In December 1994, the life of Patricia Paquette, a 46-year-old mother of three, was brutally cut short in Providence, Rhode Island. Her death was not just an isolated tragedy but the final act in the violent spree of a serial killer, and the one that would ultimately lead to his capture. While the details of her life have been largely overshadowed by the darkness of her murder, her case was pivotal in bringing a predator to justice.
Patricia was reported missing on December 8, 1994.
She had last been seen in the company of a man she had recently befriended, Edward M. Mayrand, Jr., at a local drinking lounge. For nearly two weeks, her whereabouts remained unknown. The search came to a horrific end on December 21, when her remains were discovered in an abandoned building. The location was chillingly close to where Mayrand was living at the time.
The scene was one of profound brutality. Patricia had been strangled to death before her body was dismembered and placed into several plastic garbage bags. The grim discovery launched an intense homicide investigation that quickly zeroed in on Mayrand, a drifter with a long and violent criminal history that included convictions for rape and assault. An acquaintance of Mayrand later told investigators that Mayrand had asked him for a fine-tooth finishing saw around the time of the murder, and a medical examiner determined the saw's teeth were consistent with marks found on Patricia's body.
Mayrand fled after the murder but was apprehended in New Haven, Connecticut, in February 1995. Extradited back to Rhode Island, he faced justice for the murder of Patricia Paquette. He was convicted of second-degree murder, rape, assault, and illegal possession of a firearm. For his crimes against Patricia, he was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison. His conviction ensured he would never again be free to harm another person.
Edward Mayrand was a serial killer responsible for at least three murders between 1983 and 1994. His method was strangulation, a brutal and personal form of violence. His criminal history was extensive, dating back to at least 1975. In one prior case, he had raped a woman after choking her with her own scarf. He was paroled in 1983, and soon after, he killed his first known victim, 25-year-old Kathleen Daneault in Gardner, Massachusetts. In 1987, he murdered 43-year-old Judith Whitney in New Hampshire. He had long been a suspect in both cases, but a lack of evidence prevented charges from being filed.
The investigation into Patricia's murder was the key that unlocked justice for these other victims. While Mayrand was imprisoned for her death, cold case units in New Hampshire and Massachusetts continued to investigate his connection to the earlier killings. Before he died of metastatic lung cancer in prison in 2011, investigators were able to obtain a sample of his DNA.
In 2014, that DNA evidence posthumously and definitively linked Mayrand to the 1983 murder of Kathleen Daneault. The similarities between that case and the murder of Judith Whitney, along with other corroborative evidence, convinced authorities that he was also responsible for her death. Though he could never be tried for these crimes, the solution brought a form of closure to the victims' families. The family of Kathleen Daneault released a statement expressing their solace that Mayrand died in prison, alone, just as he had left their loved one to die.
Patricia Paquette’s murder was the final piece of a tragic puzzle that spanned more than a decade and crossed three states. While the public record contains little about the woman she was and the life she lived, her death served as the catalyst that finally stopped a violent serial killer, bringing a measure of peace to the families of all his victims.
