Anne-Sophie, 3 and Olivier, 5 Murdered
Turcotte was found lying on the floor after attempting suicide by drinking 2 liters of windshield washer fluid..
He had to be transferred to a Montreal hospital for treatment because his colleagues at the Hôtel-Dieu Regional Hospital in nearby Saint-Jérôme couldn't treat him.
The mother of the children, Isabelle Gaston, was skiing in Charlevoix the weekend they died. Gaston, an emergency-room physician, was separated from Turcotte at the time.
Below is a timeline of events and not intended to be in "News" format:
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Guy Turcotte stabbed and mutilated his two children with over 16 stab wounds each.
Anne-Sophie, 3, Olivier, 5, stabbed to death by their father February 21, 2009.
This is the evidence presented by the prosecution against the 36 year old man, accused of the premeditated murder of Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3.
The cardiologist would then have attempted suicide by swallowing a large quantity of windshield washer fluid.
If Mr. Turcotte is convicted, he will automatically be sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years.
SOURCE: www.lejournaldequebec.canoe.ca
Turcotte arraigned on first degree murder charges
Feb 24, 2009
Feb 24, 2009
'I know what I've done,' killer Guy Turcotte told paramedic
If found guilty, he could face 25 years in prison.
The 36-year-old cardiologist was found Saturday in his Piedmont home, suffering from an apparent overdose.
The bodies of his two young children, Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3, were also found in the house.
Police said there were signs of violence on the children's bodies.
Turcotte is currently recuperating at Sacre Coeur hospital in Montreal.
While doctors have given law enforcement the go-ahead for the arraignment, he is not well enough to go to the court house in St. Jerome.
He was represented in court by his lawyers, brothers Guy and Pierre Poupart.
When the doctors say Turcotte is well enough, he will be taken to prison. Bail for a first degree murder charge is rare.
A charge of first degree murder means the crime was premeditated.
SOURCE: MONTREAL.CTV
Mother haunted by children's deaths
The mother of two young children who were killed in Piedmont, Que., in February says she has no room for forgiveness while her estranged husband faces murder charges.
Isabelle Gaston broke her silence Friday, speaking out on the deaths of five-year-old Olivier and three-year-old Anne-Sophie Turcotte in an interview with the French-language TVA television network.
MONTREAL -- The trial of a Quebec cardiologist accused of killing his two children is set to get underway this week with jury selection.
Guy Turcotte, 38, has been charged with two counts of first degree murder after his two children were found stabbed to death in 2009.
Quebecers from across the province took interest in the case. The mother of the children, Isabelle Gaston, told QMI Agency in 2009 that she was contacted by thousands of people offering their support.
Popular Quebec singer Marie-Mai wrote a song about the murders.
Turcotte and his wife separated in the winter of 2009. They worked together at a hospital in Saint-Jerome, about 60 km north of Montreal. She is an emergency physician.
Soon after the separation, their two children, Anne-Sophie, 3, and Olivier, 5, were found murdered in a home their father was renting in Piedmont, about 75 km north of Montreal.
Turcotte has been in jail since his 2009 arrest.
About 800 potential jurors will be in court Thursday. The trial will likely begin in April or early May and will last about six weeks.
Turcotte has reportedly been hospitalized for suicide attempts while in prison.
Isabelle Turcotte haunted by murders
Isabelle Gaston broke her silence Friday, speaking out on the deaths of five-year-old Olivier and three-year-old Anne-Sophie Turcotte in an interview with the French-language TVA television network.
Jury selection to begin
April 11, 2011
April 11, 2011
Isabell Turcotte attends husbands trial
Guy Turcotte, 38, has been charged with two counts of first degree murder after his two children were found stabbed to death in 2009.
Quebecers from across the province took interest in the case. The mother of the children, Isabelle Gaston, told QMI Agency in 2009 that she was contacted by thousands of people offering their support.
Popular Quebec singer Marie-Mai wrote a song about the murders.
Turcotte and his wife separated in the winter of 2009. They worked together at a hospital in Saint-Jerome, about 60 km north of Montreal. She is an emergency physician.
Soon after the separation, their two children, Anne-Sophie, 3, and Olivier, 5, were found murdered in a home their father was renting in Piedmont, about 75 km north of Montreal.
