SURVIVED: Fallon Farinacci

0:00Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt. And it's just me for right now. But not for long. So let me fill you in. A few months ago, our team was working on a case involving a girl who, along with her siblings, survived a home invasion in 1993 in which a man broke in and killed both of their parents. That girl was Fallon Farinacci, and she is now a dedicated advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous people, working to bring awareness, justice, and policy changes to address the crisis affecting Indigenous communities. And so in honor of May being National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Month, we thought this was an important story to share.

0:37But it's her story. So who better to tell it than herself? Today, I've invited Fallon to the Crime Junkie Clubhouse so we can hear directly from her. Now, before we jump in, I will tell you right up here at the top that we will not be naming Fallon's parents killer throughout the episode. For your reference, his name is Andre Ducharme. but, as I'm sure you can understand, Fallon prefers not to use his name. She only refers to him as her mom's stalker or the stalker, and out of respect, I'll be doing the same. All right, enough of me. This is the story of Fallon Farinacci.

1:27Thank you.

1:57to be here and to be able to come here to tell my story and share it with all of you. Yeah. So let's start with a little bit about you. Talk us to your background, your childhood. Tell us about your culture. Yeah. So I'm Red River Métis. I grew up in rural Manitoba, a tiny, predominantly Métis community just outside of Winnipeg. And so for those who don't necessarily know what Métis is, A long story short is I am indigenous and so was my father. He grew up really proud to be indigenous. And so he instilled that in me at a young age. There wasn't really any kind of difference from my everyday life to culture, traditions or community.

2:44It was just all. It was life. Yeah, it was all a part of it. I always explain to people it happened around the kitchen table, you know. It sounds like a really beautiful way to grow up. Really, really tight family, really close and happy. But we're here today for a specific reason. And I think now is like a really good time to kind of turn into that. Can you take me to everything that kind of happened? Yeah, absolutely. So in November of 1992, this man who we knew, he was a community member. He threatened my mother's life. Leading up to that, he started crossing boundaries and boundaries in the sense of like, just making you feel uncomfortable.

3:23Wasn't usual behavior. There wasn't anything specific. And then this really kind of crossed the last boundary. And he called our family home and he had asked my mom where his birthday cake was. He had found out that my mother had went to a co-worker's birthday party and my mom never made him a cake. So that is really what kind of made her feel uncomfortable to get off the phone right away. And so she said to him, I threw it in the garbage. I have to go. I have the kids bingo and hung up. We had a community bingo. As I said, it was like a really tight knit community. So he called back and he threatened my mom and he said that she wouldn't live to see her next birthday and that he wouldn't live to see his.

4:08So she took it really seriously. They called the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mountie Police, and they brought him before a judge that evening. And they failed, though, to tell the judge that my mother and father had told the RCMP that she was concerned that they had, that he had, sorry, a.22 caliber rifle. So there was no seizure of weapons. There was no search of his home, anything like that. And he was released. And then in December, you know, my mom continued to hear from community members that he was continuing to want to take my mother and my father's lives. And so from there, my mom wrote the RCMP letter.

4:50And in that letter, she stated that, again, she was concerned about this.22 caliber, but also a handgun. The letter was never filed. And so it wasn't brought before a judge or anything like that. And now we're in January of 1993. And my family's case landed on the desk of a family crown attorney. Which it's like family crown would be like family court here in the States. Yes. So like custody and stuff like that. That's not the situation at all. Not at all. No, this was criminal. He had threatened their lives. So along this case, we heard a lot of like errors, you know, human error. And so this was one of those human errors.

5:33But for some reason, this crown picked it up and then felt it was appropriate to have a mediation. Which, again, like in family court would make sense. Like you have mediations as like a means to an end. But that's, again, not the case here. No, I mean, I wouldn't want to sit with someone. Absolutely not. That threatened my life. So it just baffles my mind that he thought that was what should be done. Oh, yeah. Especially like it comes across your desk. You open it to continue on with it versus like passing it off to like who it actually belongs to where it can actually be handled properly. Properly with the court system that should be handling it feels like more than human error.

