Repeat Offender: The Murders of Chantale Deschesnes and Marylène Levesque

Episode 279: In Quebec City, on October 21, 2004, Dario Gallese got an alarming phone call from his younger brother, Eustachio Gallese. In the call, Eustachio admitted to killing his girlfriend, Chantale Deschesnes, 32, and, following his brother's advice, contacted the police to report the crime. Eustachio was arrested, charged, and convicted of the second-degree murder of Chantale. In late 2006, Eustachio was sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 15 years. 

In 2019, Eustachio was placed into a halfway house on day parole. In September, in what would be a controversial decision, his case management team allowed Eustachio Gallese to visit sex workers to have his sexual needs met, as long as he was ‘transparent’ with his case management team about these visits. 

On the night of January 22, 2020, Eustachio Gallese walked into a Quebec City police station and admitted to having murdered another woman, a 22-year-old masseuse named Marylène Levesque, whom he’d become obsessed with. Marylène’s body was found in the Sainte-Foy (Sant-Fwa) hotel room where Gallese said she would be. She’d been stabbed 30 times.

A month later, Eustachio Gallese, then 51, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. After a public outcry inciting parliamentary debate, the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board of Canada announced a joint investigation into Gallese’s release.

Sources:

2004 CanLII 56627 (QC CS) | R. c. Gallese | CanLII

2009 QCCA 1071 (CanLII) | Gallese c. R. | CanLII

Meurtre de Marylène Lévesque: une vigile contre les féminicides

Meurtre à Sainte-Foy: «C’était prévisible», dénonce la fille de la victime

Debates (Hansard) No. 14 - February 4, 2020 (43-1) - House of Commons of Canada

Stigma and Criminalization of Sex Work Facilitated the Murder of Marylène Levesque

Correctional services missed signs leading up to Marylène Levesque murder, says report | CBC News

Warning signs were missed prior to murder of Marylène Lévesque: report | Watch News Videos Online

Internal investigation into the murder of Marylène Lévesque: Pierre Paul-Hus calls for the immediate reopening of the internal investigation | Pierre Paul-Hus

Joint National Board of Investigation: Correctional Service of Canada - Parole Board of Canada

Enforcing prostitution laws could have saved Marylène Lévesque | The Star

Marylène Lévesque - Investigation Report | PDF

Capitalism Is Killing My Fellow Sex Workers

How Canada’s sex work laws put lives at risk | CityNews

Quebec City man sentenced to life with no parole for 25 years for 1st-degree murder of sex worker | CBC News

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/quebec-wants-answers-on-how-moderate-risk-murder-suspect-made-parole

Correctional Service Canada takes concrete actions in response to Board of Investigation results

Why Sex Work Should Be Decriminalized

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