Turcotte has been in jail since his 2009 arrest.
About 800 potential jurors will be in court Thursday. The trial will likely begin in April or early May and will last about six weeks.
Turcotte has reportedly been hospitalized for suicide attempts while in prison.
Quebec doctor admits to killing his children
Jury to consider mental state as cardiologist pleads not guilty
April 18, 2011
A Quebec cardiologist charged with two counts of first-degree murder admitted Monday that he stabbed his two children in 2009.
The lawyer for Guy Turcotte made the admission at the opening of the trial in Saint-Jérôme on Monday.
Pierre Poupart said his client admits to causing the death of his children — five-year-old Olivier and three-year-old Anne-Sophie — two years ago.
But the jury will have to determine Turcotte's state of mind at the time of the crimes and whether he knew what he was doing, Poupart told the court during his opening statement.
Jury to consider mental state as cardiologist pleads not guilty
April 18, 2011
A Quebec cardiologist charged with two counts of first-degree murder admitted Monday that he stabbed his two children in 2009.
The lawyer for Guy Turcotte made the admission at the opening of the trial in Saint-Jérôme on Monday.
Pierre Poupart said his client admits to causing the death of his children — five-year-old Olivier and three-year-old Anne-Sophie — two years ago.
But the jury will have to determine Turcotte's state of mind at the time of the crimes and whether he knew what he was doing, Poupart told the court during his opening statement.
Police tape blocks access to a house in Piedmont, Quebec, where the bodies of two young children were found on Feb. 21, 2009. Graham Hughes/Canadian Press
Turcotte's children were found stabbed to death on Feb. 21, 2009, inside a house he rented in Piedmont, a small town in the Laurentians 70 kilometres north of Montreal.
Turcotte, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was determined fit to stand trial at his preliminary hearing held in 2010.
A jury of seven women and five men is hearing his murder trial.
About 30 witnesses are expected to testify in the case, including Turcotte's mother Margaret Fournier and his former spouse, Isabelle Gaston.
The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
SOURCE: CBC.CA
Turcotte, 38, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was determined fit to stand trial at his preliminary hearing held in 2010.
A jury of seven women and five men is hearing his murder trial.
About 30 witnesses are expected to testify in the case, including Turcotte's mother Margaret Fournier and his former spouse, Isabelle Gaston.
The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
SOURCE: CBC.CA
Weeping Turcotte begged to die
Killed kids to spare them suffering, court hears
April 22, 2011
As he lay on a hospital bed after killing his two children and drinking two litres of windshield wiper fluid, Guy Turcotte obsessed about his wife, who'd left him for another man.
"If you only knew what she's put me through," Turcotte told emergency room manager and colleague Guylaine Paquin, she testified on Thursday at Turcotte's first-degree murder trial before Quebec Superior Court.
Paquin, reeling from the shock of seeing the cardiologist she'd known for five years in this state, tried to contain her emotions and treat him like any other patient, she said. As Turcotte tightly held Paquin's hand, he wondered out loud what happened to his relationship with his wife, Isabelle Gaston, also a doctor at the St. Jérôme hospital.
"He said 'She had everything she wanted, did everything she wanted and travelled where she wanted,' " Paquin recalled. Turcotte, she said, cried, but was coherent and recognized his colleagues on that tragic Feb. 21, 2009.
Emergency room nurse Chantal Duhamel had seen Turcotte just the day before at work and said he was his calm, kind and smiling self.
"There was a bit of sadness in his eyes," she told the jury in a packed St. Jérôme courtroom. "And given the separation, he was a little quieter."
Choking back tears, Duhamel told the hushed court that Turcotte pleaded with her to let him die, saying he didn't want any treatment because he was a criminal.
"He looked at me and said he'd killed his children because he didn't want them to suffer from the separation," said the nurse.
Killed kids to spare them suffering, court hears
April 22, 2011
As he lay on a hospital bed after killing his two children and drinking two litres of windshield wiper fluid, Guy Turcotte obsessed about his wife, who'd left him for another man."If you only knew what she's put me through," Turcotte told emergency room manager and colleague Guylaine Paquin, she testified on Thursday at Turcotte's first-degree murder trial before Quebec Superior Court.
