New Brunswick probes release of murder suspect

FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – The New Brunswick Justice Department will review why a man accused of a brutal double killing was released from custody while awaiting sentencing on a previous violent crime.

The province has been asked by the families of the victims for the review, ATV News reported Wednesday.

“The attorney general has asked our public prosecution service to conduct a full review of the matter and report back to the attorney general,” Gary Toft, a Justice Department spokesman, told ATV.

Gregory Allen Despres, 22, of Minto is facing first-degree murder charges in the grisly deaths of his next-door neighbors Fred Fulton, 74, and Verna Decarie, 70.

They were found in their Minto home April 26 but officials believe they were killed two days earlier. The victims were mutilated, and one apparently was decapitated.

Despres crossed into the United States at Calais, Maine, while carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. Customs officials have said there was no legal reason to detain Despres, who later became a suspect in the grisly murder of a couple in Canada.

Charles Saunders, Decarie’s brother, called Despres “a dangerous man” who had threatened members of his family before.

A month before the killings, Despres pleaded guilty to uttering threats and assault with the weapon but was released from custody until sentencing. The victim in that case was Fulton’s grandson.

“Mr. Despres should have been locked up immediately,” Saunders said from his home in Nova Scotia. “He should have been held until he was ready to appear in court again.”

Despres was located and arrested in Mattapoisett, Mass., on April 26. An extradition hearing will take place in July.

Saunders said he tries not to think about how his sister and her common-law husband died.