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Welcome to the Serial Killer Podcast. The podcast dedicated to serial killers. Episode 121. And I am your Norwegian host, Thomas Roseland Weiborg-Thun. We stay in Canada this week, and our subject is still the monster of the Miramichi.
In the previous episode, and make sure to listen to that before this one, we covered the childhood, youth, and adult life of Alan Joseph Legere, as well as his first murder.
Tonight, we will focus even more on how Legere truly got his nickname and how he managed to escape custody and commit murder again and again and again and again. Legere was in many ways similar to Ted Bundy in how he behaved, but he was also different, especially in that unlike Ted, Alan was never particularly intelligent.
He was just filled with feelings of hatred and a murderous desire for violent revenge on the world. This part is important. I know no one likes e-begging, and especially in these trying times. However, this podcast is 100% free to listen to, and I, as everyone else, have bills and audio engineers to pay.
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A cold and damp prison cell in Canada in the late 1980s. Maybe it's raining outside, maybe not. But the mood sure is downcast. In the cell with you is none other than Alan Joseph Legere. He's not a handsome man. His face is kind of plump, with a potato-like nose and scruffy dark brown beard and curly hair of the same color. He looks powerful though.
He's tall, and with a well-trained body, clearly able to cause anyone severe bodily harm if he intended to. Legere has not been in prison for a long time, but he is sure of one thing. He's getting out of there, one way or another, and he knows exactly how to accomplish this. When he was shifted back to prison on the same day of his appeal rejection, Legere decided to act on his plan.
The first part was to deliberately injure himself, which he did without hesitation. Legere had read somewhere that the most common infection that one could get was an air infection, and if a wound was left untreated, it would soon become infected in the air. And so he purposely hit his ear until there was a gaping wound behind it. During the following days, Legere did not shave or cut his hair,
So for the most part, the wound was hidden. As he had hoped, his ear soon became infected. Upon a routine inspection that was held at the end of February, Legere's ear was found to be severely infected, and the police accordingly set an appointment at a hospital for Legere on the 3rd of May, 1989.
Alan Legere was taken from the prison to the Dr. George's L. Dumont University Hospital Center in Moncton for treatment of the air infection. Legere's plan was working perfectly so far. The University Hospital Center is situated in the Atlantic Institution at Renaud. The hospital center was very different to the standard treatment room at the prison where he was kept.
There were several different tools lying out in the open, and Legere knew that snagging one could help him get out of the handcuffs. However, he was still under close supervision and couldn't just pick up anything he'd wanted. While in the waiting section, Alan was, however, able to snag a small cuticle trimmer and hide it in his pocket. He was still handcuffed, though, and he needed a solution to that.
While waiting, he indicated that he had to go to the toilet. The guard did not uncuff him, but, just like in a bad crime movie, did allow Legere to urinate in private. This was, of course, exactly what Alan Legere had planned, and I must say, it is quite shocking that it worked. Legere was now all alone in a room, and he could start working on his handcuffs with the cuticle trimmer.
Upon observing the inside of the washroom, Legere noted a small window that led outside. The clinic was located on the first floor, so Legere knew that a jump would be relatively easy. Using the cuticle trimmer, he continued to pry and twist as hard as he could. Unfortunately for him, Legere wasn't very nimble with his fingers, and he ended up breaking the trimmer itself.
However, he had been preparing for his escape for quite some time now, and had a backup. While in prison, he had worked to create a homemade key, using simplistic items. He had hidden the key in a cigar, so as to use when he was alone. And sure enough, the key proved to be effective. My research doesn't state how he managed to smuggle the key out of prison,
But my guess is that he placed it inside his rectum only a short amount of time had passed until Alan was able to pry his way out of the handcuffs. For some reason, Alan didn't opt to jump out of the first floor window from the bathroom. Instead, he again reached inside his rectum and this time retrieved a folded-up TV antenna he could use as a weapon.
He opened the door to the bathroom and immediately threatened the guards with his weapon. Had this been in the USA, Legere's plan would probably have ended there. Guards in the US usually have firearms, especially if escorting dangerous prisoners outside. However, this was Canada, and the guards escorting Legere was unarmed.
They had little choice but to let the very dangerous-looking man with the murderer's look in his eyes go. Once outside of the hospital in the parking lot, Legere quickly saw a woman with a car close by. He grabbed her, made sure she understood she better do what he told her. Once the woman, named Peggy Olive, gave him the keys to her car, he kicked her to the curb and drove away. By now the alarm had been raised and police were on their way.
