Exclusive – Video – Family Fights to Keep Father’s Killer Out of Cobourg and Port Hope

(Photos 1. Mike Leblanc 2. Cathy Andrus shortly after her arrest in 2009)

Nearly 16 years after Mike Leblanc was brutally murdered inside his Port Hope home, his daughter says the nightmare never really ended.

Now, Tina Walters and her family are once again fighting to keep the woman convicted of killing her father from returning to the Cobourg-Port Hope area.

Catherine Andrus, Leblanc’s common-law wife, is seeking to have geographical restrictions on her release lifted so she can enter Cobourg and Port Hope.

Walters vehemently opposes the request, saying the possibility of encountering the woman who killed her father — or having her children encounter her — has reopened years of trauma.

“It’s tiring,” Walters said. “You try and get on with your life and stuff and your kids grow and everything and you think of all the times that he could have been around. But then you think, ‘Oh, she’s out.’ She’s getting to live her best life. Where’s my dad?”

Leblanc was 53 when he was found murdered in the bedroom of the Pochon Avenue home he shared with Andrus and their 16-year-old son.

The couple had been together for 16 years.

Their son was the one who discovered Leblanc’s body.

Andrus, who was 49 at the time, eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in an Oshawa courtroom on November 27, 2012 — her 53rd birthday.

She was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years. Having already spent time in custody, she received credit for time served.

The sentencing judge described the killing as a “vicious, callous, cowardly killing.”

Leblanc had been beaten to death with an aluminum baseball bat. The judge noted that the autopsy showed he had suffered five blows, with any one of them potentially being fatal.

Andrus served her sentence at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener.

Walters said the news of her father’s death came suddenly.

A neighbour contacted her after hearing there was heavy police activity at the home. Walters, who had her two-year-old child with her, drove to the house.

“There was a bunch of people on the neighbour’s lawn and police tape, police cars. The crime scene unit was there,” she recalled.

Then Andrus came running across the street.

“She said to me, like, ‘He’s gone.’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’”

Walters said that moment marked the beginning of a nightmare that has continued for years.

“It’s been a nightmare ever since. Absolute nightmare.”

Walters said Andrus was released on parole in 2019, despite her understanding at the time that she would not even be eligible for a parole hearing until 2022.

Since her release, Andrus has lived in Western Ontario and remains subject to conditions governing where she can travel.

Walters said Victim Services notifies her when Andrus requests travel permits or changes to her conditions.

Approximately two years ago, Walters was informed that Andrus wanted the geographical restriction preventing her from coming into the Cobourg-Port Hope area lifted.

Walters and supporters responded by sending letters to the Parole Board.

After receiving and reviewing the letters, Walters said Andrus withdrew the application.

Now, Walters says the request has been made again.

“She’s applied again for a geographical restriction lift to come into Cobourg and Port Hope,” she said.

For Walters, the greatest fear is simple — running into Andrus.

“Running into her. My kids running into her. Coming around my house,” she said. “You’re looking over your shoulder all the time.”

Walters said keeping Andrus out of the area would remove one more source of anxiety for her family.

“It’s one less thing you need to worry about if she doesn’t get this,” she said.

She also struggles with what she sees as an imbalance between the rights of an offender and the lasting impact on victims and their families.

“It’s not the victims don’t have any kind of rights or protection. It’s all about the one who did the murdering,” Walters said.

She points to everyday situations that could become deeply traumatic — something as simple as walking into a local grocery store and seeing Andrus.

“Do you really want to walk into No Frills or Food Basics and run into her? No.”

Walters said her father’s absence remains a daily reality.

“She gets to go on travel permits. My dad’s not going anywhere.”

Her father, she said, remains very much part of her life through memories and photographs.

“I can’t call him up and say, ‘Hey, can you come over and fix this for me?’ Or, ‘Are you coming over for dinner?’ You know, him not calling me.”

Sometimes she sees someone who resembles her father and experiences a momentary shock.

“You kind of see someone that looks like him and it’s weird,” she said. “I look at people all the time and it’s like, you don’t know.”

Walters said the fact Andrus had once been a trusted member of the family makes the betrayal even more painful.

Since Andrus’ arrest, family members have struggled with hurt, anger and guilt over not recognizing what was going to happen.

Now, Walters is asking members of the community to make their views known to the Parole Board.

She said friends and family members have already begun sending letters opposing the application.

“The more letters that go in, the more that they’ll see that, one, she’s not really wanted around here,” Walters said.

She also wants the board to understand the impact Andrus’ return could have on people who knew the family and witnessed the aftermath of Leblanc’s murder.

“It’s not only us as family members, but friends of ours that have seen what has happened to us, what has happened to my dad.”

Walters said anyone submitting a letter should focus on the impact of the potential return on the community and victims, while following the Parole Board’s requirements regarding what personal information can be included.

Letters opposing Andrus’ application can be emailed to GEN-ONT-VICTIMSERVI@CSC-SCC.GC.CA.

Andrus responds

Today’s Northumberland reached out to Andrus for comment.

Andrus said the reason she is seeking access to the area is because her mother is terminally ill and she wants to be with her during what could be the final stages of her life.

“My mother is terminally ill,” Andrus said. “I do not wish to hurt or traumatize anyone. I would not be out in community. I only wish to be with my mom at my sister’s home.”

Andrus said she wants to be present to provide her mother with Indigenous traditional rites of passage.

“She deserves to have all of her children with her at this time,” she said.

Andrus said she would not visit public places or go near the homes of the Leblanc family.

“I will go nowhere near their homes or out in public. I will only be with my mom. I do understand and will respect the boundaries.”

When asked whether she could understand why the Leblanc family would oppose her request, Andrus said she could.

“I do understand. My heart breaks for them. My heart is also breaking for my mom and sisters.”

Asked whether it was fair for her to return to the area when the Leblanc family never had the opportunity to say goodbye to their father, Andrus expressed remorse.

“I’m so sorry and will forever be remorseful for my actions,” she said. “I think of them every day, but I’m also only asking to be there when my mom makes her final journey.”

Andrus said she is not seeking permanent access to Cobourg or Port Hope.

“To provide her Indigenous rites of passage and put back to Mother Earth as she deserves,” she said. “I’m not looking for permanent access to the area. They never have to see me. Again I am so sorry for the pain.”

For Walters, however, the issue remains deeply personal.

“You’ve made my life hell. You’ve taken my dad away. You’ve taken my kids’ grandfather away,” she said.

“And you don’t get to have fun or a life or get to come around the place where you caused the most trauma.”