On the evening of May 28, 2024, the life of 59-year-old Dale Gaudreau, a White female from Peru, Maine, was tragically cut short in a violent encounter on Auburn Road. Several frantic 911 calls flooded the Oxford County Sheriff's Department at approximately 7:10 p.m., reporting a motor vehicle crash and the sound of gunfire. Witnesses described a truck pulling up alongside a car, followed by the sound of multiple shots being fired into the vehicle.
When first responders arrived at the scene, they discovered a blue Hyundai pulled over on the side of the road. Inside, in the driver's seat, they found Dale Gaudreau, who had sustained fatal gunshot wounds.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on a single suspect: Dale's estranged husband, 60-year-old David Gaudreau. It was revealed that Dale had left her husband just a week before the shooting and was in the process of a legal separation. In the hours following the incident, David Gaudreau made a series of damning phone calls to several family members, confessing to each of them that he had shot his wife. As law enforcement worked to piece together the events of that evening, a section of Route 108 was closed, and in the interest of safety, the local school district, RSU 56, canceled classes for the following day.
Later that same night, at approximately 11:34 p.m., David Gaudreau surrendered himself to the Maine State Police and the Oxford County Sheriff's Department. He was subsequently arrested and charged with murder. During his initial court appearance, he was visibly distraught. Though he initially pleaded not guilty, David Gaudreau later changed his plea to guilty. For the murder of his wife, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Dale Gaudreau was remembered as a dedicated nurse at Rumford Hospital, as well as a loving mother and grandmother.
