AYER — On Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023, at approximately 3:34 p.m., Officer Michael Marchand and Sergeant David Phillips of the Townsend Police Department were working patrol when they were informed by dispatch that Ayer police were on the phone looking to speak with a Townsend police officer.
(The account and quotations in this article were taken from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Marchand.)
Dispatch told Officer Marchand that Ayer police officers were at Nashoba Valley Medical Center speaking with a woman named Nicole who thinks her 64-year-old mother, Roxanne Doucette, poisoned her father, Paul Doucette, 73, who had been admitted to the hospital in an unresponsive state. Ayer police wanted a Townsend police officer to respond to the hospital because the alleged incident took place at Paul and Roxanne’s residence, which is located at 75 Ash Street in Townsend.
Dispatch gave Officer Marchand Paul’s room number at the hospital. Nicole and Roxanne were there as well.
“When I arrived, I was brought over to the hospital room. I went inside to talk to the officers, and Nicole,” Officer Marchand said. “Ayer Police Officer [Jared] Splaine stepped out to give me background. He told me that Nicole was there with her mother, Roxanne. Roxanne had been messaging someone she believed to be a daytime drama actor, Thorsten Kaye. This person scammed her into giving them money. I was already aware of this, as they reported it to Officer [Eric] Modica earlier in the day. Officer Modica filled us in at shift change.”
(Courtesy Photo: Francois G. Durand/WireImage)
Earlier in the day, Nicole and Roxanne went to the Townsend Police Station to report the scammer.
At the station, Nicole was going through her mother’s text exchange with the scammer in order send screenshots to Officer Modica, when she came across messages she felt indicated that her mother may have poisoned her father. Nicole showed the messages to Officer Marchand at the hospital.
“Nicole showed me the screenshots from the messages that were sent on Friday, December 1, 2023,” Officer Marchand explained. “One of the messages from ‘Thorsten’ stated ‘You have to get rid of your husband honey. I need you so much.’ Roxanne stated that she needed to do some thinking. At 2:34 p.m. she responds that she is “Making an amazing soup. Special potion. He will be hungry when he gets back. Just enough for him.’ At 4:26 p.m., Roxanne goes on to say ‘Hubby got back not feeling well. Maybe I can collect life insurance.’ Thorsten responds ‘Honey when will that be?’ Roxanne says ‘Don’t know.’”
At approximately 5:11 p.m. that day, Roxanne calls 911 for her husband.
“The report was for a 73-year-old male, unresponsive, but breathing, with a cardiac history,” Officer Marchand said. “Roxanne advised that he was very dizzy earlier and is currently sitting in his chair, mumbling, not making sense. Paul was transported by Townsend Fire-EMS to Nashoba Hospital.”
According to Officer Marchand, even before Nicole saw the incriminating text messages, she suspected her mother may have poisoned her father.
“When Roxanne and Nicole were at the Townsend Police Station earlier in the day, Nicole asked her mother if she poisoned dad. Roxanne responded ‘I didn’t try to kill him,’” Officer Marchand said.
Marchand said that Nicole dismissed her mother’s response initially because there was no known correlation between Roxanne’s actions and Paul becoming sick. However, after seeing the text messages between her mother and “Thorsten,” Nicole surmised there was a strong possibility her mother had, in fact, poisoner her father. Nicole then asked her father what happened.
“Nicole stated that when Paul regained consciousness, she asked him about Friday,” Officer Marchand said. “Paul stated that Roxanne made him soup, but that it wasn’t very good. He stated that it tasted bitter. I asked Nicole if the hospital did a toxicology on Paul. She stated that they did and that it came back negative. She stated that she saw it but it seemed to only test for opioids, cocaine, and alcohol.”
Officer Marchand told Nicole that in order to investigate this he would need to obtain a warrant to get into the house to look for drugs that could have possibly been used to poison her father.
“I also told her that if I asked her to get them, that it would fall into the same category as if I had retrieved them myself, and a warrant would be needed,” Officer Marchand said. “I did say, that if she went to the house on her own, and looked to try to give the hospital a better idea about what to possibly treat for, that would be fine.”
At this time, another Ayer police officer, Christopher Rogers, entered the hospital room and spoke with Officer Marchand.
