August 12, 2025 • 18 mins
We’re taking a short break and using this time to amplify the voices of other creators we love in the true crime space. This week we’re bringing you a story from Alecia - host of Truly Twisted (AND Twisted & Uncorked)! Follow the show @itstrulytwisted on Instagram and @trulytwisted on TikTok as well as the host @littleleesha.
On September 29, 1996. Just after 2am, in the quiet Ontario town of New Liskeard, 15‑year‑old Melanie Ethier vanished while walking home from her friend's house. Tune in for the baffling story and the theories surrounding her disappearance.
Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or use this link. There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker,or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts.
For more information about the show or Fire Eyes Media you can visit our website at https://www.fireeyesmedia.com & don't forget to check out our other incredible shows while you are there.
Resources used in this episode:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ontario/article/still-missing-melanie-ethier/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Melanie_Ethier
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1018-the-next-call/episode/15848324-the-case-of-melanie-ethier-episode-1
https://www.northbaynipissing.com/news/new-info-prompts-search-of-north-cobalt-in-25-year-old-melanie-ethier-case/article_50bff8d5-9fa6-5398-af40-6339c853fa14.html
On September 29, 1996. Just after 2am, in the quiet Ontario town of New Liskeard, 15‑year‑old Melanie Ethier vanished while walking home from her friend's house. Tune in for the baffling story and the theories surrounding her disappearance.
Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! If you have any true crime, paranormal, or witchy stories you'd like to share with us & possibly have them read (out loud) on an episode, email us at pnwhauntsandhomicides@gmail.com or use this link. There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker,or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts.
For more information about the show or Fire Eyes Media you can visit our website at https://www.fireeyesmedia.com & don't forget to check out our other incredible shows while you are there.
Resources used in this episode:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/northern-ontario/article/still-missing-melanie-ethier/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Melanie_Ethier
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1018-the-next-call/episode/15848324-the-case-of-melanie-ethier-episode-1
https://www.northbaynipissing.com/news/new-info-prompts-search-of-north-cobalt-in-25-year-old-melanie-ethier-case/article_50bff8d5-9fa6-5398-af40-6339c853fa14.html
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Fireeyes Media. On September twenty ninth, nineteen ninety six, just
after two am in the quiet Ontario town of New Liscard,
fifteen year old Melanie Etier left her friend's house and
started the six block walk to her own home. This
was a walk that she did often, but this time
she manashed, leaving her family with unanswered questions and unimaginable loss.
(00:44):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Truly Twisted. As always,
I'm your host, Alicia Watson, and every Thursday, I will
be bringing you a story that is always victim focused
and fact based. Today we will be talking about the
disc appearance of Melanie Ettier. Melanie Ettier was born on
Christmas Day, nineteen eighty to her mother, Seln. Unfortunately, her
(01:09):
dad wasn't really in the picture. From what I understand,
he lived in Botswana and he and Seln met while
he was attending school in a neighboring town from her.
He was relocated back home after his schooling was complete.
Seln was a great mother though, raising Melanie and her
sister Jesse in New Liscard in Ontario. The family moved
(01:32):
there when the girls were just six and five years old.
Melanie was always very maternal and protective towards her sister.
This was a very small, close knit community with about
forty four hundred people. Melanie and her sister Jesse were
two of only four black girls living in the community
as well, so that raised challenges for the young teens
(01:54):
at times. Melanie was an honor student at Saint Marie
Catholic Second and she worked at the attached daycare. They
would open early in the mornings and be open later
after school, and Melanie loved working there because she wanted
to be a teacher when she graduated. She had a
good heart and she was close with her family. Her
(02:15):
friends described her as being the salts of the earth.
On Saturday, September twenty eighth, Melanie was hanging out with
one of her best friends. The two girls spent the
afternoon running errands together. They had lunch at Pizza Pizza
and dreamed of what their futures would look like, talked
about their goals. They also went to the home of
(02:35):
one of Melanie's babysitting jobs to pick up her payment
for the last two sits that she did. The next day,
the family was hosting a birthday party for Melanie's grandmother,
and she was planning on getting up early for work
the next day and then making her grandma's cake before
the party. Part of the girl's errands that day was
picking up all of the ingredients for that as well
(02:57):
as a gift for her. While out and about, the
girls ran into Neil Fortier, Melanie's boyfriend, and a few
of his friends. The group all made plans to rent
a movie and watch it together. There was a video
rental place close to Melanie's house, so they suggested that
they watch it over there. She just had to check
(03:18):
with her mom first. They stopped at the video store
between nine and nine thirty pm and rented Sudden Death.
