any severe problem, except for custody problems.”

Boucher said Pelletier and his wife, whom police would not identify, had been separated about one year. Pelletier had custody of his daughter for the weekend.

Police said Pelletier was often gone for long periods at his trucking job. Pelletier’s neighbor had a key to the residence and often checked the house when Pelletier was away.

Neighbors became concerned Sunday night when they had seen no activity at the home on the weekend when they knew Pelletier was there with his daughter.

“The neighbor went in the home, as he usually did, and found the two bodies,” Boucher said.

Boucher said Pelletier was unknown to the police, having no criminal record of any kind.