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The Sudbury Star
By Denis St. Pierre
Monday, April 21, 2003 – 11:00
Beaulne goes on trial for wife’s 2001 death
Local News – On Nov. 22, 2001, a typical weekday in a quiet Valley East neighbourhood turned to horror for relatives, friends and neighbours of Sheryl and Daniel Beaulne.
Responding to an early-morning, 911 emergency phone call from the Beaulne home on Sunset Drive in Val Caron, police made a grisly discovery. Sheryl Beaulne, 29, lay dead in the home, while her 33-year-old husband was found suffering from what were believed to be self-inflicted injuries.
On Tuesday, 17 months later to the day, Daniel Beaulne, now 35, will stand trial in the Sudbury Courthouse for the alleged murder of his wife.
Many of the family members, friends and neighbours who were in shock and disbelief in November 2001, are expected to be on hand.
Some have been in court a number of times already, during Beaulne’s many brief appearances leading up to his trial.
On at least one occasion last year, some observers at a pre-trial court appearance by Beaulne wore T-shirts featuring photographs of his late wife and the couple’s three children.
While onlookers at Beaulne’s trial obviously will want to see how justice is administered in the case, some also will be looking for some kind of explanation for the tragedy.
“We’ll be there, if we can,” said Sue McNeely, who along with her husband Mark were close friends of Daniel Beaulne.
Like many others who knew the couple, McNeely and her husband said following Sheryl Beaulne’s death that they were baffled by the tragedy.
Daniel Beaulne was “such a soft person” who would show great affection toward his wife and children, they said.
But the McNeelys and other relatives and neighbours also knew that Daniel Beaulne was suffering physical and emotional difficulties after a car accident left him unable to work.
In the weeks and months immediately prior to the tragedy, Beaulne appeared to be under increasing stress, they said. He exhibited an uncharacteristically-short temper. Arguments with his wife became common. He took prescription medication, for pain and for depression.
Daniel Beaulne will be tried in the Superior Court of Justice before a 12-person jury. Three weeks have been set aside for the trial.