They then walked to her place and Melanie asked her
mom if it was okay for them to watch the
movie there. Melanie's grandmother was over visiting and her room
was crazy messy and she had to clean it before
(03:40):
she could have any friends in there, so her mom
suggested that maybe they go to one of the other
teens homes this time around. The group then made their
way from Melanie's and se Lynne watched her daughter walk
away with her friends for the last time. That was
the last time that she would see or hear from Melanie.
It has been twenty eight years since she disappeared, and
(04:02):
her mom still fights for her story to get out
there in hopes of answers. Someday, someone always knows something.
At around ten PM, they arrived at the home of
Ryan Chatwin, one of Neil's friends, to watch the movie.
This was about six blocks from Melanie's house. The teens
(04:22):
watched the movie in the basement of the home and
Ryan's parents were upstairs. No drugs or alcohol were consumed
by any of the teens that night, And I just
feel like this is important to mention because I would
never want there to be theories that stray too far
when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. One of Neil's friends
and the girlfriend that Melanie had gone there with had
(04:45):
to leave before the movie ended in order to catch
a ride. Her friend was going to get a ride
home from Melanie's grandmother and left between twelve thirty am
and one am. She noted following Melanie's disappearance vicious vehicle
as she crossed the street. It approached her slowly, and
it immediately made her feel panicked, like it was assessing
(05:08):
her or something because it was dark and there were
headlights on, she couldn't see the driver. She raced the
six blocks to Melanie's home and got her ride with
her grandmother. She is believed to have taken the same
route that Melanie would have. The vehicle she encountered has
been described as a white or light colored Chevrolet Monte
(05:29):
Carlo or similar two door model, with signs of being
in poor condition, including a gray patch on the side
which was likely hiding a hole or some other damage.
Another woman had reported an unsettling interaction with the same
vehicle hours earlier, when she was walking her dog and
the car pulled over to ask for directions. She felt
(05:53):
very uneasy and her dog began barking viciously as they
rapidly drove off. At around from two am on September
twenty ninth, Melanie left to make her way home and
begin the short walk. Like I said, this was a
walk that she had done before. She was very familiar
with these streets. Melanie's route would have taken her through
(06:14):
three intersections, over the Armstrong Bridge, past a gas station
and apartment building, up a back alley or along a
main road, and then finally to the top of Church Street,
where the Ethier residence was located. The last stretch of
her route past the bridge would have been poorly lit,
but there was a full moon that night, believed to
(06:36):
have providing a little bit of natural light, but there
were no street lights along that back road where the
video store was located by her house. Se Lynne was
woken up the next morning at six am when she
heard Melanie's alarm clock going off in her room, but
the alarm never stopped. When she went into check on her,
she was not in her room. She didn't panic right
(06:59):
away because it wasn't uncharacteristic of Melanie to spend the
night sleeping at a friend's house if it was too late,
so she turned off the alarm and went back to
sleep until around nine am. At ten am, Melanie's grandparents
arrived for her grandmother's party, and when Melanie still didn't
return home, they started to worry. Selyn and Melanie's grandfather
(07:23):
drove to the tim Hortons to purchase the cake and
ask around about Melanie. Seln learned that Melanie had left
Ryan's house that night before, and she was filled with dread.
She had also not shown up for her babysitting job
earlier that morning. Selynn then reported her daughter as missing
at one pm with the New Liscard Police. Local police
(07:47):
requested the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police in the
earlier days of the search, bringing in a helicopter, a
police dog team, and search and rescue. They searched everywhere,
ground and air. And what's even more unsettling is that
there was no direction, lead, or scent of her with
(08:08):
the dog teams. It's like she simply vanished into thin air.