However, Legere had a significant head start. When the officers arrived at the hospital, he had managed to vanish out of sight. In his early days of crime, Legere had learned how to jack a car and use it to his advantage. This knowledge came in handy, as he had to evade recapture at the hands of the authorities. Legere quickly dumped Peggy Olive's car.
Then he proceeded to steal another nearby car, got in and sped off, stopping occasionally to change vehicles. By now, Legere was fully against the society and wanted to inflict as much harm as possible. The people who reported the carjackings told police that a bearded man with long hair had hit them and thrown them to the ground before speeding off in their vehicles.
If you, dear listener, have played the video game Grand Theft Auto, you can imagine how it looked when Legere jacked all those cars, one after another, violently dragging their owners out of the car before speeding away. Legere knew he had to keep moving from one car to the other, as the police would be on the lookout.
Given the fact that he had been convicted of murder, the authorities were taking additional precautions. Because they rightly feared he might strike again. Once the police realized their manhunt wasn't making headway, they made a public announcement in the Miramichi region, declaring that Alan Legere had escaped and needed to be apprehended by any means.
Rewards were announced for anybody who could provide information leading to his capture. Massive roadblocks and checkpoints were set at every location in Miramichi, almost as soon as Legere was confirmed to be on the run. The community was terrified. The police at first suspected that this might be a joint venture between Todd Marchett, Scott Curtis, and Legere himself.
However, his accomplices were still in prison, serving out their twenty-year sentences. Upon questioning, the police found that the two were not involved at all, since Legere had left them with no information about his escape, nor had he promised to help free them. Alan Legere was on the loose, and it was anybody's guess as to where he would strike next.
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Download Best Fiends free on the Apple App Store or Google Play. That's friends without the R. Best Fiends. The news of Alan Legere's escape spread through the country like wildfire. He was a notorious killer, becoming famous after the brutal nature with which he and his accomplices had murdered Mr. Glenn Denning and sexually assaulted his wife, leaving her for dead.
During his time in prison, Legere had picked up tips of survival from the other inmates. Many of those incarcerated with Legere at the Atlantic Institution in Rannoux were those who had committed heinous crimes and evaded capture on more than a few occasions. Legere was a keen man, and always thinking of his escape, he had begun to listen to their words carefully.
While the majority of men in prisons usually repent their actions and hope to be able to rejoin society after serving their time, Legere had no such aspiration. Many reports are available that show how Legere often remained silent and simply observed the individuals moving in and out of the prison doors.
The psychologists at the Atlantic Institution referred to him as a quote-unquote classic psychopath, since he did not feel he should be incriminated at all, blaming the community instead. He expressed no remorse for his crimes, and for his first murder he expressed nothing but pride.
When the Supreme Court of Canada rejected his appeals, Alan Legere's resolve became even firmer. He was hell-bent on revenge, and would stop at nothing to get it. All of these things were known among prison staff and thus authorities, and they were rightly extremely concerned with what Legere might do now that he had escaped.
Police tried to do everything they could to alert the public to the dangers of Legere. They notified all individuals in Miramichi regarding his escape, and they released pictures so that people could remain aware. For the next seven months, Legere remained at large and managed to outsmart the authorities with apparent ease.
He was mostly getting from one place to another with the help of his carjacking skills, stealing one car and then another to make sure that the police were never able to get close to him. In a region as peaceful and as quiet as Miramichi, people were not accustomed to news of this nature. When the police began using all forms of media to raise awareness of Legere's escape,
members of the community became increasingly worried and for good reason very few had ever experienced life in a town with a killer on the loose and almost everybody in Miramichi began to fear for their lives people began traveling in groups and shops began to close earlier than usual
Yet, each day there would be reports of a car being stolen from one place or snatched from another, which indicated to police that Legere was still hiding in the Miramichi region. While a number of searches and raids were conducted, the police had little success. They found evidence of Legere's crimes on numerous occasions, but Legere himself was nowhere to be found.
According to the police chief of Miramichi, Paul Fiander, those were the dark days. He recalled how people were quite paranoid, and they had every right to be. The police knew it was only a matter of time before Legere would strike again, and they didn't have to wait long to get their first victim. It's that time of the year. Your vacation is coming up.
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$45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes. See details. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. As a family man with three kids, I know firsthand how extremely difficult it is to make time for self-care. But it's good to have some things that are non-negotiable. For some, that could be a night out with the boys, chugging beers and having a laugh.