6:12Yeah, absolutely. And from there, there was a temp in this law clerk position, which again, human error, fine. But she accidentally mailed my mother the stalker's information and he got my mother's. Oh. Yeah. So there were laws that were, I forget like the verbiage, there was laws that were in place but weren't enacted at the time to protect women. And like my grandma says, my mom's mom, what good is a restraining order? At the end of the day, it's a piece of paper. Right. And I know here in the States is one of those things where you can't even act on it until it's violated. Yeah. Right. So like it's there until what?

6:58Yeah. Right. And like it doesn't do any good. Yeah. In a lot of cases. Yeah. And I had asked my dad's best friend, Ken Bowden, I had said to him, even from my dad's perspective, was my dad really scared? And he said, yeah, absolutely. He could hear it in his voice that he was scared. And so because of this, my mom had decided she was absolutely not going through this mediation. Yeah. I mean, she was already scared, but this was just catapulting it. And so from there, they didn't show up for the mediation. There was supposed to be a mediation on January 26th. So he was released back out into the public again.

7:38And he came to our family home on January 27th and he knocked on the door. My older brother was awake. It was just after midnight. Myself, my younger sibling, my parents, we were all sleeping. And when my brother answered the door, he was standing on the other side of the door with the same.22 caliber rifle that they had warned the police about. And he instructed my brother to go downstairs into our family home. And he tied up my brother. And I would say he verbally tortured him. He talked about killing my parents and how he couldn't live without my mother. And so my brother had to endure that for a number of hours before he finally told my brother that he was going to go upstairs.

8:25And he used the words, do the deed, to go kill my parents. My older brother had to write a suicide note, I guess, in a way for this man, just instructing him to tell his family, his friends, that he was sorry for what he was doing. And then around 2.30 in the morning, he went upstairs in our family home. And that's when my brother heard the gunshot. Before that, he had heard my dad yell some things in French because it was a French Métis community. So he had yelled some things. My brother didn't speak French, so he didn't know what they were saying to each other. And then he did shoot and kill my father.

9:10I'm assuming that that's the sound that woke myself and my younger brother up at that time. and so the way our bedroom was it's just like a regular bungalow so I was at the top of the hallway and my parents and my brother's room were side by side and so when I woke up I immediately tried to go into my parents bedroom because I didn't know what was going on and I was nine at the time and so I'm trying to push the door open but there's clearly someone on the other side of the door and so I give up at that point but I don't know what it was something told me that it It was an emergency to go call 911.

9:48I don't have any recollection of something being said, you know, that made me feel in danger. It just felt like I'm looking at my younger brother. He's standing in the hallway and he's screaming, crying. And I'm thinking, OK, something is wrong. How old were you and your brothers when all this happened? So my older brother, Carson, was 17. And then my younger brother, Clinton, at the time was five. OK. And you were nine. And I was nine, yes. And so I went to call for help, but I accidentally dialed the wrong number. And so then I could see a dark shadow coming running towards me. So I dropped the phone and I run into the basement and hide at this point.

10:31And eventually my mom, the stalker, and my younger brother all come downstairs. And that's when my younger brother finds me. And he tries to pull me out and I'm like begging him not to. It was terrifying because at the same time he's screaming and yelling because he can't find my brother. But he had escaped at 2.30 when the gunshot went off. He thankfully was able to get out of the basement window and he ran to my parents' best friend's home and my childhood best friend's parents' home. And they called 911 at, well, it's a seven digit number. Forgive me at the time and the rural community. It was not 911 times.

11:13And so they called for help and they stated, you know, he has entered our home. And my brother said, you know, my parents are in court with him right now. And he has a gun. They heard a gunshot go off and that us kids were being held in the house. Not that we're being held hostage, but we're in the house. And so the way the chain of command goes, that 911 dispatcher would let the officers know who were on duty at the nearby police station. So that's about 45 minutes from my community. But that police station closes at 2 a.m. And this is happening after 2.30. Yes. So they would call the constable on duty and let him know.

