The Maine Cold Case of Raynald Levesque

Mar 30

Raynald Levesque (left), brother Marc Levesque (right)

An ordinary spring day takes a dark turn

It was a gloomy afternoon in small-town Madison, Maine, but despite being socked in by clouds, there was a pep in Jim’s step, because Maine’s harsh winter was finally lifting. It was a brisk 50 degrees, and he had shed his winter coat and was back in his ordinary uniform. He was heading down Main Street to one of his typical pickups—“Madison-Area Recycling Center”. He was friendly with the sole employee and owner, Ray Levesque. They would sometimes chew the fat about local gossip in town, and Ray was still a little riled about an upstart competitor who was undercutting prices.

Jim pulled into the gravel driveway adjacent to Ray’s house and drove to the back of his property, where the business building stood. He was there to pick up some empties—Ray ran a bottle return business and Jim was there for a regular pickup.

The lights were on, and the heat was on, but there was no sign of Ray.

He waited for a few minutes, expecting him to appear.

Growing impatient, Jim decided to pop in at the house to see if he was on the property before heading out, and what he discovered he would remember for the rest of his life.

Peering through cupped hands into a kitchen window, Jim could see Ray on the floor, a pool of blood under his head. Ray was dead.

Madison, ME

Just west of Ray’s modest 2-bedroom home, lay the historic downtown of Madison, a small, working-class town in Central Maine of about 4,000 residents. It was a mill town built on the rocky banks of the Kennebec River. Anson, its sister-city, sat perched on the opposite banks. By 1994, the paper mill—Madison Paper—that supported the economy of the town was a shadow of its former self, when it was a woolen mill employing nearly 1,500 people. Ray worked there himself at some points during his life there.

The crown jewel of Madison wasn’t in the downtown, though, but 8 miles east, on Wesserunsett Lake—Lakewood Theater, once considered the Broadway of Maine. Their summer runs of plays and musicals drew a wide audience from across the state, and I actually got to perform there for several summers as an actor myself in my high school years.

Ray Levesque, French-Canadian immigrant and entrepreneur

Raynald Levesque was a regular fixture around town. Passersby would often spot him on the front lawn of his family home, at the picnic table, newspaper and beer in hand, smoking a cigarette, contemplating life. He would often wave to those he knew, but being situated on Route 148—the main drag that connected Madison to Skowhegan—meant that there was regular traffic and a lot of cars to wave to.

To understand Ray at 55 at the time of his death, you have to understand his family, the most important thing in his life, and where he came from.

Ray was born in Quebec Province, Canada, and grew up speaking French as his primary language. He could get by alright in English-speaking Maine, but would sometimes hodgepodge French and English words together in a single sentence.

He immigrated to the US when he was pretty young, striking out on his own, and leaving his huge family of 12 siblings behind. He got married to his first wife, Irene Campeau, and had his first daughter, Linda. His wife died young and he remarried, finding love again with his second wife, Suzanne Roy. Suzie’s family was French-Canadian, too, and she had a whole pile of siblings in the area as well. Together, they had a daughter, Julia, and it was the four of them (Ray, Suzie, Linda, and Julia) that forged a life together in Madison.

Ray and Suzie both worked; she at the Key Bank in town, and he in a variety of roles. He was a talented welder, working both at the mill in Madison and for a time as an entrepreneur with his own business, “Ray’s Welding.” He worked in construction with Cianbro, traveling around the state. He would pick up odd-jobs as well, becoming the caretaker of a local cemetery, keeping it neatly mowed and edged. He was a bookkeeper for his brother-in-law, who lived right across the street from him, in the trash-disposal business, and finally, as an entrepreneur again, with his own bottle-return business, called “Madison-Area Recycling Center”.

Inventor, tinkerer

Ray was a tinkerer. He and Suzie had modest means, and he would often fill any financial gaps with his ingenuity. Even growing up in Val d’Or, 6 hours northwest of Montreal, in deep interior Canada, he would find ways to make due.

In Madison, his nieces and nephews would sometimes bring him watches to fix. Instead of getting a new snowmobile or lawnmower, he would take old ones and get them running again. He was flummoxed about the introduction of printed circuit boards into automobiles because he was so adept at repairing their mechanical parts.