Police checked surveillance videos along Melanie's likely route, and friends
and neighbors were interviewed extensively. By October eighth, an underwater
search and rescue team began a three day search of
the Wabi River between the Armstrong Bridge that she would
(08:28):
have crossed and the lake that I fed into. According
to the Ettier family, a single item may have been
recovered by police on the first day of the search,
but it was never made public. Melanie had no reason
to leave the community and foul play was absolutely suspected
in her disappearance. Selina and volunteers from the community distributed
(08:53):
posters in New Liscard and communities as far as Timmins, Ottawa,
and even Montreal and Quebec. Despite these efforts, sadly, the
search went cold, but eyewitness statements do confirm that she
at least made it to the north end of the
bridge on her walk. In twenty twenty one, an anonymous
(09:14):
tip came in, leading the police team to Laroque Field,
which was roughly ten kilometers from Melanie's last location, but
nothing was recovered or noted as relevant in the search.
Selyyn considers North Cobalt Cemetery to be the most likely
spot where Melanie's body could be buried. As one of
(09:36):
the suspects. Dennis Labell worked for the cemetery and was
very familiar with the surrounding areas. So let's get into
suspects and theories. There are three viable theories in my
opinion when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. She was abducted
on her way home, either by a stranger or a local.
(09:58):
But a stranger seems more possible as there was three
weddings happening in town that weekend, with celebrations happening just
a street over from Ryan's house. Somebody, maybe a little
too drunk, saw her walking home and decided to take
advantage of her. The highway off ramp was also right
near the main street that she would have walked down.
(10:19):
If somebody grabbed her, it would have been easy to
disappear into the night, which is truly haunting. Dennis LaBelle
was in a long term relationship with Sullyn's best friend,
Sylvie Chartrand. Sylvie had a sixteen year old daughter who
was also friends with Melanie and her sister Jesse. The
day after Melanie was reported missing, her grandmother had a
(10:42):
relatively unnerving encounter with Dennis and went down to the
basement to smoke a cigarette in Melanie's home. This was
already weird because he had never gone down there and
Celine didn't allow smoking in her house. He told the
person who harmed her granddaughter would have to have been
very strong, as she was capable of defending herself, showing
(11:04):
her deep nail marks on his arms, which he said
Melanie had made when they were play fighting. At this point,
Seln became very suspicious of Dennis, as, according to his
own versions of events, he had gone out of town
on the friday before Melanie disappeared and only returned after
she was reported missing, making it impossible for him to
(11:26):
have encountered Melanie when she visited Sylvie's home on the
morning of September twenty eighth, that and neither of Sylvie's
children had ever reported seeing them playfight. The wounds also
looked fairly recent. In the years following these interactions, Celyne
distanced her family from Denis over her suspicions. On two occasions,
(11:49):
he called seln while he was in a hotel room,
threatening suicide. On both occasions, she ran to his aid,
believing that he was prepared to make some sort of
deathbed candes profession about his role in her daughter's case,
but he never did. Interestingly, he apparently had a long
history of making sexual advances against miners and even served
(12:12):
jail time for it. In twenty twenty one, Sylvie admitted
that six of her daughter's friends had come forward describing
how Dennis had sexually harassed or assaulted them. A friend
later told police that on one occasion, when Denis Leavell
had spotted an unfamiliar black girl in town, he commented
that he had an affinity for quote unquote black chocolate.
(12:34):
On one occasion around two thousand, Dennis Leavell followed one
of his daughter's friends into the sun room of his
house and told the girl that he wanted her to
experience an orgasm, which is so disgusting. And years later,
Dennis was briefly jailed for sexually assaulting one of his
daughter's friends in the family home while everyone was asleep,
(12:57):
but he was acquitted in court and released, which like why.
