Court hears Watson letter
Before she disappered, Watson wrote letter to Fredette saying she had no reason to fear him
Two months before Lise Fredette went missing, the man accused of murdering her wrote her a letter telling her she had no reason to fear him.
That letter arrived in Fredette’s mailbox just days after Andrew Watson was warned by city police to stay away from her.
“I want you to know that you have absolutely no reason to be afraid of me,” Watson wrote.
City police Det. Const. Ryan Donaldson read that letter – and six others he found at Fredette’s house – while testifying in court Wednesday.
Donaldson was the Crown’s 18th witness to be called in Watson’s first-degree murder and criminal harassment trial over Fredette’s disappearance.
The officer found the letters in an envelope marked “Andy” in a filing cabinet in Fredette’s bedroom Nov. 14, 2014. She disappeared two days earlier.
Fredette initially called police Sept. 9, 2014, a day after she got a vulgar letter from Watson. She told police she believed Watson was stalking her, court heard.
Watson, 78, and Fredette, 74, dated off and on for three years, ending it for good in April 2014.
Fredette’s friends and family have testified she was ready to move on, but Watson wouldn’t let go.
Jurors have heard that Watson was watching Fredette from the cemetery parking lot across the street from her house and parking in front of her home.
Donaldson read another letter that suggested Watson was keeping a close eye on Fredette.
“I am writing to you because I am very worried about you going to bed at 1:00 a.m.,” Donaldson read.
The letter went on to tell Fredette she wasn’t getting enough sleep and how she could better manage her time in order to get to bed earlier.
Draft copies of the some of the letters were found at Watson’s house on Payne Street when police searched his home. He was arrested 10 days after Fredette went missing.
The day after Fredette’s disappearance, Det. Const. Jake Friesen was sent to Fredette’s home on Bensfort Road. He’s a forensic identification officer.
After assessing Fredette’s driveway, Friesen called for another forensic identification officer to help “based on the amount of blood” he found, mentioning four separate locations.
“It was very obviously blood,” Friesen said.
When assistant Crown attorney Andrew Midwood began the Crown’s case, he told jurors they’d hear evidence of Fredette and Watson’s blood found in her driveway, in Watson’s vehicle and on a shovel found in Watson’s basement.
Fredette’s glasses, key and earring were also found in her driveway.
When Friesen went to Watson’s house on Nov. 15, 2014 to seize his vehicle, he noticed two tarps hanging on the Scotland native’s close line.
“I remember finding it was odd,” he said, mentioning the time of year.
Friesen and Donaldson, also a forensic identification officer, continued their investigation of Watson’s vehicle, noting what appeared to be blood on various spots of it.
When they looked inside the vehicle, they detected what seemed to be more blood and decided to send the Subaru to the Centre for Forensic Sciences in Toronto to be tested.
Inside Watson’s home, Det. Const. Travis Earle found the draft copies of the letters to Fredette and three calendars, from 2012 to 2014.
The calendars were penned with notes about Fredette’s work schedule, details of how Fredette and Watson spent time together and dates Watson and Fredette broke up or got back together.
“Lise confirmed she’d give me a second chance. I’m so happy I could jump over the moon,” Watson wrote in January 2013.
The calendar also included the two dates a city police officer stopped by to warn Watson to leave Fredette alone – the last time was Nov. 2, 2014.
While Earle searched through Watson’s house, taking photographs of documents he found, he came across a shovel in the basement. It was sitting in a bucket, filled with a liquid.
“It seemed to me (bleach) was emanating from the bucket,” Earle testified.
The trial resumes Thursday. Though it was slated to last for six weeks, after starting on March 20, the Crown expects to finish calling witnesses next week.