Warning: this story contains details some readers may find disturbing.
To Aylissa Rovere’s family, she will always be the beloved mother and daughter, the little girl who dreamed of being a farmer, the baby sister with the voice of an angel.
She will never be defined by how Collin Boucher-Gionet ended her life, family and friends told an Edmonton judge Friday.
Boucher-Gionet, 36, is facing a sentencing hearing for killing Rovere in 2024. Initially charged with second-degree murder, he pleaded guilty in May to the lesser charge of manslaughter and attempted indignity to a dead body.
Crown prosecutor Anders Quist called the case “profoundly disturbing.” According to an agreed statement of facts, Boucher-Gionet found Rovere unconscious on the ground after coming out of an alcohol-induced blackout. Believing Rovere was dead, Boucher-Gionet dug a shallow grave and tried to bury her. When that didn’t work, he poured fuel on her, thinking he might burn her.
Boucher-Gionet ultimately decided against that method, too. Instead, he dropped Rovere into a septic tank. An autopsy later revealed she was still alive.
“There are many ways a human life can be ended,” Quist said. “Being beaten and essentially drowned naked in a septic tank is on the more horrifying end of the spectrum.”
Quist said nearly everyone who has come into contact with the case has been deeply affected by it.
“Without resorting to emotion, I think it’s fair to say the victims of this case include the septic cleaning staff, the police, the forensic diver who went down into the tank, the medical examiner staff, the funeral home staff, the people who had to confront the reality of what this was.”
The Crown is asking Court of King’s Bench Justice Melanie Hayes-Richards to sentence Boucher-Gionet to 12 years prison. Defence lawyer Stacey Purser did not state her position on the record, since the hearing was forced to adjourn over a disagreement about how the court assesses Boucher-Gionet’s culpability.
According to the agreed facts, Rovere and Boucher-Gionet were in an on-again, off-again relationship. He had a history of violence, including convictions for assaults and uttering threats in 2010 and 2015. He previously completed domestic violence programming that showed a “pattern of interpersonal violence,” Quist said.
On Sept. 5, 2024, two days before her death, Rovere went to stay at a Parkland County property where a man was letting Boucher-Gionet live. On Sept. 6, a group of people gathered for a fire. A woman who saw Rovere and Boucher-Gionet earlier that evening described them as “lovey-dovey.”
Sometime after midnight, when everyone else had left, Boucher-Gionet blacked out. When he came to, everyone was gone, and Rovere was unconscious and cold on the ground.
Both Crown and defence agree Boucher-Gionet was responsible for knocking Rovere unconscious, though it is unclear how it happened. After several hours trying to dispose of what he believed was her body, Boucher-Gionet dragged Rovere to the septic tank, dropped her inside, and went to bed. He later deleted photos of her from his phone and posted on social media stating they had broken up.
Jodi Dunn, Rovere’s mother, reported her missing Sept. 10, after Rovere’s son went four days without hearing from her. Police eventually searched the Parkland property and found the shallow grave, which smelled of fuel. Boucher-Gionet lied about where Rovere was and suggested police investigate her former boyfriend, who they interviewed twice.
Investigators later searched the fire pit and found Rovere’s burned cellphone and keys. On Sept. 14, they drained the septic tank and found her body.
An autopsy concluded Rovere had been unconscious for four to five hours, and that she drowned in a few minutes after being dropped in the tank. She had suffered a variety of injuries including a broken neck, a brain bleed, bruising around her eye and a broken nose, though it was unclear how many of those occurred as a result of being dropped into the tank.
Boucher-Gionet was arrested while walking along a rural road on Sept. 17, 2024. He later made several incriminating statements in phone calls from the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Based on the medical evidence — which said Rovere would have been cold, stiff and barely breathing after being unconscious on the ground for so long — the Crown accepted that Boucher-Gionet legitimately believed she was dead when he dropped her in the tank.
Seven of Rovere’s loved ones, including her son and daughter, sisters and mom read victim impact statements Friday. All said they hoped she will be remembered for more than the way she died.
Rovere was one of seven siblings. Dunn, her mom, described a young mother who loved her son and daughter fiercely. She nonetheless struggled, and was in and out of abusive relationships. Months before she was killed, Rovere asked Dunn to take care of her son if anything happened to her.
Dunn recalled their last hug.
“I was able to hug her and hold her, feeling all her sadness and emotion transfer to me,” Dunn said. “If only for that few minutes I was able to give her some relief. I miss those hugs, it breaks me inside I can never feel them again.”
Rovere’s daughter said she’ll miss the good times with her mom.
“I’ll never laugh with her again, I’ll never sing with her again, I’ll never hug her again.”
Rovere’s son — who shares her birthday — said he loved her more than anything in the world.
“She always saw the good in people, even when it wasn’t there.”
Seated in the prisoner box, Boucher-Gionet hung his head and appeared to cry during several statements.
Hayes-Richards had hoped to sentence Boucher-Gionet Friday. Purser, however, raised an issue which she said might lead her client to reverse his guilty plea. The issue stemmed from arguments over which “unlawful act” Boucher-Gionet should be sentenced on — causing the blunt force trauma that knocked Rovere out, or dumping her in the septic tank.
The case is next in court Dec. 11.
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