In twenty fourteen, Dennis Lavelle was sentenced to serve time
in prison after pleading guilty to a similar offense, and
he was released after several months. On multiple occasions, he
lured teenage girls to a hotel room, often telling them
that he needed a babysitter for a fictional child. Around
(13:21):
ten years after Melanie disappeared, Dennis lard her younger sister, Jesse,
with a similar trick. Dennis's father had recently died, and
he offered Jesse to do some cleaning for his mother's
house that afternoon, but instead he drove her to a
hotel on the outskirts of New Liscard. He coaxed her
inside with this imaginary cleaning job, and Dennis locked the
(13:45):
door and consumed cocaine strip naked, made sexual comments towards her,
sat on the bed used the hot tub for about
four hours while Jesse was just pretending to text on
her phone and avoid his advances. Jesse had plans to
meet her boyfriend at around two forty five that day
and finally convinced Dennis to let her leave, which is
(14:08):
smart because you know, if she's meeting somebody and she
doesn't show up, that makes him look bad, so he
really had no other choice. But she completely cut ties
with him and the whole family after this incident, which
convinced her that he definitely had a role in her
sister's disappearance. One woman known only in the media as
(14:29):
Josephine interviewed for the podcast called The Next Call in
that she stated that Dennis had come to Sudbury and
arranged for her to babysit for his girlfriend at a
remote hotel, but confessed that it was a lie while
driving there, and then spent the next two hours commenting
on her body while drinking heavily. According to Josephine, Dennis
(14:53):
later spread rumors that they had sex that night, and
his behavior led her to believe that he was responsible
for assaulting Melanie Ettia, saying that she may have had
a similar interaction with Dennis and violently fought back if
she rejected him. In twenty twelve, Dennis arranged for a
teenage girl to babysit his granddaughter, which she found to
(15:16):
be a lie. When she arrived at the hotel room,
he again made sexual advances, and the girl later pressed charges.
This eventually made him serve time in prison for the offense.
While in prison, Selne visited him and directly asked about
his involvement in her daughter's case. He denied any involvement,
(15:37):
and sadly, he died of a stroke in twenty sixteen
before any confession could be pulled from him. And while
Dennis seems like a viable theory, there are other theories
about Melanie possibly being mistaken for another girl in town
when she was attacked, or maybe the victim of a
serial killer. Today, Melanie would be forty three years old
(16:00):
and she was last seen wearing a green Nike jacket,
blue jeans, a white T shirt with a pepe logo
and a blue heart, and black boots. Melanie was described
as five five and one hundred and twenty pounds. Roughly,
she's a black female with brown eyes and long braided
black hair. The Ontario Provincial Police say that the case
(16:24):
will never be closed until it is solved, and that
they would like to remind the public that even the
smallest detail could have a significant impact. Any person with
any information regarding the disappearance is asked to contact them
at one eight eight eight three, one zero one one
two two or seven oh five three two nine six
(16:46):
one one one, their nearest police authority or crime stoppers
anonymously reward money climbed from two thousand dollars to fifty
thousand dollars over the years for any information that could
possibly lead to Melanie's recovery. There are two billboards along
Highway eleven that still ask you know what happened to me,
(17:11):
so why don't you help? I truly hope that someone
is able to help one day. While her mother believes
that it is very unlikely that Melanie is still alive today,
she still deserves justice and her family deserves answers. And
I do hope that you enjoyed this week's story. If
(17:31):
you like the show, don't forget to leave me five
stars wherever you are listening now. It really is the
best way to help me reach new audiences, and it
means so so much to me. If you have a case, suggestion,
or something that you would like me to cover, please
email me at Alicia at fireeyesmedia dot com or feel
free to message me on social media. I will see
(17:54):
you next week for another episode. And in the meantime,
remember are wanted, you are loved, and you deserve to
be here, and I will see you next week. Truly
Twisted is a proud production of Fireeyes Media, a woman
owned and operated network. This show is hosted, researched, and
(18:16):
edited by me, Alicia Watson, and I would love if
you would email me any case, suggestions or comments you
may have at Alicia at fireeysmedia dot com. Fireeyes Media
Fireeyes Media. On September twenty ninth, nineteen ninety six, just
after two am in the quiet Ontario town of New Liscard,
fifteen year old Melanie Etier left her friend's house and
started the six block walk to her own home. This
was a walk that she did often, but this time
she manashed, leaving her family with unanswered questions and unimaginable loss.
(00:44):
Hello and welcome to another episode of Truly Twisted. As always,
I'm your host, Alicia Watson, and every Thursday, I will
be bringing you a story that is always victim focused
and fact based. Today we will be talking about the
disc appearance of Melanie Ettier. Melanie Ettier was born on
Christmas Day, nineteen eighty to her mother, Seln. Unfortunately, her
(01:09):
dad wasn't really in the picture. From what I understand,
he lived in Botswana and he and Seln met while
he was attending school in a neighboring town from her.
He was relocated back home after his schooling was complete.
Seln was a great mother though, raising Melanie and her
sister Jesse in New Liscard in Ontario. The family moved
(01:32):
there when the girls were just six and five years old.
Melanie was always very maternal and protective towards her sister.
