Lachine shooting victim a drug ‘queen-pin’
The woman found shot in the head on a street in Lachine last month has finally been identified as an American wanted on drug and money-laundering charges.
Elizabeth Barrer, 32, was found slumped in the passenger seat of a rented Nissan at 10:10 p.m. on March 19, on du Pacific Ave., in the former Ville St-Pierre area of Lachine. She was taken to a hospital, where she died a short while later.
She had no valid identification with her at the time of her death and the car had been rented under another name, adding to the difficulty of figuring out who she was.
Barrer had been wanted for at least seven years in Spotsylvania County, Va., for drug trafficking and distribution.
“Yes, I can confirm that it (the body found in Lachine) is the same person we had opened an investigation on” in 2007, captain Jeff Pearce of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff ’s Office said on Friday, when asked whether he could confirm the body found in Lachine on March 19 is Barrer. “We are collaborating with Canadian authorities and the U.S. Marshals Service, but we are not releasing any additional information,” he said.
He confirmed that Barrer was wanted on narcotics-related char- ges and that the case is being handled by the county’s special investigations unit.
The circumstances surrounding Barrer’s death have sparked a new joint investigation involving Spotsylvania investigators, the U.S. Marshals Service and Montreal police, he said.
“There are investigations continuing based on how she came to be at that location and whatever evidence is found at the scene up there. Maybe nothing will come of it, but whenever these guys have an investigation like this, they hold their cards pretty close to their vest,” Pearce added.
A newspaper in Spotsylvania, the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, reported in August 2007 that county detectives had obtained a warrant to search Barrer’s MySpace pages, email messages and Internet provider logs because they suspected Barrer of communicating with collaborators about drug trafficking and distribution.
In May of that year, Spotsylvania police had seized 39 pounds of marijuana and $50,000 in cash from a car, and had arrested several men they suspected of running a major East Coast drug dealing operation.
The U.S. Marshals Service has identified Barrer as a drug “queenpin” wanted on suspicion of laundering money for cross-border drug deals between Canada and the U.S. and also Ukraine. If arrested, she was to face charges that could have resulted in life in prison.
Montreal police Constable Raphaël Bergeron would not confirm the name of the victim, but said that the woman found in Lachine was a U.S. citizen.
“She was identified by fingerprints,” Bergeron said.