Brian Chevalier Mug Shot from 2003 (Jaffery, NH Police)
NORTH ANDOVER (WBZ-AM) -- Just months before the murder of Wendi Rose Davidson in North Andover, her alleged killer, Brian Chevalier, was before the New Hampshire parole board explaining why he thought he should be released after serving time for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend in 2003.
Chevalier, 51 of Merrimack, said he had trouble understanding why he was still not free. He told the board he was in a halfway house, had a job, and was doing very well.
"I feel good that I have, it's not a lot of money, but it's money that I've never had before," he said. "I have a really good future to look forward to."
That future included meeting Davidson just a few months later. Davidson was found dead in the basement of her North Andover home on Sunday, April 21.
After Chevalier was captured in California last week for violating his New Hampshire parole, the Essex DA's office announced he would be charged in Davidson's murder.
The 2017 parole hearing delved into the details of Chevalier's 2003 conviction, for which he was sentenced to 30 years.
That hearing began with a victim services coordinator reading a statement from the victim, in which she said she had been failed by the state of New Hampshire. She claimed she no longer had faith in the criminal justice system, and that the court had ignored a history of other assaults and crimes in Chevalier's past.
She also wrote of the lasting pain resulting from her experience with Chevalier.
"I have never been able to relax," the victim's statement read. "I continue to look over my shoulder, even though I am thousands of miles away."
"Do not underestimate him again," she warned the parole board--but Chevalier was released.
Davidson's son, Josh, told WBZ NewsRadio 1030 he Googled Chevalier before his mother's engagement to the man and was "stunned" at what he found out about the '03 case.
"I called her and went 'Hey, mom, did you know about this?' and she said that she knew about it," he said. "She then directed me to another article online that showed that a lawyer had taken on his case pro bono in the last couple years, and it was re-tried, and he got off on all charges except kidnapping."
Now, he's glad Chevalier will face justice.
"Finding out that he was caught and in custody has definitely brought a little sense of peace to know that he's not out there," he said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports