Patricia Ferguson cold case: Man charged with manslaughter seeking bail

A Montreal man accused of manslaughter in the disappearance of a young mother decades ago in Pointe-aux-Trembles is trying to seek bail while awaiting trial.

Serge Audette, 69, was on parole in 1996 when Patricia Ferguson disappeared. At the time, police issued a missing-person alert, but there was never any form of a follow-up, and the case went cold.

Audette was finally arrested and charged with manslaughter in June. He is currently behind bars on unrelated charges, but he still has the right to seek bail.

The evidence presented during his court appearance on Tuesday is protected by a publication ban.

His arrest follows a lengthy investigation by a local private investigator working with the Unsolved Murders and Missing Cases of Quebec, with the involvement of documentary filmmaker and Noovo Info anchor Marie-Christine Bergeron.

Their production, L'appartement 5, triggered a new investigation by Montreal police, who used the information gathered to trace and arrest Audette.

The man has a lengthy criminal record involving sex crimes, before and after the alleged events of 1996.

Outside the courtroom, Ferguson’s daughter admitted she was slowly absorbing what she’s living through as an adult, who last saw her mother when she was just 11 months old.

"I’m learning to live with the answers, that my mother isn’t coming back," Sabrina Ferguson told CTV News.

The young Ferguson says she grew up understanding she had been abandoned by her mother and lived with that frustration until the actual facts were revealed.

"I only wish I knew where her final resting place is," she said, "so I can truly live my grief."

The ruling on the request for bail is expected at a later date.