For others, it might be an eating night. For me, one non-negotiable activity is researching psychopathic serial killers and making this podcast. Even when we know what makes us happy, it's often near impossible to make time for it. But when you feel like you have no time for yourself, non-negotiables like therapy are more important than ever.
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Visit betterhelp.com slash serialkiller today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash serialkiller. It took Legere only 26 days after his escape to claim his first victim. Annie Flam was a shop owner in Chatham, New Brunswick, and she was loved by all those who lived in the community.
She was a peaceful woman and lived with her sister-in-law, Nina Flam. Annie Flam had lived almost her entire life in Shatham, New Brunswick, and many children as well as grown-ups would come to visit her store to spend time with her. She was friends with most of the other older people within the community and was deservedly regarded as a pillar of her community. She was 75 years old at the time of her death.
Her sister-in-law, Nina Flam, was in her late sixties. The two lived together in their small-sized home that was situated right above their store, and would often spend the day at Annie's shop. Those who visited Ferry Road, which was situated six miles from Newcastle, New Brunswick, often came into town on the famous ferry boat across the Miramichi River.
and a large number of those who did would end up visiting Mrs. Flam's store. At a time, the adjoining communities and villages across the Miramichi River were spread apart and connected via small roads. Thus, the scene of the crime was very much like the intro to a Stephen King novel or short story. A picturesque and idyllic scene on the northeastern shore of North America.
well-liked and kind people tending to their small-town lives and then something wicked this way came and although he did not ride in on a pale horse hell surely followed on the night of the twenty ninth of may nineteen eighty nine alan leger broke into mrs flam's shop it should be known that the two women were largely harmless
and had done nothing to provoke Legere. Police now believe he may have been staking out the place for a few days, looking for the perfect target. Very much in a similar way as good old BTK, as mentioned in one of my very early episodes. The two sisters-in-law had no weapons to defend themselves with, and were relatively slow.
"'Blazure was in his early forties by then, and was pretty strong and muscular at the time, giving him the power and advantage to easily overpower the two elderly ladies. Pinned down Annie Flam and began to beat her. He beat the poor woman with a blunt object right on her face, breaking her jaw in the process and causing her massive amounts of pain.'
He then proceeded to violently rape her, before finally killing her, in her own bed, by beating her head until it was nothing but a ball of bloody pulp. Legere was not done, however. The sounds emanating from her sister-in-law's room had alerted Nina Flan, and when Legere saw her, he tried to kill her too. The police received a call shortly afterwards, informing them that a store was on fire.
and when firefighters and paramedics arrived on the scene, they found the lifeless body of Annie Flam, along with Nina Flam, who was on the verge of death. Nina told authorities she was fast asleep when Legere entered their house. She didn't hear much of the killing of her sister-in-law, but in the ruckus that Alan was causing in the other room, he had managed to knock over a lamp,
which jolted her out of her sleep. As she crept to the other room, she saw a man on top of her sister-in-law, who was shouting in anger and beating her face with a blunt object. Nina couldn't control her screams and tried to run. However, Legere was faster. By that time, Annie was probably dead. He was on top of Nina in the blink of an eye.
She told police that he was yelling, shouting, that society had done him wrong, and he would get back at everybody for what they had done to his life. He tried to strangle her, rendering her unconscious at one point during the attack. Nina knew that she would probably be dead soon if she showed that she was still alive and breathing. So she began to fake her death as Legere went about the house.
But her nightmare was not over. Legere, in an attempt to burn away evidence, or perhaps to leave a signature, had set the house on fire. Nina had thought she would just fake her death until the intruder would leave. But he had just set the whole house on fire, and she couldn't just lie there waiting to burn. In her haste to escape, she went out just after Legere, who saw her.
He wasn't about to let her escape, so he pushed her back inside the burning house. Nina was, however, a strong-willed woman and kept trying her best to escape. When she didn't re-emerge from the burning house, Legere decided to leave before the authorities arrived.
When her legs couldn't carry her anymore, Nina literally crawled down the stairs, with flames all around her, and called the police from the store's telephone. She informed them that her attacker wore a chain around his waist, which made them think he was a prisoner from the nearby prison, and, most likely, Alan Legere.
Nina suffered from second and third degree burns on over 70% of her body from the ordeal. She even lost portions of the tips of her fingers as well as her toes. The firefighters were quick to arrive on the scene and were soon able to douse the flames and save Nina's life.
