She vanished in 1996, leaving behind her one-year-old daughter. Nearly 26 years later, the case of the disappearance of Patricia Ferguson would have been resolved: Serge Audette was arrested in connection with the case and appeared Friday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
The 69-year-old faces manslaughter charges.
Patricia Ferguson was 23 when she was last seen in Pointe-aux-Trembles in 1996. Her daughter Sabrina Ferguson was one year old at the time. She is now relieved.
“I don’t know if I’m sad or happy. It changed my whole life,” she told the media.
The young woman believed all her life that her mother had abandoned her. She now knows that her mother would have been killed.
She wanted to come back to see me. I can finally love my mother and accept her and tell myself that she has not abandoned me. I want justice for Patricia.
Sabrina Ferguson, daughter of Patricia
She hopes this story will give hope to other families who have lost loved ones and are searching for answers.
“I lived there for 25 years. If other people are in this situation and want justice, I hope reading this story will help them,” she explains.
Recent information has allowed the police investigation to be completed almost 30 years later.
Me Nadia Bérubé represents the crown and Me Kristina Markovic defends the accused.
Last December, the Montreal police had erected a command post in the Pointe-aux-Trembles district in connection with this affair. The investigators then tried to gather information from the public allowing them to solve this disappearance.
The story so far
Patricia Ferguson was last seen on June 6, 1996 in Montreal.
She would have gone to sleep with a friend. In the middle of the night, she left the Pointe-aux-Trembles accommodation leaving her little girl, according to the police. She would have left a note to her friend telling her that she was going to have lunch and then join her sister, specifies the search notice in connection with her disappearance.