His mind was always abuzz with ways to improve the efficiency of things. His daughter, Julia, described his approach to his work as, quote, “all-in”. There was an image of him printed in the Morning Sentinel, beaming with pride, a year before his death, in front of one of his inventions. It was a giant lazy susan that looked something like a conveyor belt at airport luggage returns, easily 7FT in diameter, that he used a sorting table for the thousands of bottles he would process.

In a different life, I could imagine him as an engineer—always trying to create systems and processes to optimize.

A love for food and a generous spirit

The whole household ran together as a well-oiled machine, often producing lots of tasty food. His daughter, Julia, who he called “Toots” was his gopher and sidekick, fetching things for him and doing different tasks in the kitchen. As soon as she was old enough to hold a peeler, she’d be working piles of potatoes and carrots to help out in the kitchen.

The Levesque family had a huge vegetable garden in the backyard, and as they harvested in the warm summer months, they would commit the excess to cans that would pile up, filling shelf after shelf, in their full basement. I can only imagine that canning was especially dear to Ray since it was, in fact, invented by the French and widely-used to preserve foods in the cold and inhospitable province in which he grew up.

Ray would send his daughter, Julia, out front to sell some of the excess cans to neighbors as they drove by on the busy road, giving her a taste for entrepreneurship, and kept the mountain of cans downstairs to a reasonable volume.

His siblings would sometimes visit from Canada, and food was often the focal point of their gatherings. He would pull out all of the stops and offer them a taste of Maine, cooking up dozens of fiery red lobsters.

Julia would help make dozens of tourtière pies, a classic French dish of ground meat and spices in a pie shell. They would give them out to neighbors, family and friends around town.

One time, he transformed his kitchen into an eggroll assembly-line, turning out hundreds that he would later freeze and pan-fry.

Julia remembered that he went moose-hunting with a group of friends and relatives, and they managed to bring back and butcher two great big moose. It nearly filled their huge downstairs freezer with meat, and they ate on it for months if not years.

There were some hunting rifles stashed away in Julia’s closet, but often when Ray was on his own, and had a deer in his sights, he couldn’t take that shot.

Hard work, mischief, and a dash of spice

Perhaps his own confrontations with death stayed his hand. He was a widow—his first wife, Irene, had died while they were married in their 20’s, and his twin brother, Leo Levesque, had died when he was a teenager. Some of his own experiences as a child, perhaps of witnessing cruelty, or being the victim of it, may have heightened his sensitivity.

Ray’s eldest daughter Linda moved out when she was just 15 years old and had a child at 16. She got in trouble with the law and was a rebel and an adventurer.

The friction between Linda and Ray was palpable. And Ray would sometimes turn to alcohol to cope.

Ray could be a little volatile, a little vulgar. When he was frustrated with something, he would exclaim, “Oh, PISS on it.” When he was in good spirits, he could be the life of the party, but he could be blunt, direct, and insensitive. It was a mixed blessing for his family: his plain speech and transparency made him easy to understand.

He loved to play devil’s advocate with his young daughter. They would have fun little debates, and Julia would take special delight in proving him wrong. One time they argued about pedestrian safety: was it safer to walk with traffic, or against? Julia contended that it was safer to walk against traffic, and he disagreed, so she decided to settle the matter, long before the internet, by calling the Madison Police Department, who sided with her. She took special pleasure in breaking the news to her father.

Julia remembered how her father could be childlike and tease her mom. They had a light-hearted love for one another.

Though they would both work hard, sharing the responsibilities of the household, Suzie deferred to Ray for major decisions. He was the leader of their house, and though he demanded respect, he also gave it.

He was well-respected by the community as a hard worker, and he, too, respected the hard work that he saw in others. He would rise early and seize the day. He was proud of his French-Canadian heritage, and he took to his endearing nickname, ‘Frenchie,’ which was given to him by some of his English-speaking Yankee coworkers.

Though he always honored his past, he was also proud of the fact that he had become a full United States citizen, earning his GED and passing the oral and written language and civics-exams required for naturalization. He was always learning, always challenging himself to do better. He expanded his knowledge and abilities in welding with several certifications, including brazing and arc-welding. He was proud of his accomplishments—despite his modest beginnings, he had raised a family of 2 girls, made it in a new country (learning a new language in the process), ran his own businesses, owned his own home, earned the respect of his family and neighbors, was financially stable and debt-free, and even took his family on the occasional vacation.

He had high expectations of himself and of others. Julia remembered that any time she had friends over to the house, he would insist on good etiquette, encouraging her to take their coats, and offer them something to eat and drink. Manners were important to him. But that formality was offset by his charming mischief.