This was a very small, close knit community with about
forty four hundred people. Melanie and her sister Jesse were
two of only four black girls living in the community
as well, so that raised challenges for the young teens
(01:54):
at times. Melanie was an honor student at Saint Marie
Catholic Second and she worked at the attached daycare. They
would open early in the mornings and be open later
after school, and Melanie loved working there because she wanted
to be a teacher when she graduated. She had a
good heart and she was close with her family. Her
(02:15):
friends described her as being the salts of the earth.
On Saturday, September twenty eighth, Melanie was hanging out with
one of her best friends. The two girls spent the
afternoon running errands together. They had lunch at Pizza Pizza
and dreamed of what their futures would look like, talked
about their goals. They also went to the home of
(02:35):
one of Melanie's babysitting jobs to pick up her payment
for the last two sits that she did. The next day,
the family was hosting a birthday party for Melanie's grandmother,
and she was planning on getting up early for work
the next day and then making her grandma's cake before
the party. Part of the girl's errands that day was
picking up all of the ingredients for that as well
(02:57):
as a gift for her. While out and about, the
girls ran into Neil Fortier, Melanie's boyfriend, and a few
of his friends. The group all made plans to rent
a movie and watch it together. There was a video
rental place close to Melanie's house, so they suggested that
they watch it over there. She just had to check
(03:18):
with her mom first. They stopped at the video store
between nine and nine thirty pm and rented Sudden Death.
They then walked to her place and Melanie asked her
mom if it was okay for them to watch the
movie there. Melanie's grandmother was over visiting and her room
was crazy messy and she had to clean it before
(03:40):
she could have any friends in there, so her mom
suggested that maybe they go to one of the other
teens homes this time around. The group then made their
way from Melanie's and se Lynne watched her daughter walk
away with her friends for the last time. That was
the last time that she would see or hear from Melanie.
It has been twenty eight years since she disappeared, and
(04:02):
her mom still fights for her story to get out
there in hopes of answers. Someday, someone always knows something.
At around ten PM, they arrived at the home of
Ryan Chatwin, one of Neil's friends, to watch the movie.
This was about six blocks from Melanie's house. The teens
(04:22):
watched the movie in the basement of the home and
Ryan's parents were upstairs. No drugs or alcohol were consumed
by any of the teens that night, And I just
feel like this is important to mention because I would
never want there to be theories that stray too far
when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. One of Neil's friends
and the girlfriend that Melanie had gone there with had
(04:45):
to leave before the movie ended in order to catch
a ride. Her friend was going to get a ride
home from Melanie's grandmother and left between twelve thirty am
and one am. She noted following Melanie's disappearance vicious vehicle
as she crossed the street. It approached her slowly, and
it immediately made her feel panicked, like it was assessing
(05:08):
her or something because it was dark and there were
headlights on, she couldn't see the driver. She raced the
six blocks to Melanie's home and got her ride with
her grandmother. She is believed to have taken the same
route that Melanie would have. The vehicle she encountered has
been described as a white or light colored Chevrolet Monte
(05:29):
Carlo or similar two door model, with signs of being
in poor condition, including a gray patch on the side
which was likely hiding a hole or some other damage.
Another woman had reported an unsettling interaction with the same
vehicle hours earlier, when she was walking her dog and
the car pulled over to ask for directions. She felt
(05:53):
very uneasy and her dog began barking viciously as they
rapidly drove off. At around from two am on September
twenty ninth, Melanie left to make her way home and
begin the short walk. Like I said, this was a
walk that she had done before. She was very familiar
with these streets. Melanie's route would have taken her through
(06:14):
three intersections, over the Armstrong Bridge, past a gas station
and apartment building, up a back alley or along a
main road, and then finally to the top of Church Street,
where the Ethier residence was located. The last stretch of
her route past the bridge would have been poorly lit,
but there was a full moon that night, believed to
(06:36):
have providing a little bit of natural light, but there
were no street lights along that back road where the
video store was located by her house. Se Lynne was
woken up the next morning at six am when she
heard Melanie's alarm clock going off in her room, but
the alarm never stopped. When she went into check on her,
she was not in her room. She didn't panic right
(06:59):
away because it wasn't uncharacteristic of Melanie to spend the
night sleeping at a friend's house if it was too late,
so she turned off the alarm and went back to
sleep until around nine am. At ten am, Melanie's grandparents
arrived for her grandmother's party, and when Melanie still didn't
return home, they started to worry. Selyn and Melanie's grandfather
(07:23):
drove to the tim Hortons to purchase the cake and
ask around about Melanie. Seln learned that Melanie had left
Ryan's house that night before, and she was filled with dread.
