Second man charged in death of Christine MacNeil
The father of Christine MacNeil says the arrest of Emilio Spezzano, 57, is the “best news (he’s) had in a year and a half.”
MacNeil, 25, was shot and killed in a guest room at The Four Points by Sheraton Hotel on rue Laurier in Gatineau on the evening of Oct. 19, 2016.
The Citizen previously learned that MacNeil had told Ottawa police she was the victim of human trafficking and at one point co-operated with police during an investigation into her suspected trafficker.
“No matter what is being said, she is still my baby girl and I still love her,” John MacNeil said Wednesday.
Ottawa and Gatineau police have arrested and charged Spezzano with first-degree murder in her death. He is the second man to be charged in the case.
The Ottawa man was picked up while driving in the east end around 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
Gatineau police spokesman Jean-Paul Le May said Spezzano was in a close relationship with MacNeil.
MacNeil’s mother, Shari Garbutt, said her daughter had an on-andoff relationship with Spezzano for almost five years. MacNeil’s father said he only met Spezzano a couple of times when he dropped off his daughter at their house.
Garbutt said Christine loved everyone but made a lot of bad choices. She said she thought Spezzano was “a very bad man who was involved with bad people” and had told her daughter to get away from Spezzano.
“She was addicted to all the money and the lifestyle,” said Garbutt, who said her daughter had entered rehab three or four times to try to break her addiction to drugs and alcohol.
“It still hurts like hell,” Garbutt said. “She was only 25; she had her whole life in front of her.”
MacNeil, whose relationship with Spezzano had ended shortly before her death, had been charged with assaulting Spezzano and was to have appeared in court 10 days after she was killed.
Her father said MacNeil had hit Spezzano in the head with a telephone.
Le May said investigators were able to amass enough evidence to bring Spezzano in.
In February 2016, Blake Dooley, 53, of Ottawa was also charged with first-degree murder in MacNeil’s death. Dooley was arrested by Gatineau police and the Ottawa police tactical squad after they raided three west-end Ottawa residences in 2016.
Dooley was known to police. In October 1997, he was sentenced to two years in prison for aggravated assault and assault with a weapon and was given a lifetime weapons prohibition.
In September 2009 he was convicted of impaired driving and fined $1,100; one year later he was convicted again of impaired driving and driving while disqualified and sentenced to 30 days in jail and banned from driving for two years. He was also sentenced to 30 days in jail for breaching a court-ordered release condition in Renfrew in the same month.
Dooley pleaded guilty in 2012 to two counts of possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition and was sentenced to 36 months in prison.
Spezzano was to appear at the Gatineau courthouse Thursday.