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Roy Beaulieu’s second-degree murder trial continued for a second day Tuesday. He is accused of strangling 63-year-old Laura Bruce May 22, 1976, on railroad tracks near Ladysmith.
He was charged after Bruce’s body was exhumed and a forensics expert ruled she had been strangled.
The state finished presenting its case Tuesday, and defense witnesses were scheduled to testify Wednesday.
In the police interview in 1976, Beaulieu, now 65, talked about finding Bruce’s body, telling officers that he accidentally came across it, did not touch her and went to a nearby paper mill for help. There, he gave several accounts of finding Bruce’s body, believing she was dead or passed out.
In subsequent interviews in recent years, Beaulieu’s story changed. He claimed he and Bruce went to a secluded area along the railroad tracks for sex and there was an argument. He told investigators he slipped on gravel, fell and struck her in the chin and neck with his arm.
Robert Ferg, Beaulieu’s attorney, told the 10-man, four-woman jury in opening statements that his client wasn’t truthful with police in 1976 because “he was afraid they were going to blame him for Laura Bruce’s death. And that’s what has happened.”
Ferg said defense experts will testify that the damage to Bruce’s neck was consistent with Beaulieu’s account of accidentally falling on her.
Ferg has described Beaulieu as a 350-pound bachelor who lived with his mother until her death and had never been charged with a crime until he was accused of killing Bruce. Beaulieu worked as a janitor at a now-defunct college in Ladysmith for 27 years.
Former Ladysmith patrol officer Dan Stoneberg was the first police officer on the scene on May, 22, 1976. He testified Monday that Beaulieu was “disheveled but not intoxicated” that night and led him and another officer to Bruce’s body.
Stoneberg said Beaulieu told him at the time that he had been drinking and eating with Bruce before the two left about 10 minutes apart at about 2:30 a.m.
The maximum punishment for second-degree murder is 25 years in prison.
