asked Bruce how the man took it. Bruce said
he tried to force some people to speak to him a couple of times, but gave up
because each time he did, he was beaten to within an inch of his life. I asked
the local RCMP guys about this, and they added that he was their prime suspect
in the case. The man's victim was his girlfriend, and he was seen having a
violent disagreement with her the night of her mysterious disappearance. The
RCMP and the people believed the man had disposed of her body in a large swamp
nearby. The RCMP told me they took him down to Prince Albert once a year for
lie detector tests, which were consistently inconclusive. The man's story was
that the bitter argument was over the fact she was leaving him to go live with
a relative in another part of the country, thereby explaining both the argument
and her absence.
I was living in Prince Albert myself ten years
later when this same man was brought down from LaLoche for his murder trial. When
draining the swamp for a community expansion, The remains of the man's girlfriend
turned up, and were properly identified through forensic science. The man was
convicted and sentenced to a full 25 years in prison. I wonder whether or not
he is still shunned by the people in LaLoche now that he has served his prison
sentence? He really had no place else to go but to LaLoche where he grew up.
The answer to this last question would provide a vital clue as to the validity
of a pet theory of my own that I do share with some other Cultural Anthropologists.
