FINDING MY DAUGHTER’S KILLER
A mother’s fight for justice
On Aug. 8, 1980, as nightfall settled on the quiet town of East Millinocket, Maine, Pam Mclain sat on her front steps watching her 16-year-old daughter Joyce Mclain head out for a jog. “See ya later, Ma,” Joyce called out. Pam watched the teen run down the road, then out of sight. “I wasn’t worried until 9 [pm] when she didn’t come home … 9.30 she didn’t come home … 10, I knew,” says Pam, “this is the nightmare.”
It was one that would go on for Pam for nearly four decades. Joyce’s partially clad and bludgeoned body was found two days after she disappeared in the woods behind the local high school. But it would take another 36 years before her killer was brought to justice. Finally, on March 4, 2016, police arrested Philip “Scott” Fournier, who had attended the same high school as Joyce. Earlier this year Fournier, now 57, was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 45 years in prison. “I think this case shows the tenacity of the police, to keep investigating and finally get to the truth,” says retired Maine State Police detective Brian Strout, who took charge of the case in 2008. But authorities also credit Pam, now 71, for keeping the pressure on, relentlessly advocating for her daughter and raising money to hire forensics experts and exhume Joyce’s body in 2008 in search of DNA evidence. “She wanted justice for her daughter,” says Maine police sergeant Darryl Peary, who worked on the case starting in 2008. “I admire her for never giving up.”
A popular cheerleader, athlete, musician and honours student, Joyce knew almost everyone in her tiny hometown. “She was a busy girl, and it was hard to keep her pinned down,” remembers Pam. “She was friendly with everybody.” That included 19-year-old Fournier, who police say had a crush on Joyce and who happened to visit the Mclain house the day before the murder. But before Joyce’s body was even found, Fournier himself nearly died. Around 2am on Aug. 9, 1980, he stole a tanker truck from a local service station and wrecked it, landing himself in the hospital with severe head injuries. When police were finally able to question him about the murder, he denied even knowing Joyce. “He claims he doesn’t remember anything,” says Strout. Over the next 35 years police would question Fournier 27 times – and his story changed repeatedly. He talked about visions of a drunken party and tripping over Joyce’s dead body; sometimes he pointed the finger at others. Still, as police combed through evidence and witness interviews – including some in which Fournier revealed information only the killer would know – one thing became clear. Says Strout: “Everything kept coming back to Fournier.”
With Fournier’s conviction, Pam – who raised four other children and is now a great-grandmother – says she’s finally opening herself up to mourning Joyce. “I was trying to get Joyce’s case solved; I didn’t have time to grieve,” she says. “I think of Joyce and I could cry my heart out and then I could cry some more. But we pushed, we solved it… We are so full of peace.”
“It was 38 years of my lifetime that I fought for Joyce. This robbed me of my life too ” — Pam Mclain