Murder trial 17 years later | Did Ernesto Fera kill his wife for $ 350,000 of life insurance?

(Saint-Jérôme) Did Ernesto Fera murder his wife to pay off his debts with life insurance? Seventeen years later, the mystery of this possible feminicide could finally be elucidated, as the trial for the murder of Ernesto Fera began on Monday, which touched $ 350,000 on the death of his wife Nadia Panarello.

Louis-Samuel Perron
Press

“I took my daughter’s left hand, and noticed that it was very cold. I screamed very, very loudly, ”said Antonietta Zompa, the victim’s mother, in Italian. First witness of the Pursuit, the 87-year-old woman courageously described the circumstances of the discovery of her daughter’s body on February 12, 2004, in the family residence in the Vimont district in Laval.

The photos of the crime scene are bloodcurdling. The 38-year-old woman’s body, her throat slit, bathes in a pool of blood in the bathroom adjacent to her bedroom. Sign of a possible fight, a massive lamp lies up to the victim’s side, dressed only in pants and a bra.

That morning, Antonietta Zompa receives a call from Ernesto Fera at around “9 am, 9:30 am”. “He told me that Nadia had not arrived at her job. He asked me if I knew where she was. Ernesto told me that he would go and see the house, ”she explained. However, she decides to go there, as she lives closer and has a duplicate of the key. His call to 9-1-1 shows the extent of his distress in the house.

For 15 years, the murder of Nadia Panarello remained unsolved. It wasn’t until 2019 that Ernesto Fera was arrested. Such a delay is extremely rare in a murder case in Quebec. We do not know what finally allowed the police to close the investigation. According to the evidence, the 55-year-old was in financial difficulty at the time. A year earlier, he had had to place the restaurant he had co-owned for five years under bankruptcy protection.

Ernesto Fera had in fact $ 115,000 in debt, notably with Revenu Québec. He was three months behind in his mortgage payments and his credit card was full. The couple could no longer even pay their school taxes and the registration fees for one of the vehicles. However, the couple had earned incomes of $ 113,000 in 2003.

In the fall of 2003, Ernesto Fera visited the offices of a former client of his restaurant, Michel Trudel – who until recently ran the MELS studios in Montreal – to ask for a loan of $ 120,000. As Mr. Fera did not offer him any guarantees, the businessman to refuse. The accused, however, told him “to wait for an inheritance of 175,000 euros”, testified Michel Trudel. According to the victim’s mother, no one else in the family died in 2003-2004.

In total, Ernesto Fera received $ 350,000 in life insurance upon his wife’s death, which paid off the mortgage on the house and all of his debts.

Ernesto Fera is defended by M^e Joseph La Leggia and M^e Isabelle Lamarche, while the public prosecutor is represented by M^e Nektarios Tzortzinas, M^e Steve Baribea and M^e Alexandre Dubois. Judge James Brunton presides over the trial.