Julia recalled that one Easter, instead of hiding a bunch of easter eggs with small gifts, he hid just one, inside the house, filled with $20. He watched as the kids tore apart the house looking for it, and was beaming as they struggled to find. Where did it finally emerge from? The cuckoo clock.

When I look through old photos of Ray Levesque, I am struck by his wry smile… a glint in his eye. The same expression from his youthful face at the train station as a child followed him into his fifties, and his teasing and cleverness defined his personality.

Proud of his daughter’s accomplishments

As Julia got older, she eventually graduated from Madison High School in 1985 and left home for college, never living at home with her parents again, and attended school at the University of New England in Biddeford, a 2-hr drive away. She graduated in 1989 and moved soon thereafter to Pennsylvania, where there was a dire shortage of physical therapists, and for those who were willing to move, a nice financial bonus.

Ray was proud of his daughter. She remembered how proud he was when she got married to her husband, Tom, in 1993, to whom she is still married. They moved to Chester, New Hampshire, and bought a house, and in 1994, when they were still getting settled, they took a trip home to Madison for Easter Weekend.

It was a great trip in a happy time of their life. They had made plans for Ray to come down to New Hampshire the next weekend to help with some electrical work. Little did she know, this would be the last time she would ever see her father alive.

Devastating news, a robber kills Ray Levesque

That Wednesday afternoon, following Easter, Julia got a call from her mother. She was at work, and they paged her over the intercom.

When she came to the phone, her mom explained that they had “lost dad”. Julia was confused… “What do you mean? Where is he?”

“He was shot in the house.”

Julia went home, packed up a bunch of stuff, and drove 2.5 hours in the rain up to Madison.

Shortly after the delivery driver discovered the body, he called for help. First, to EMS, which responded right away. Then, to Madison police department, who were right behind them. They secured the scene and called the state police. (In Maine, the state police take the lead in homicide investigations). They arrived that afternoon and started searching for clues.

That April morning, Ray Levesque rose early, per usual, and bid farewell to his wife at 7:30AM, who took the family car to town to work at Key Bank. Julia believes that he went through his morning ritual, first taking a cold walk to the shop to turn on the heat, the lights, the radio, and put the flag out before returning to the house. He had just quit smoking and had replaced his vice with something healthier: he was making some tea.

The house was a single-level home with two doors. One door faced the main road, and the other (which the family most commonly used to come and go) faced the driveway, which ran from the road past the right side of the house. When you open the driveway door, you find yourself in the Levesque kitchen: dark oak cabinetry, beige laminate counters, black range, microwave, and dishwasher, and a white fridge, all resting on classic 80’s linoleum flooring with tasteful French-inspired wallcovering.

To the right of the entry door (and essentially part of the kitchen) was a nook that had a desk that was used for the business. The floor plan was very open and after walking through the kitchen you would find yourself in a small dining room with an open living room to your left. The only bathroom in the house was just off that dining room.

He would go freely between the house and the shop. You could even see the shop from the bathroom window.

The killer entered the house and was rifling through the desk adjacent to the kitchen. He found Ray’s reserve cash box, which was later found empty. Julia believes that Ray emerged from the bathroom, confronted the robber, and was shot in head by a bullet, killing him instantly. A significant wad of cash was discovered in Ray’s pocket and his wallet was left on the dining room table, which suggests that the robber, after mortally wounding Ray, fled quickly thereafter.

It’s difficult to say the exact time of the crime, but the police narrowed it down to the period between 7:30AM and 10:00AM. Julia believes it occurred between 8:30AM and 9:30AM.

It’s a brazen crime. It happened in the middle of the day on a busy road at a business with a constant flow of retail traffic.

Not only that, but Madison High School was literally next door—one of its classroom buildings no more than a couple hundred feet away from the Levesque driveway.

Directly across Route 148 was a trash disposal business run by Suzanne’s brother, Gary Roy, which had constant daily traffic as well.

A gunshot going off in the middle of the day next to a school in such a busy area would seem likely to attract some attention, but police were running into dead end after dead end.

Police investigation

On Wednesday night, the police presence was immense. Julia met with investigators in the house and answered their questions. Her father’s body was still there, covered with a sheet, awaiting transport to the medical examiner’s office.