11:56And then he would then give, you know, further instructions. So they did. They called him and he said, go out to the Paul residence and see if you can get him to come out and talk to him. As if he's a rational person right now. Yeah, absolutely. As if none of the other information had been said at all. Or was important. Yes. He was also the only trained hostage negotiator for this RCMP station. So like the person who should have been going out and talking to this clearly irrational person. Yes. Holding hostages. He could have called for SWAT, anything, backup, but he didn't. And instead of, you know, just hanging up the phone and maybe getting up himself because he'd know he'd have to come here eventually.

12:42Keeping an eye on the situation he's responsible for. Yeah. He accidentally fell back asleep. I can't imagine having that position and doing that, like having such disregard for the situation. Yes. And also, one thing I didn't tell you was that the stalker had 13 prior convictions. And the RCMP station, the same one, fought bail for this man in 1990, saying he should not be released, that he was a danger to the community. Yes. Yes. So by time, he's in the basement with us kids and my mom. And at this time, he's losing his mind. So he's upset. He looks at my mom and he tells my mom she's going to have to pick whether it's myself or my younger brother that dies next if we can't find my older brother.

13:31Who isn't in the house at all anymore. Not at all. And my mom doesn't know. And so we looked in all and all of the places. I mean, it's a tiny little basement and it was all open and a rec room. And so eventually my mom wanted to separate him from us because he threatens our life. And she gave me a hug. We're sitting on the stairs and she hugged me and said, I'm going to go upstairs with him. You stay down here and call for help. So they went upstairs and we stayed downstairs and I went to pick up the phone and it wasn't even up on the telephone, like this little stand that she had. It was on the floor.

14:08It had been ripped out of the wall, the cord. And I don't know. I mean, obviously I can have regrets now, but that is one thing that sticks out in my mind is I wish I had just plugged it back in because it wasn't like rip broken. It was just, I thought I would get electrocuted if I plugged it in. You were a kid. I know. And I do try to give myself that grace when I think back. So we stayed in the basement and eventually we fall asleep. So my mom's upstairs for two hours with this man. And so at 5.30, there's two officers outside of our home. Just like, hey, come out. Yeah. So they do make contact with my mom.

14:54It must have been right after she went upstairs. They call the house and my mom answers and she answers one-sided questions. Are you okay? Are you hurt? A lot of the answers she gives, though, are maybe I don't know because she's just... She's trying to protect herself. Yeah. But he doesn't stop her from being on the phone. That's like the whole part I never really understood. I think it's just I think of he had been drinking and he was doing drugs before coming to our house from what witnesses had seen him before earlier in the day. He went and he drank a bottle of sherry. Yeah, it's just one of those things that I guess repulse maybe is a word for me, you know, like with my mom's name being Sherry.

15:44Yeah. So I just think he probably continued down that before coming to her home. And so at the end of the call, she says, you know, can you call me back in the morning? I have to go. And so then at that point, they let her know help is on the way. But there was no real help coming at all. At 5.30, the two officers are instructed to go get my brother. And then they bring him to this command post that they're finally setting up in a community next to ours, not even in our community. And this is a small community. Like, I grew up in a small town. Like, there's usually not a lot around small communities.

16:25Like, you're kind of just a little dot on the map. Yeah. So this isn't close by. No. Not as close as it could be, at least. No, exactly. It could have been just at our town hall. Yeah. But instead, it's like eight to ten minutes down the road. and I mean at this point we're three hours into it well more technically from the time that he entered our home and so my brother has to go there and he he watches them the no sense of urgency use a ruler to try to draw out a map of our house meanwhile there's still no SWAT at our home and I'm sleeping my younger brother and I fall asleep at 5 30 I must hear a noise I'm gonna guess It was a gunshot that woke me up because my mom was shot in the arm.

17:11I don't know that it's her arm because when I finally get upstairs, I try to go into now my bedroom and I can hear my mom on the other side of the door. And she said, why do you have to shoot me? You already shot me in the arm. And I'm thinking she thought, I'm just genuinely realizing this right now. I'm thinking she thought it was maybe a police officer on the other side of the door. And so she's like, she's saying all this to like inform who's ever on the other side. Yeah, because why would she say that otherwise? Sorry, I just realized that. So, yeah. And so I get scared by hearing that and I run into my parents' room.