She had also not shown up for her babysitting job
earlier that morning. Selynn then reported her daughter as missing
at one pm with the New Liscard Police. Local police
(07:47):
requested the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police in the
earlier days of the search, bringing in a helicopter, a
police dog team, and search and rescue. They searched everywhere,
ground and air. And what's even more unsettling is that
there was no direction, lead, or scent of her with
(08:08):
the dog teams. It's like she simply vanished into thin air.
Police checked surveillance videos along Melanie's likely route, and friends
and neighbors were interviewed extensively. By October eighth, an underwater
search and rescue team began a three day search of
the Wabi River between the Armstrong Bridge that she would
(08:28):
have crossed and the lake that I fed into. According
to the Ettier family, a single item may have been
recovered by police on the first day of the search,
but it was never made public. Melanie had no reason
to leave the community and foul play was absolutely suspected
in her disappearance. Selina and volunteers from the community distributed
(08:53):
posters in New Liscard and communities as far as Timmins, Ottawa,
and even Montreal and Quebec. Despite these efforts, sadly, the
search went cold, but eyewitness statements do confirm that she
at least made it to the north end of the
bridge on her walk. In twenty twenty one, an anonymous
(09:14):
tip came in, leading the police team to Laroque Field,
which was roughly ten kilometers from Melanie's last location, but
nothing was recovered or noted as relevant in the search.
Selyyn considers North Cobalt Cemetery to be the most likely
spot where Melanie's body could be buried. As one of
(09:36):
the suspects. Dennis Labell worked for the cemetery and was
very familiar with the surrounding areas. So let's get into
suspects and theories. There are three viable theories in my
opinion when it comes to Melanie's disappearance. She was abducted
on her way home, either by a stranger or a local.
(09:58):
But a stranger seems more possible as there was three
weddings happening in town that weekend, with celebrations happening just
a street over from Ryan's house. Somebody, maybe a little
too drunk, saw her walking home and decided to take
advantage of her. The highway off ramp was also right
near the main street that she would have walked down.
(10:19):
If somebody grabbed her, it would have been easy to
disappear into the night, which is truly haunting. Dennis LaBelle
was in a long term relationship with Sullyn's best friend,
Sylvie Chartrand. Sylvie had a sixteen year old daughter who
was also friends with Melanie and her sister Jesse. The
day after Melanie was reported missing, her grandmother had a
(10:42):
relatively unnerving encounter with Dennis and went down to the
basement to smoke a cigarette in Melanie's home. This was
already weird because he had never gone down there and
Celine didn't allow smoking in her house. He told the
person who harmed her granddaughter would have to have been
very strong, as she was capable of defending herself, showing
(11:04):
her deep nail marks on his arms, which he said
Melanie had made when they were play fighting. At this point,
Seln became very suspicious of Dennis, as, according to his
own versions of events, he had gone out of town
on the friday before Melanie disappeared and only returned after
she was reported missing, making it impossible for him to
(11:26):
have encountered Melanie when she visited Sylvie's home on the
morning of September twenty eighth, that and neither of Sylvie's
children had ever reported seeing them playfight. The wounds also
looked fairly recent. In the years following these interactions, Celyne
distanced her family from Denis over her suspicions. On two occasions,
(11:49):
he called seln while he was in a hotel room,
threatening suicide. On both occasions, she ran to his aid,
believing that he was prepared to make some sort of
deathbed candes profession about his role in her daughter's case,
but he never did. Interestingly, he apparently had a long
history of making sexual advances against miners and even served
(12:12):
jail time for it. In twenty twenty one, Sylvie admitted
that six of her daughter's friends had come forward describing
how Dennis had sexually harassed or assaulted them. A friend
later told police that on one occasion, when Denis Leavell
had spotted an unfamiliar black girl in town, he commented
that he had an affinity for quote unquote black chocolate.
