On January 27, 2008, 12 year old Karissa Paige Boudreau went
missing from the parking lot of the Bridgewater Mall, Bridgewater,
Nova Scotia. Thousands of posters were distributed and Child Find
was contacted. Searches were executed but no one could find her.
On February 9, 13 days later, her frozen body was found
along the bank of the LaHave River, just minutes from her home. Her
official identification was February 14, Valentine's Day. Karissa
had been murdered. In the days following Valentine's Day, a memorial
grew where her body was found. Hundreds of mourners left notes,
flowers, trinkets, and over 700 stuffed bears and animals.
Karissa was found just inside Conquerall Bank on Highway 331, the only entrance into Bridgewater from Pleasantville, and Pleasantville Signs. Nadine Sarty, owner, waited for her identification, knowing in her heart it was Karissa. There was only one little girl missing. But where has she been for 13 days? In the early evening of Valentine's Day, Nadine and her husband, Robby placed a sign in the snow bank at the site. It was 5' tall, the same height as Karissa. It stood alone as they left for a few hours. When they returned, a memorial had already grown to about 5 feet from each end of the sign. Letters and notes, written by children. Flowers, by the hundreds started to accumulate. Trinkets, crosses and angels were scattered among the items. On Monday the 18th, it rained very hard. Knowing that Karissa's bears and notes would be ruined, Nadine asked a kind employee at Gow's Home Hardware if he would donate plastic for the memorial. He graciously agreed and gave her a strip 50' long and 10' wide and by that time it just fit. That's pretty much how things got started with Project Karissa Bears. The next day was Karissa's funeral in Barrington. Nadine began organizing a small service at the site for those who would not be going to Barrington. She asked Rev. Lake to say a few words and suggested 2 songs to sing. She removed the plastic ahead of time and her and Robby attended the service with about 40 other people. Rev. Lake gave a beautiful service.
By
Thursday the 18th, Karissa's memorial had grown to more than 60'
long. Questions also began to arise at to what was going to happen
to everything in the memorial. Because Nadine got to see close up,
most of the notes and letters, and all the items involved, she
couldn't see all these things going to landfill. If too much time
passes, nothing would be saved, and nothing would be seen again.
Nadine knew that without the help of a Laundromat or dry cleaner,
the task of cleaning all the stuffed bears and animals would be
impossible. She approached Michael Gregorash of Mr. Suds
Laundromat with her idea to distribute the bears to children in
traumatic situations.
He immediately agreed and without his help,
Project Karissa Bear would not have happened. Nadine then
asked Michelin Canada and Canada Post if they would send the boxes.
They agreed. Nadine then approached the Bridgewater Fire Department
to store the bears until all were cleaned and the Chief gave her a
key so she could come and go on her own. The Bridgewater Mall, which
is where Karissa was last seen, opened an empty store for Nadine and
volunteers to bag and box the bears for shipping. Farnell Packaging
send a wonderful package of all the bags needed for the project.
Nadine spent the next week of evenings collecting addresses from the
Internet. She chose fire departments, shelters and other places that
could include children in traumatic situations. And because Karissa
wanted to be a Veterinarian, she also included Vet Hospitals and
shelters to the list. Karissa's family in the Shelburne area
sought out donations of ribbons and tape and scissors for the
project. With the help of the media, including CTV and reporter Leah
Cross, the word spread for volunteers. On March 8, more than
40 people arrived to the Mall to bag, tag and box the bears.
Each bear was in its own bag and tagged with a heart that read ' For
you in Loving Memory of Karissa Paige Boudreau 1995-2008" Each box
was also tag with a decal
The Next week, Canada Post picked up the packages and they began
their journey all over Canada and overseas.
36 Bears went to
12 Ronald MacDonald Houses throughout Canada
108 Bears to 56 Schools from Chester to Yarmouth
25 Bears to 5 Motorcycle Groups in Canada
54 Bears to 18 Veterinary Hospitals and Animal Shelters in the
Maritimes
12 Bears to Orphanages in Dominic Republic
30 Bears to Canadian Red Cross for use with RespectEd programs
5 Bears to Canadian Red Cross Youth programs
125 Bears to 27 Police Departments in Nova Scotia
135 Bears to 45 Fire Departments in Canada
72 Bears to 24 Women/ Children/ Men Shelters in Nova Scotia
70 Bears to 7 Military Family Resource Centres. From there they
will be sent to our troops to give to children they meet.
7 Bears to 7 Media Teams in Nova Scotia
1 Hank Snow Museum
3 Bears to Seniors Homes in area
36 Bears were destroyed
12 Bears were given to
miscellaneous causes since March8
Approx 731 Stuffed Bears and Animals
Nadine began removing the items from the memorial and placing them
in her car. She would taken the bears the Mr. Suds and take the rest
home. In the evenings she would separate the items, composting the
real flowers, washing the trinkets, placing the fabric flowers in
boxes and placing the notes and letters in albums. In all, she
gathered 2 larges boxes of trinkets, 3 albums of notes and letters
and hundreds of fabric flowers. The albums and trinkets were then
given to Karissa's family. Nadine's husband then built a box that
would contain the fabric flowers. She arranged them and placed an
area where Karissa's story could be told.
When the box was completed, Nadine placed the box at the site. It
was Easter Monday.
Karissa's killer has yet to be arrested and brought to Justice. The
Town of Bridgewater and the Province of Nova Scotia still holds hope
that it won't be long before we know who committed this horr0endous
crime.
On April 4, 2008, Nadine was recognized for all her efforts in
Project Karissa Bear by being awarded CTV's Maritimer of the
Week
.
Many, many Thanks to: Mr. Suds Laundromat Steven Carver- for donating the plastic that I used to cover the bears Bridgewater Fire Department for storing everything UPS Bridgewater- for printing all the color letters Bridgewater Mall- for opening the empty store and treating us so well Lighthouse Publishing- for the wrapping paper Farnell Packaging, Dartmouth- for all the bags that we needed Michelin Canada- for postage Canada Post- for delivering most of the packages Pleasantville Signs Ribbon, scissors, tape and boxes were donated by:Great Canadian Dollar Store- Barrington Passage Wilson’s Shopping Centre- Barrington Passage The Shoe Box- Barrington Passage Wal-Mart- Yarmouth Zellers- Bridgewater and Yarmouth Wicker Emporium- Bridgewater 2 Large boxes of scissors, tape and ribbons, along with 2 rolls of paper were donated to The Ark, a local school for the challenged. Any money donations that were not used were given to Canada Post for postage.
UPDATE
An Arrest Has Been Made
On Saturday, June 14, 2008, exactly 4 months after Karissa's body was identified an arrest was made. 34 year old Penny Boudreau, Karissa's mother has been arrested and charged with first degree murder. According to news reports, no other suspect will be taken in or arrested.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/443506