17:49And the whole time my little brother stays with me. And I get up on the bed and I go to call for help. I call the emergency number again. and I asked them for three ambulance because I don't know where my brother is. Right, you still haven't found him. No, yeah. And then I call another time, a 911 dispatcher hangs up on me. We don't know why, but they hang up on me. And I realize I look over and I see my dad. And when I tell you, it was like, oh my gosh, he's going to help us. Like, why isn't he helping us? So I tried to wake him up, but I didn't know at the time he was dead already at that time.

18:33My younger brother came around the side of the bed and he saw my dad. I didn't, but I could tell by his reaction that something was wrong. So I just left my dad. It's almost like I just moved away from him and I didn't touch him again after that. I just left him alone. and it's at just after six o 'clock between six and 6 30 um that my mom tries to leave my bedroom and uh she shot one more time she shot in the shoulder but because of the type of weapon it is um the the bullet spirals and so it severed her spinal cord and um she died right in front of my myself and my younger brother. He stayed in my bedroom.

19:21And then I heard a noise. And I had, I mean, it's classic 90s. I had a wicker shelf. I thought he knocked it over. And I remember it getting so mad in my head, like he knocked over my shelf. He's breaking my stuff. And it wasn't, it was the sound of the gun. He turned it on himself and he committed suicide on my childhood bedroom floor. And we don't know that. So we stay in my parents' room. And eventually my mom's alarm goes off at seven because she would have been getting us ready for school. And I take the phone off the hook at that point because it's like an alarm and phone all in one. And I'm worried that he's going to come into the room.

20:07Eventually my younger brother and I move onto the floor and we're on the opposite side of the bed. So we're trying to hide there so that if he does get up, he can't see us. And so we continue to wait and wait. And it's not until after 7 a.m. that the SWAT team shows up outside and there's a big gap. Obviously, when we're waiting for help after my parents die, where we're sitting and waiting. I never share it because it It feels so dehumanizing. So I had to go to the bathroom. And I had broken my arm. Real winter wonderland of Manitoba. And I had to have a bag over my arm. Because I was like, we didn't have those pump things that they put over.

21:01and so the option was to cross my mom's body and risk him seeing us because I thought he was alive still or um I had to use the garbage bag and like lay it out and then go to the bathroom and so I always thought like when they came in after I was mortified mortified of these police officers coming in and it just like it seemed so it just seemed like we're already in this position and now I had to do this yeah when did someone finally come in not until 8 30 in the morning the stalker got to your house after midnight your brother escaped after 2 30 and no no law enforcement came into the house until after 8 30 that morning 8 30 and when they came in they they just yelled out this one's gone this one's gone well first they you know the usual rcmp whatever they might say like weapons down here yeah um and then i can just hear them one officer yell out this one's gone this one's gone and then this one's gone and then next thing you know there There was two paramedics who were community members.

22:24They were my friend's fathers. They came in, they threw two blankets over us and picked us up and carried us out. And when they were carrying us out to the ambulance, I could hear a man speak. And I thought it was my brother. I remember shifting a little my weight, like, oh my gosh, Carson's here. He's okay. You know, because at this point, I have no idea where he is. You haven't seen him since you went to bed the night before. Yeah. Yeah. And so we were put in the ambulance and then they had asked the ambulance to be sent to the Mizzacordia Hospital so that we could go see my mom's co-workers and everyone there and that they could take over and look at us there just to make sure that we weren't hurt and nothing was done to us.

23:06And it was there that they corralled us into a room and told us at that point that my parents had, in fact, died. Wow. And then later that night, the RCMP came and I gave my statement. And it was actually, I only realized this probably in the last couple of years. You know how authority figures can do a great job at making us question ourselves? I gave my statement and I told the RCMP officer. And this is when my mom said, why do you have to shoot me? You already shot me in the eye. Mm-hmm. He said, your mother wasn't shot in the eye. And I said, well, she said, why do you have to shoot me? You shot me in the eye.