Suzie’s brother, Gary, who was across the street, said,

“Everybody’s hush-hush. Detectives are in here right now interrogating my kids. We don’t know what happened. Ray was a friend, a brother-in-law and supporter. It’s a sad, sad thing. The only thing we can do is make pots of coffee for police, but it won’t bring the man back.”

The police were interviewing everyone they could find. They went door to door up and down Route 148, talking to neighbors. They contacted school officials.

On Thursday morning, police created a roadside checkpoint on Route 148, and handed out 500 fliers to motorists about the situation, seeking information. They took students out of class at Madison High School for private interviews. They even made long videotapes of the morning traffic, documenting all the vehicles that passed the business on Route 148.

Finally, investigators got a critical lead. 3 or 4 people had identified a man that was seen in the Levesque driveway, on foot, in the critical timeframe. They put a description together. Stephen McCausland, state police spokesman, said,

“We’re looking for a pedestrian who was seen Wednesday morning between 7:30AM and 10:00AM standing in the driveway of Mr. Levesque’s home. This man is wanted for questioning, but isn’t a suspect. He may have information that may be valuable. We believe that he was a pedestrian or possibly hitchhiking.”

They provided a description of him: white, 25 to 35 years-old, 5FT 8IN tall, weighing about 160 lbs (a slender to medium build). He had dark-brown, shoulder-length hair, a beard and a mustache. He was wearing a dirty red or maroon baseball cap, a dark-colored jacket, and blue jeans.

They later released a composite sketch, produced by a State Police “identi-kit” operator, to the newspapers, of the man’s face. They appealed to the public for help: bring us this man.

Meanwhile, in Augusta, the state medical examiner’s office performed an autopsy on the body, and provided the obvious results to the police.

They later released one more key bit of information: there were some vehicles that were seen in the driveway that morning. McCausland said,

“Our investigation revealed at least four vehicles that were seen in either Levesque's driveway or across the street, in a neighbor's driveway. We want to speak to those drivers. Three cars from the Levesque driveway were described as a blue pickup with a white panel on the side and a cap on the bed; a light-colored car; and a dark-colored car. Across the street, a maroon car was seen in the driveway, possibly turning around.”

Public grieving, funeral, last murder in Madison

While police were busy talking to the town and chasing leads, the Levesque family was grieving.

When Julia and Tom arrived in Madison the night of the murder, they stayed at a relative’s vacation home with Suzanne, but things were moving very quickly.

After doing some clean up—by perhaps Friday—they were back at their childhood home, where their father had just been lying dead on the living room floor. It was eerie.

Julia and her mom were thrust into a very public grieving process. The news travelled like lightning, and immediately neighbors, friends, and family were coming by the house to help to support them, constantly dropping off food and tissues. But it was overwhelming. Suzie’s brother, Gary, helped to run interference.

Julia remembered how difficult it was to go out in public with her mother—doing something like shopping for groceries—with the whole town concerned and aware of their tragedy.

The town was grieving as well. Those that knew Ray were devastated, but the community as a whole was shook. One article from the time reflected on the last murder that had happened in Madison. It was 52 years ago. This sort of thing just didn’t happen.

Suzanne and Ray were a partnership. They relied upon one another. With one half missing, Suzanne had to adapt to her new life without him. She was resilient. She learned to do for herself. Her daughter and son-in-law helped to ease the transition.

Most of all, Suzanne was a worker, and she stayed busy. She kept putting one foot after the other and continued to lead a full and vibrant life despite her devastating loss.

Hopelessness, thin coverage

Things weren’t panning out for the investigators, and by the Monday following the murder, the police presence had started to fade. The quotes from McCausland betray the hopelessness that the investigating team felt.

“We don’t have a lot of leads on this case. A handful of people came forward Thursday, but we are looking for additional information.”

And most damning of all, he said,

“This murder occurred two weeks from yesterday, and our investigators are frustrated with the small number of people that have come forward. Literally hundreds of people drove past that location and yet only about a dozen have come to us.”

The Bangor Daily News and the Morning Sentinel ended their coverage on April 24th, with an op-ed lamenting the “changing times” and using Ray’s unsolved murder as an example of the violence that seemed to be on the rise, changing small-town America.

After that? An anniversary mention a year later, and then, nothing for the next 27 years.

State police efforts

It was bleak. Suzanne was the primary point of contact for the state police, and at first there was regular contact. But as time went on, their discussions dwindled, until in 2000, her mom requested a sit-down meeting where they told her that Ray’s case, though still open, was often overshadowed by the new cases that investigators were working on.