(12:34):
On one occasion around two thousand, Dennis Leavell followed one
of his daughter's friends into the sun room of his
house and told the girl that he wanted her to
experience an orgasm, which is so disgusting. And years later,
Dennis was briefly jailed for sexually assaulting one of his
daughter's friends in the family home while everyone was asleep,
(12:57):
but he was acquitted in court and released, which like why.
In twenty fourteen, Dennis Lavelle was sentenced to serve time
in prison after pleading guilty to a similar offense, and
he was released after several months. On multiple occasions, he
lured teenage girls to a hotel room, often telling them
that he needed a babysitter for a fictional child. Around
(13:21):
ten years after Melanie disappeared, Dennis lard her younger sister, Jesse,
with a similar trick. Dennis's father had recently died, and
he offered Jesse to do some cleaning for his mother's
house that afternoon, but instead he drove her to a
hotel on the outskirts of New Liscard. He coaxed her
inside with this imaginary cleaning job, and Dennis locked the
(13:45):
door and consumed cocaine strip naked, made sexual comments towards her,
sat on the bed used the hot tub for about
four hours while Jesse was just pretending to text on
her phone and avoid his advances. Jesse had plans to
meet her boyfriend at around two forty five that day
and finally convinced Dennis to let her leave, which is
(14:08):
smart because you know, if she's meeting somebody and she
doesn't show up, that makes him look bad, so he
really had no other choice. But she completely cut ties
with him and the whole family after this incident, which
convinced her that he definitely had a role in her
sister's disappearance. One woman known only in the media as
(14:29):
Josephine interviewed for the podcast called The Next Call in
that she stated that Dennis had come to Sudbury and
arranged for her to babysit for his girlfriend at a
remote hotel, but confessed that it was a lie while
driving there, and then spent the next two hours commenting
on her body while drinking heavily. According to Josephine, Dennis
(14:53):
later spread rumors that they had sex that night, and
his behavior led her to believe that he was responsible
for assaulting Melanie Ettia, saying that she may have had
a similar interaction with Dennis and violently fought back if
she rejected him. In twenty twelve, Dennis arranged for a
teenage girl to babysit his granddaughter, which she found to
(15:16):
be a lie. When she arrived at the hotel room,
he again made sexual advances, and the girl later pressed charges.
This eventually made him serve time in prison for the offense.
While in prison, Selne visited him and directly asked about
his involvement in her daughter's case. He denied any involvement,
(15:37):
and sadly, he died of a stroke in twenty sixteen
before any confession could be pulled from him. And while
Dennis seems like a viable theory, there are other theories
about Melanie possibly being mistaken for another girl in town
when she was attacked, or maybe the victim of a
serial killer. Today, Melanie would be forty three years old
(16:00):
and she was last seen wearing a green Nike jacket,
blue jeans, a white T shirt with a pepe logo
and a blue heart, and black boots. Melanie was described
as five five and one hundred and twenty pounds. Roughly,
she's a black female with brown eyes and long braided
black hair. The Ontario Provincial Police say that the case
(16:24):
will never be closed until it is solved, and that
they would like to remind the public that even the
smallest detail could have a significant impact. Any person with
any information regarding the disappearance is asked to contact them
at one eight eight eight three, one zero one one
two two or seven oh five three two nine six
(16:46):
one one one, their nearest police authority or crime stoppers
anonymously reward money climbed from two thousand dollars to fifty
thousand dollars over the years for any information that could
possibly lead to Melanie's recovery. There are two billboards along
Highway eleven that still ask you know what happened to me,
(17:11):
so why don't you help? I truly hope that someone
is able to help one day. While her mother believes
that it is very unlikely that Melanie is still alive today,
she still deserves justice and her family deserves answers. And
I do hope that you enjoyed this week's story. If
(17:31):
you like the show, don't forget to leave me five
stars wherever you are listening now. It really is the
best way to help me reach new audiences, and it
means so so much to me. If you have a case, suggestion,
or something that you would like me to cover, please
email me at Alicia at fireeyesmedia dot com or feel
free to message me on social media. I will see
(17:54):
you next week for another episode. And in the meantime,
remember are wanted, you are loved, and you deserve to
be here, and I will see you next week. Truly
Twisted is a proud production of Fireeyes Media, a woman
owned and operated network. This show is hosted, researched, and
(18:16):
edited by me, Alicia Watson, and I would love if
you would email me any case, suggestions or comments you
may have at Alicia at fireeysmedia dot com. Fireeyes Media
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