Paquin, reeling from the shock of seeing the cardiologist she'd known for five years in this state, tried to contain her emotions and treat him like any other patient, she said. As Turcotte tightly held Paquin's hand, he wondered out loud what happened to his relationship with his wife, Isabelle Gaston, also a doctor at the St. Jérôme hospital.
"He said 'She had everything she wanted, did everything she wanted and travelled where she wanted,' " Paquin recalled. Turcotte, she said, cried, but was coherent and recognized his colleagues on that tragic Feb. 21, 2009.
Emergency room nurse Chantal Duhamel had seen Turcotte just the day before at work and said he was his calm, kind and smiling self.
"There was a bit of sadness in his eyes," she told the jury in a packed St. Jérôme courtroom. "And given the separation, he was a little quieter."
Choking back tears, Duhamel told the hushed court that Turcotte pleaded with her to let him die, saying he didn't want any treatment because he was a criminal.
"He looked at me and said he'd killed his children because he didn't want them to suffer from the separation," said the nurse.
Jury hears grim details of kids' deaths
Last moments filled with terror; As Turcotte weeps in the prisoner's box, multiple stabbings of children are detailed
April 28, 2011
The image is one few in the courtroom will be able to erase from their minds: Anne-Sophie Turcotte, whose 3-year-old world was filled with Caillou and Winnie the Pooh, gripping her head and tearing out her hair as her father stabbed her 19 times.
During what has to date been the most difficult day of Guy Turcotte's first-degree murder trial, jury members heard Wednesday how the 36-pound child and her helpless brother Olivier, 5, died in their beds after struggling to shield themselves from their father, a cardiologist apparently distraught that his wife left him for another man.
Olivier, who would have turned 8 Wednesday, weighed 64 pounds when he was stabbed 27 times on his front, back and hands.
Anne-Sophie, stabbed in the chest, stomach and lower abdomen, was found naked - save for a pair of panties - with her left hand above her head, her right arm bent to touch her shoulder. Strands of her own hair were found in her tiny fists - a sign of distress, a biologist told Quebec Superior Court in St. Jérôme.
"It happens sometimes in these cases where the victim will grab his or her head and tear some hair out," François Julien told the hushed courtroom, as Turcotte, 39, cried in the prisoner's box.
Anne-Sophie had cuts on her hands and most likely rolled to her side on her bed, where her chest and stomach wounds left a large puddle of blood. She then returned to her back and endured another round of stabbings, Julien said.
A blood stain on the side of her mattress matched one found on the left knee of Turcotte's pants, suggesting he had knelt in a pool of Anne-Sophie's blood, then standing beside her bed, leaned over her to stab her, Julien testified.
Both the Crown and defense admit that Turcotte, a former cardiologist at St. Jérôme's Hôtel Dieu Hospital, killed his two children sometime between Feb. 21 and 22, 2009. What the jury must determine at the end of the seven week long trial is whether he meant to kill them.
Two knives were found in the house and pathologist André Bourgault testified Wednesday that the size of the stab wounds suggested the smaller knife - a bit bigger than a paring knife - was used.
And while he couldn't say with certainty when the children died, he said they didn't die instantaneously. Olivier was found on his bed in another room, his right arm covered in blood from the hand to just below the shoulder.
"This suggests he probably had his right arm over his chest," Julien said.
Tiny drops of blood splattered on the sheets and Turcotte's shirt came from Olivier's mouth, as he struggled to breathe with injured lungs, Julien told the seven-woman, five-man jury, who remained composed throughout.
The boy was on his side for some time before returning to his back and the position in which he was found.
A large knife, partly concealed by Olivier's bleeding torso and flecked with the same blood droplets, was found on the bed.
"Nothing suggests to me that this knife had been used," Julien said, explaining that if it had been used, it would look as though it had been wiped.
The jury has already heard during the first six days of testimony that Turcotte and his wife, Isabelle Gaston, had recently split and Gaston was seeing another man.
On the evening of Feb. 21, 2009, Turcotte spoke at length by phone with his mother, expressing his distress over the relationship. The next day, worried about her son's state of mind, Marguerite Fournier and her husband drove to their son's rented Piedmont home.
When they couldn't open the door or reach their son by phone, they called police, who made the horrific discovery inside.
