Deborah Point/Audrey Trudeau Part 2 | Sherri Zickefoose: Journalist

They call her Papa Bear inside Edmonton Institution for Women. Deborah Point is said to be making tremendous strides in prison, where she is serving a life sentence for murdering her friend Audrey Trudeau in 1999.

But her steadfast denial of the slaying, and the chilling “I’m going to stand in my truth” response to the Parole Board of Canada gives a glimpse into the troubled mind of a killer.

In losing her bid for family visits, the bigger story points to parents and loved ones. What is it like to love and support a grown child who lives in clouded delusion? Point’s refusal to own up to the crime borders on childlike stubbornness, but really hints at something much darker. The shame and helplessness no doubt felt by her own family is complicated.

And I can’t help but wonder if they aren’t just slightly relieved by the board’s refusal to grant her family visiting privileges until she faces the truth.

SHERRI ZICKEFOOSE Calgary Herald Feb. 2, 2012

A convicted Calgary killer’s steadfast denial that she hacked her friend to pieces and boxed up the body parts has thwarted her first bid toward freedom.

The Parole Board of Canada denied Deborah Point’s application on Wednesday for escorted day passes to visit her Calgary family’s southwest home.

Point, who isn’t eligible for day parole until 2016, is serving a life sentence with no chance for parole for 20 years for the second-degree murder of friend and co-worker Audrey Trudeau in 1999.

But when Point was asked about her crime, she denied responsibility despite “overwhelming evidence” to the contrary from her Court of Queen’s Bench jury trial over a decade ago.

“I did not kill or murder Audrey Trudeau, so I am going to continue to stand in my truth,” Point told the two-member panel during the two-hour hearing at the Edmonton Institution for Women. “My belief is that (evidence) was circumstantial. I hold onto some hope new evidence is found.”

That “lack of insight” prompted the board to say it would be premature to allow her to visit her family’s Calgary home.

“You are unwilling or unable to answer a lot of basic questions. . . . Your continued position is very disconcerting,” the panel said.

Weeping relatives of Trudeau attended the hearing and said they can’t forgive Point.

“She can rot in hell,” Trudeau’s sister Frances said.

The gruesome crime has left its indelible mark on the family, which waited in agony for five months before Trudeau’s decomposing remains were discovered.

“I can never forgive her. She still has no remorse and no feeling for what she’s done,” said Trudeau’s sister Mary. “She has not stood up and taken responsibility. She should never see the light of day.”

“This so-called model inmate threw her out like garbage, and had the audacity to plead not guilty.”

Trudeau, 44, was a fellow Rockyview Hospital worker who was moving to work in Kitchener, Ont.

During the trial, it was said Point was caught draining her friend’s bank account of $5,000 by signing cheques to herself to feed an out-of-control VLT gambling addiction.

The confrontation led to 15 crushing blows to Trudeau’s head the night of Feb. 25, 1999.

The body parts were packed in boxes sealed with duct tape and stored in a friend’s garage on 33rd Avenue S.W.

Point was arrested the day after the boxes were found.

Now, more than a decade later, Point is described as a “model” prisoner who snow-plows the prison’s parking lot. Nicknamed “Papa Bear” by fellow inmates for her conflict resolution, Point also chairs the prison inmates committee.

Wearing a black dress shirt and her salt and pepper hair closely cropped, Point said her family is supportive.

“It’s been 12 years of a different kind of relationship,” Point said.

“It would be just a great day. We’d sit around in the living room and have a coffee, and have lunch and reconnect.”

The parole board also quashed Point’s application to participate in a program for lifers.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Convicted+killer+secure+passes+rejected+parole+board/6089174/story.html#ixzz1lF1bTfD0

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