2019-04-19 Murder

HermanSavoie & BruceAllen in 2019

Not a murder in Halifax, but a murder of a Haligonian.

Lunenburg, NS native BruceAllen?, partner of HermanSavoie?, was stabbed to death in their shared apartment in Progreso, Mexico on Good Friday, April 19, 2019.

Savoie was there at the time of the mid-morning murder and after the attack came face-to-face with the alleged killer.

The Dartmouth couple had made the small Mexican beach city their second home for the past 25 years. They had found a second family there and on Saturday Savoie buried his best friend in Progreso.

The pair had been in an open relationship, said Savoie. Allen had connected with a 31-year-old Mexican man, Carlos Ernesto on a dating app at about 10 a.m. that morning. The pair had not previously met and Ernesto arrived at their apartment about 40 minutes later, recalls Savoie. The murder happened inside Allen’s room about five minutes after he arrived at the apartment.

Mexican police managed to track Ernesto down and arrest him within two hours. He ended up confessing to the murder. State prosecutors in Mexico laid a homicide charge in the case.

Allen had wanted to be cremated and his ashes returned to his native Lunenburg. But Savoie says Mexican law won’t allow this before the murder trial finishes because the body might have to be examined again.

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