A family is left with many unanswered questions as police close the books on an unusual homicide investigation in Fredericton.
Patricia Ann Kucerovsky, 43, died at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital on Aug. 19, 2008.
Her obituary said she had been going through a ‘long illness’ but police reopened the case three years later.
Police determined she died of mercury poisoning and ruled her death a homicide.
They arrested a 44-year-old Fredericton man in the case in November 2011 but later released him.
Now police say they don’t have enough evidence to lay any charges, and are calling the case ‘inactive.’
“What that means is we’ve exhausted all our investigative leads at this point and it’s inactive until such information is received to continue with the investigation,” says Fredericton Police Const. Danielle Carmichael.
“I had feared one day this day would come,” says Lori Haggerty, the victim’s sister. “We knew that it was a possibility, but I was shocked a little that it came now. It seems too soon.”
Kucerovsky’s family hoped to receive new information about the investigation with the case being reclassified, and also wanted to learn the identity of the man arrested and released in the case in 2011.
“Sadly, we weren’t given any new information today,” says Haggerty. “We weren’t given any answers. The detective was not able to share that with us.”
“To discuss that may jeopardize the investigation and a possible charge in the future,” says Carmichael.
Now, Haggerty says her family is trying to figure out what to do next.
“It falls on me now to keep on talking about the case and sharing the truth of what we’ve been through.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
