Not-guilty pleas in family deaths

Crown rejects manslaughter plea as trial begins for couple accused in killings of mother, father, son

The alleged killers of a father, mother and adult son who were all found dead in the same Mississauga home years apart have pleaded not guilty to murder, despite a video confession that shows one accused admitting to two of the killings, a jury heard Wednesday.

Melissa Merritt, 37, and her commonlaw partner, Christopher Fattore, 39, rose from their seats in a Brampton courtroom to answer to joint charges of firstdegree murder in the deaths of Merritt’s estranged husband in 2013 and his mother in 2010.

Fattore alone is charged with seconddegree murder in the death of the estranged husband’s father in 2009.

Merritt, wearing a dark pantsuit hanging loose on her small frame, blinked back tears as she whispered her plea to both charges: “Not guilty.”

Fattore, tall and broad with a shaved head and thick-framed glasses, pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, but guilty to manslaughter in the death of Caleb Harrison, Merritt’s estranged spouse.

The crown did not accept his manslaughter plea.

A video confession to be entered as evidence will show that Fattore admitted to two of the killings after he was arrested in 2014, saying, “I killed Bridget and Caleb Harrison,” Crown prosecutor Eric Taylor said in his opening address.

Caleb Harrison, 40, was found dead on Aug. 23, 2013 — the third death in the home at 3635 Pitch Pine Cres. His mother, Bridget Harrison, 63, died there on April 21, 2010. Her body was found at the bottom of a staircase, steps from the powder room where she discovered the body of her husband, Bill, 65, a year earlier.

“I killed Bridget and Caleb Harrison.” CHRISTOPHER FATTORE ACCUSED IN VIDEO CONFESSION, ACCORDING TO CROWN PROSECUTOR ERIC TAYLOR

An abnormal heart rhythm was listed as the most likely cause of Bill Harrison’s 2009 death.

Bridget’s death was considered suspicious, but, with no leads, the police investigation “stalled and then eventually stopped altogether,” Taylor said.

It was only after Caleb was killed three years later that investigators took a closer look at the earlier deaths.

In his overview of evidence, including forensic and pathology reports, police surveillance, wiretapped phone calls and court records, Taylor explained that Merritt was involved in a years-long custody dispute with the Harrisons over the two children she and Caleb had together.

Merritt and Caleb were married in 2001 and separated in 2005 after he was charged with assaulting her and later convicted, the jury heard. Not long after, Caleb drove drunk and killed a man.

“No one will suggest to you that Caleb Harrison didn’t have his own issues,” the prosecutor said.

Caleb moved in with his parents after the couple separated and the children lived with them part time while he and Merritt shared custody, the prosecutor said.

Merritt and Fattore met in 2006 and have four children together. In March 2009, Bridget and Bill sought and were awarded Caleb’s share of custody while he served a jail sentence for the impaired driving death. Not long after, Merritt and Fattore packed up their bags and left Ontario with the children, in contravention of the custody order.

Taylor said evidence will show that Bill learned of their impending departure from a mutual friend; the prosecution believes he was killed after confronting Fattore about it.

Bill’s body was cremated. However, Taylor said evidence will show that a medical examiner who reviewed the case after Caleb died believes Bill Harrison was assaulted shortly before or at the time of his death.

In November 2009, Merritt was arrested in Nova Scotia on abduction charges and Bridget got custody of the two children. Bridget was killed the day before Merritt was supposed to plead guilty to the abduction charge, Taylor said.

Fattore told police in his video confession that he forced his way into the Harrison home, hit Bridget a couple of times and then squeezed her neck until she stopped breathing, the prosecutor said.

Caleb got full custody of the children in 2010. By the summer of 2013, he agreed to alternate weeks with Merritt. She wanted to continue that arrangement permanently, but Caleb would not agree to it unless she paid more child support, Taylor said.

Caleb was killed just as the children were to return to him after the final summer week with their mother.

Fattore told police that he entered Caleb’s bedroom while he was asleep and hit him in the chest, knocked him to the ground after he sprung up, and choked him, Taylor said.

When officers who arrested Merritt and Fattore in Nova Scotia in 2014 left them alone in a room under surveillance, Fattore told Merritt that he had confessed and that “there’s nothing tying you to it,” Taylor said.

The prosecutor said evidence will show that is not true.

“She was not just an accessory after the fact,” Taylor said. “They were both responsible for the deaths of Bridget and Caleb.”

Also tying Fattore to Caleb’s death is a pair of shoes police discovered in his trash, which contained animal fur linked by DNA evidence to Caleb’s dog, the prosecutor said.

In one wiretap recording obtained by police, Merritt and Fattore are discussing “the shoes” and Merritt asks how he paid for them, Taylor said.

“I don’t know, probably cash,” Fattore says in the video, according to the Crown. “I don’t think I was stupid enough to use debit.”

The shoes were purchased with a debit card, Taylor said.

The trial continues.