The state police held all of the cards. They had sole access to all of the interviews and investigative records.

A couple of interesting theories emerged over that time, though.

Another Madison/Anson businessman killed in 1995

In May of 1995, less than 3 miles away from Ray’s home, another man was shot and killed in nearby Anson at the real estate office he owned with his wife. 45-year-old Stanley Gorski was found dead by a customer inquiring about a truck. He’d been shot in the chest.

Police looked into the possibility that Ray and Stanley’s murders could be connected, and after the press inquired about it, Steve McCausland said, “We would certainly be remiss if we didn’t look for similarities in the two shootings.’’

The night before his murder, Stanley had been arguing with his friend, Tom Meadows, while out with family at Ken’s Bowling Alley in Skowhegan. The argument escalated to the point that Tom, who had a volatile personality, made threats that he would kill Stanley, continuing the arguments on the way home. The following day his threats became a reality when he killed Stanley at his office. The day after that, Tom then killed himself with what happened to be Stanley’s gun, and police considered the case to be closed as a murder-suicide.

Considering the personal connection between the Tom and his victim, it seems unlikely that there was connection to Ray.

Ray’s son-in-law a murderer?

Another coincidence worth mentioning in this case is a weird connection to convicted murderer, Jay Mercier.

Ray’s oldest daughter, Linda, had a child, Amie, when she was just 16 years old in 1975. The father was 19-year-old Jay Mercier, another Madison local. If they had gotten married, that would have meant that Ray’s son-in-law was a killer. He had brutally murdered Rita St. Peter in 1980.

In 1994, Jay would have been 38-years-old when Ray was killed. His daughter by that time was a legal adult, and I’m not sure if there was any relationship between him and the Levesque family.

Jay was not found guilty of the 1980 murder until 2012 when DNA evidence linked him to the crime. He escaped justice for 32 years. Could he have been involved in Ray’s death?

One foot in front the other

In 2004, 10 years after her husband’s death, Suzanne was taken by a sudden and aggressive cancer at just 63-years-old, and her daughter was robbed, again, of her hopes to share with her mom, the golden years of her retirement. She wished for her mother, a long life, living with her and Tom in the in-law suite they had built for her in their Brunswick home. They hoped to give something to her that was stripped away in a senseless tragedy.

Suzanne died without ever knowing the identity of her husband’s killer. The mantle was then passed to Julia, who has remained—to this day—the primary point of contact for the state police. In one week, it will be April 6th marking the 28th anniversary of Ray’s death…

Julia remembered 1994 as a bright time in Ray’s life. He had his drinking under control. He had kicked his smoking habit. He was starting to think about retirement, and his relationship with Julia was entering a whole new chapter. He had a long life ahead of him.

Julia’s half-sister, Linda, too, is gone, leaving Julia as only remaining member of their nuclear family. She died by suicide at age 40 in year 2000, 6 years after his death. Julia believes that Ray’s unsolved murder weighed heavily on her.

Despite the tragedy that has beset the Levesque family, they have been courageous, forging ahead, living in the present, and exemplifying Ray’s excellent work ethic.

Julia remembered how proud he was of her going to college, graduating, and practicing a profession, and though he didn’t display a lot of emotion, she knew that he loved her and wanted the best for her. She misses him the most at the big milestones in her life. Her children didn’t get grow up with him, and they missed the opportunity to learn from a hands-on man so full of life.

Julia is now turning 55, the age that her father died, and she has so much left that she wants to do. So many things left to accomplish and to see.

Julia reflected on some of the best memories with her father, and what immediately came to mind was her marriage to her husband, Tom. They got married in Virginia and both sets of parents flew down to meet one another. It was a small, private affair, and though they got married at the courthouse, they went out to dinner to celebrate. Ray was so proud of his daughter, and she remembered the joy he took in paying for dinner, even ordering a bottle of fancy wine. It was such a happy time.

Julia still makes tourtière pies, the same ones that her father made that he was ever-improving, ever-reinventing. They are a wonderful reminder of his legacy: a proud, first-generation immigrant, bringing his hospitality and cuisine with him from French Canada, forging a rich new life for himself, and leaving behind an incredible family to honor his memory.

If you have any information about Raynald Levesque’s death, please contact the Maine State Police, Central Crimes Unit, at 800-452-4664.

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