| Melanie Carpenter | |
| Birth Date: | 22 April 1971 |
| Birth Place: | British Columbia, Canada |
| Death Place: | British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality: | Canadian |
| Body Discovered: | January 26, 1995 |
| Father: | Steve Carpenter |
| Mother: | Sandra Carpenter |
| Known For: | being kidnapped and murdered |
Melanie Carpenter (April 22, 1971 – January 6, 1995)[1] was a Canadian 23-year-old woman who was abducted and murdered in British Columbia, on January 6, 1995.[2] Carpenter was taken from her workplace in Surrey and found dead in the Fraser Canyon several weeks later. The prime suspect, Fernand Auger, committed suicide before he could be arrested.[3] [4] [5] [6]
On January 6, 1995, Melanie Carpenter, a 23-year-old woman from Surrey, British Columbia,[7] had received suspicious phone calls from a man feigning interest in a business deal. Later that day, Carpenter was abducted from where she was working alone at a tanning salon in the Fleetwood town centre of Surrey.[8]
The afternoon that Carpenter went missing, a bank security camera recorded a 37-year-old man, Fernand Auger, making a $300 withdrawal using Carpenter's debit card, and the footage was shown on national TV the next day. Auger was a drifter from Ontario, frequently working as a waiter in restaurants, and had been a resident of Calgary, Alberta, until moving to British Columbia days before the murder. In August 1994, Auger had been released from prison in Bowden, Alberta, where he had served a 16-month sentence for armed robbery, and was on parole at the time. Auger quickly became the number one suspect in the abduction, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.[9]
On January 15, 1995, Auger was found dead at a vacant home in High River, Alberta, 55km (34miles) south of Calgary, by a real estate agent during a viewing with a client. Auger had committed suicide in a garage on the property by inhaling carbon monoxide fumes from the engine of his car, a Hyundai Excel rented from Calgary.[10]
Carpenter's corpse was found shortly afterwards along an isolated road in a First Nations reserve near Hope, a rural town in British Columbia's Fraser Canyon, 45km (28miles) northeast of Chilliwack. Carpenter's body had been abandoned in a crevice and concealed by a white blanket.[11]
In 1995, the Melanie Carpenter Foundation was established to create a memorial for Carpenter.[12] After her death, Carpenter's father formed a petition to keep murderers in prison as speeches were made, petitions were signed and rallies were held in protest against Canada's parole system.[13]