When Annie Flam's body was recovered and an autopsy was carried out, it was found that she had died from blunt force trauma to the head prior to the fire. Her body had also suffered burns over 80% of her body, scorching most of her skin.
When the news of Legere's first murder after his escape was made public, along with pictures that were released of the crime scene accompanying Nina Flam's testimony, people were terrified. One resident, by the name of George MacDonald, vividly recalled the details of how the community reacted after the news arrived.
he said that people were shocked and horrified and began to install leger lights outside their homes in an attempt to keep the budding serial killer at bay he said that it was a simple light hooked onto a pole to scare off
Another resident, Aline Doucette, who lived in the region of Baye-Sainte-Anne, only an hour's drive from Miramichi, recalled how the residents of the small town were living in perpetual fear during that time. She said that nobody really knew where Legere was hiding, who his next target might be, and where he might turn up next. As a result, everybody was scared.
After May, Legere was not spotted again until October. But the people were always keeping a lookout, and the police continued to provide instructions to individuals to protect themselves as best they could. Rewards were announced of up to $50,000 for anybody who could provide information about Legere, but they didn't yield the results they had hoped.
legere was proving to be a hard man to track even in a small region as the miramichi the police combed numerous areas but all they could find in small barns and destitute places were pieces of evidence showing somebody had been living in those places a few days ago
Regular complaints and news would arrive of cars being stolen and snatched by a man who very much resembled the appearance of Alain Leger. Police continued to follow any leads that they had. Almost all of them led to a dead end. For the better part of five months, Alain Leger kept the people of the Miramichi in a state of perpetual worry and tension.
However, all of this changed in October, when Alain Leger struck again, this time in a more brutal fashion than before. Many serial killer experts had arrived in the town of Miramichi, as it was evident in the early stages that Leger was a budding serial killer. He ticked all the right boxes, after all.
With the murder of Glenn Denning and the rape of his wife, the murder and rape of Annie Flamm and the attack on her sister-in-law, it was by now apparent that Legere was turning into a full-fledged serial killer with a very certain victim preference. Just like Ted Bundy, Legere's most brutal crimes occurred after his escape. But Legere didn't like young, attractive girls like Ted did.
He lusted for elderly and mature women, and his next targets were just that. And so it was that on the 13th of October, 1989, Alan Legere struck again. This time his victims were sisters Linda and Donna Donnie, respectively 45 and 41 years old.
Legere broke into their home using a pick that he had created and had quietly moved upstairs before beginning his assault. He had also disconnected the only telephone in the residence, making sure that the sisters could not call for help. He tied Linda Donnie to a chair and proceeded to beat and rape her sister until she was dead.
The autopsy results showed that Legere toyed with the sisters for hours before finally killing them both. He played with their bodies, experimenting with different things until he felt sated. At first, he focused on Donna while her sister was tied up to a chair. Linda was made to witness the torture that was inflicted on her sister.
She was made to wait until he was done with her sister before finally turning on her. He was too strong for Linda to resist and run away, and she was forced to endure the brutalizing pain and the violent rape until finally he had killed her too. He killed both women by bashing in their heads using a blunt object. Before leaving the household, Legere set fire to it.
The first time he set fire to one of his crime scenes, he probably did it to hide evidence. By now, however, he did it to mark territory, to brag to the world that he was still around and not even close to sated. He lusted for more revenge, more blood, more pain, more death.
The monster of the Miramichi was indeed fully formed, and before he was caught, everyone would know him and tremble. Need new glasses or want a fresh new style? Warby Parker has you covered. Glasses start at just $95, including anti-reflective, scratch-resistant prescription lenses that block 100% of UV rays. Every frame's designed in-house, with a huge selection of styles for every face shape.
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And so ends part two of the tale of Alan de Gea. I hope you enjoyed listening to me telling it to you. The next episode, number 122 in number, will feature his final crimes and eventual fate. So, as they say in the land of radio, stay tuned.
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Podcast One presents, this is a collect call from Sing Sing. My name is John J. Lennon. I'm locked up for selling drugs and committing murder. I'm also a contributor for Esquire magazine and the Marshall Project. So I'm a writer and I'm a prisoner. Imagine trying to stay focused and talk about issues of substance, of geeks slamming, prisoners screaming, and PAs blaring in the background. Get new episodes every Wednesday on Spotify, Podcast One, and Apple Podcasts.