Woman, current partner found guilty of 1st degree murder in death of woman's ex-husband
A woman and her spouse have been found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of the woman's ex-husband.
In a trial that ended this weekend, Melissa Merritt and her common-law husband Christopher Fattore were determined to have killed Merritt's ex-husband Caleb Harrison in 2013.
Christopher Fattore was also found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Caleb Harrison's mother and Merritt's ex mother-in-law, Bridget Harrison, who died in 2010.
The jury did not deliver a verdict for Merritt in the death of Bridget Harrison, Taylor said.
In 2015, the couple was also charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Harrison — Caleb's father and Bridget's husband — but a judge discharged Merritt on that count, citing insufficient evidence.
Fattore was found not guilty of the second degree murder of William Harrison.
Deaths occurred in same home
Caleb Harrison was found dead in August 2013 in a home in Mississauga, Ont. — the same home where his 63-year-old mother died in 2010.
Investigators determined that both had been asphyxiated.
All three Harrisons were found dead in the same Mississauga, Ont., home over several years.
Merritt and Fattore were arrested near Bridgewater, N.S., last year, where they had moved shortly after Caleb Harrison's death.
Verdicts 'bring some relief'
In a statement delivered on Saturday, the Harrison family said that while the verdict provided some relief, the pain and suffering caused by the the loss will remain constant.
The family also criticized the way the cases were handled by police.
"We are haunted by lingering questions about the investigative and forensic handling of the deaths of Bill and Bridget Harrison. We need time to process the verdicts, reflect, and determine the best avenues to address our questions. Answers are important to fully honour the lives of those we have lost, and to help us reach closure," the family said.
A complicated family history
The case involves an intricate web of family relations.
Merritt and Caleb Harrison had two children and split up in 2005, which is also the year she and Fattore met, police have said.
Merritt was previously convicted of the parental abduction of the children she had with Harrison — an abduction police said took place around the same time as Harrison's father's death.
The two children were living with Harrison at the time of his death, police said.