Turcotte, who was hiding under the master bed, was arrested and taken to hospital. There, his shocked colleagues tried to deal with the surreal situation.
Turcotte wanted to die and said he'd drunk about two litres of windshield wiper fluid.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sylvain Harvey, an investigator with the Sûreté du Québec, showed the court an inventory of things he seized from Turcotte's home.
A near-empty plastic jug of purple Pacer windshield wiper fluid, a receipt dated Feb. 20, 2009, for $45.24 from Video Zone and a printout from a Google search on narcissistic personalities were found in the isolated home.
SOURCE: MONTREAL GAZETTE
Last moments filled with terror; As Turcotte weeps in the prisoner's box, multiple stabbings of children are detailed
April 28, 2011
Olivier, 5, and Anne-Sophie, 3
During what has to date been the most difficult day of Guy Turcotte's first-degree murder trial, jury members heard Wednesday how the 36-pound child and her helpless brother Olivier, 5, died in their beds after struggling to shield themselves from their father, a cardiologist apparently distraught that his wife left him for another man.
Olivier, who would have turned 8 Wednesday, weighed 64 pounds when he was stabbed 27 times on his front, back and hands.
Anne-Sophie, stabbed in the chest, stomach and lower abdomen, was found naked - save for a pair of panties - with her left hand above her head, her right arm bent to touch her shoulder. Strands of her own hair were found in her tiny fists - a sign of distress, a biologist told Quebec Superior Court in St. Jérôme.
"It happens sometimes in these cases where the victim will grab his or her head and tear some hair out," François Julien told the hushed courtroom, as Turcotte, 39, cried in the prisoner's box.
Anne-Sophie had cuts on her hands and most likely rolled to her side on her bed, where her chest and stomach wounds left a large puddle of blood. She then returned to her back and endured another round of stabbings, Julien said.
A blood stain on the side of her mattress matched one found on the left knee of Turcotte's pants, suggesting he had knelt in a pool of Anne-Sophie's blood, then standing beside her bed, leaned over her to stab her, Julien testified.
Both the Crown and defense admit that Turcotte, a former cardiologist at St. Jérôme's Hôtel Dieu Hospital, killed his two children sometime between Feb. 21 and 22, 2009. What the jury must determine at the end of the seven week long trial is whether he meant to kill them.
Two knives were found in the house and pathologist André Bourgault testified Wednesday that the size of the stab wounds suggested the smaller knife - a bit bigger than a paring knife - was used.
And while he couldn't say with certainty when the children died, he said they didn't die instantaneously. Olivier was found on his bed in another room, his right arm covered in blood from the hand to just below the shoulder.
"This suggests he probably had his right arm over his chest," Julien said.
Tiny drops of blood splattered on the sheets and Turcotte's shirt came from Olivier's mouth, as he struggled to breathe with injured lungs, Julien told the seven-woman, five-man jury, who remained composed throughout.
The boy was on his side for some time before returning to his back and the position in which he was found.
A large knife, partly concealed by Olivier's bleeding torso and flecked with the same blood droplets, was found on the bed.
"Nothing suggests to me that this knife had been used," Julien said, explaining that if it had been used, it would look as though it had been wiped.
The jury has already heard during the first six days of testimony that Turcotte and his wife, Isabelle Gaston, had recently split and Gaston was seeing another man.
On the evening of Feb. 21, 2009, Turcotte spoke at length by phone with his mother, expressing his distress over the relationship. The next day, worried about her son's state of mind, Marguerite Fournier and her husband drove to their son's rented Piedmont home.
When they couldn't open the door or reach their son by phone, they called police, who made the horrific discovery inside.
Turcotte, who was hiding under the master bed, was arrested and taken to hospital. There, his shocked colleagues tried to deal with the surreal situation.
Turcotte wanted to die and said he'd drunk about two litres of windshield wiper fluid.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sylvain Harvey, an investigator with the Sûreté du Québec, showed the court an inventory of things he seized from Turcotte's home.
A near-empty plastic jug of purple Pacer windshield wiper fluid, a receipt dated Feb. 20, 2009, for $45.24 from Video Zone and a printout from a Google search on narcissistic personalities were found in the isolated home.
SOURCE: MONTREAL GAZETTE
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