23:55And he said, she never said that. So I don't know why you're saying she said that. Yeah. And like, he looked at me like, I remember thinking like, that genuinely is probably a moment where I like began questioning my own thoughts, my own memory. Yeah. I was going to say, if I was in that situation now as an adult, I'd be like, wait, maybe I would even question myself. And you were nine. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's like often, you know, where does imposter syndrome come from? Right. Right. And I think that that's probably a moment that was the beginning. It was really formative. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

24:36And what stands out to me in all of this is, you talked earlier about like human error. This wasn't one human error two months before this happened. This wasn't one human error the night that it happened. This was error upon error upon misstep upon misstep the entire way through. Yeah. We have this officer questioning what I know I heard. As a child. As a child. Like, yes, she said arm, but I'm listening to her behind the door. Yeah. So we have that. We go back to the initial, those two officers taking my mother's statement, failing to tell the judge about the rifle that she's concerned about.

25:19How about we go back to even 1990 where they let him out and they say that he's... He's no threat to society. Yeah. Yeah. And then from there, we have the letter that was never filed. The law clerk who accidentally. The case being sent to family court, not criminal court. Exactly. And it proceeding to go to the mediation. Staying in family court. Yeah, absolutely. And then not even like the inquiry process where I, you know, I didn't tell you how the judge blamed the townspeople saying that they should have done more to protect our family. Which I'm sorry, I thought that's what law enforcement was for.

26:01Like these are the very people put in place. Yeah. Right. Like by the government to protect you. To protect you. Quite literally their job. Yeah, that's that's kind of their whole thing. Yeah. And then we have officers who, you know, didn't actually enter our home. SWAT never came in, didn't get out to our community. The officer who fell asleep, like they're all taking the stand. One officer says that my mom, by telling him she threw the cake in the garbage. That started it. That was a reaction. Yeah, she gave him. She was the instigator. Yes. Oh my God. Yeah. Not the man stalking her. No. Not his problem.

26:40Her response to that was the problem. Yeah. So what was next for you and your siblings? What was the future like for you guys? So a few days after, honestly, I don't even know how long after they passed, we had the funeral in our community. And I just think of how full the church was. It was filled with, you know, the firemen, the community members, people from my mom's work. and I just remember sitting there and I was still, you know, I was in shock. Like it's out of body kind of experience of like looking around and thinking like, oh, everyone's here. But it still didn't really grasp the idea of like what I had like completely lost and like this new normal.

27:30But it was hard because we had to move within a month's time. And I mean, this was a community that I had known my whole life. And small. And small. Yeah. And yeah, it was just so difficult. I didn't want to leave. And when we first moved there, we had to live with my aunt. But Carson turned 18 within a month of moving out there. So within two months of my parents passing away, he had turned 18. So he like, quote, aged out. Right. He becomes an adult. Yeah. Yeah. Which is also just sad for him. Like, I have a 19-year-old. I couldn't imagine him just being like, okay, you're on your own now because no one's getting money for you to take care of you.

28:17So. Especially what he went through. Yeah. And being responsible for trying to save his family. Yeah. Yeah. And so my brother, my younger brother and I stayed at my aunt's house, but we only lived there. I only lived there for a year. It was just made me feel so uncomfortable. And my grandma listened and she had suggested that I move in with her. So I lived there with my grandma for a little bit. My grandma sent me home to Manitoba every summer. So I got to go back there. But it's not I didn't want to live with my grandma. I just didn't want to live in Ontario. you. So my aunt said to me, if you want, you can go live in Manitoba.

28:58And I said, no, nanny would never let me. She said, no, I'm your guardian. If I say you can, you can. So she got me on a plane and I went back to Manitoba. I lived with one of my family members there for a little bit. And then eventually I moved in with Ken and Debbie Bowden, my parents' best friends, my best friend's parents. I mean, it was a dream come true. I now get to call my best friend, my sister. Like that was The best in the world. Yeah. I think it was a blessing, though, that I did get to go home as much as I did. Because I know a lot of folks who endure things, it's hard for them to go back to where, you know, the crime happened or the traumatic event.