“He told me that Ayer could take care of any possible emergency restraining order,” Officer Marchand said. “He also said that they would remain on scene to provide security and assistance where needed. Since this had the potential to be an attempted homicide investigation, I decided to contact Massachusetts State Police CPAC [Crime Prevention and Control unit]. I spoke with Trooper Chris Murgo. He ultimately declined the case, however he had some suggestions on how to proceed.”
Officer Marchand then called Sergeant Phillips to fill him in on what had happened so far.
“It was decided that I should interview Nicole, which I already had, and interview Paul if he was up for it,” Officer Marchand said. “I was also going to seize the cell phone and tablet that Roxanne had been using to communicate with ‘Thorsten’ on. Officer Rogers and I also decided that Roxanne should not be allowed in the hospital room with Paul anymore. He was going to talk to hospital staff about having her banned from there. Paul also did not know of the possible poisoning, so I was going to allow Nicole to talk to him about that.”
Officer Marchand asked Roxanne to speak with him in another room while Nicole went to speak with her father.
“When I got Roxanne in the room, I was not going to interview her,” Officer Marchand said. “I did tell her that I just had to record our conversation, and activated my body camera. There was a chair in the room and I offered it to her. I stood across the room from her. When she sat down, she started talking. She asked if I saw the messages and talked to her daughter. I stated that I had seen some of them, and that I had spoken to Nicole. Roxanne stated that she had told Paul she was going on a retreat. Shen then came clean about the fact that she was not going on a retreat and told Paul about the person she was messaging. She stated that she thought she was talking to a star, and that she had always wanted to meet a star. She stated that her husband has erectile dysfunction and that he has other health issues. She stated that she was afraid to be alone. She stated that she would never harm him in any way, and that she loves him very, very much. She stated that she loves her children, and that she hopes her daughter doesn’t think she put him in the hospital. She continued to tell me that her husband was under a lot of stress because of the scam. She stated that he had recently been the victim of a scam and lost approximately $8,000.00. As she spoke to me, she seemed to put a lot of thought into what she was saying. She was always looking to her left, and never at me. Her statements went from their health, to their sex life, to the fact that Roxanne is currently writing a book. She also told me that she was abused as a child. Her thoughts seemed to be all over the place, but since I was not asking her any questions, I did not redirect her to anything.”
Officer Marchand told Roxanne that he needed to seize her phone and tablet from her because there was evidence on both devices.
“Since there is evidence on the phone and tablet, and they are portable and Roxanne has the ability to destroy the evidence, I needed to seize them, to protect their evidentiary integrity,” Officer Marchand explained. “She stated that she was not going to let me. I explained to her that I was going to seize them and that I did not need a warrant to do that, just one to get into the phone. Again, she refused. I explained to her that she had to give them to me, and that if she didn’t, she could be charged with a felony of witness intimidation, due to the interference of a police investigation. I told her that it would be a huge headache for her that she did not need. I told her that I was going to end up with the electronics either way, and that she was better off giving them to me. She still refused. She also stated that we were done, and that she was going to go back to her husband. Since we were still investigating a possible attempted murder, I was not going to let her go back to the potential victim’s room. I told her to stop, and called for Officer Rogers to come over.”
Officer Marchand told Officer Rogers that Roxanne was refusing to give evidence of a crime, which was interfering with the investigation, and that if she did not hand her phone and tablet over, she would be arrested.
“She continued to refuse, so Officer Rogers and I attempted to take her into custody,” Officer Marchand said. “She resisted, by pulling her arms in, and squatting to the ground. She ended up on her butt/back. I told her that all this could have been avoided. She told us to take our hands off her, and kicked at me with her boot on her foot. She made contact with my crotch. At that point, we got her on her stomach, and after a few seconds, got her hands out from under her. We were telling her to stop resisting, and I made sure to continue to talk to her in a calm manner, as to not make any more of a scene, and not get escalated even more.”
The officers then put handcuffs on Roxanne’s wrists and brought her to her feet. Officer Marchand seized her cell phone and tablet.
Police pat frisked Roxanne and found no weapons or contraband on her.
Roxanne was charged with attempted murder and that charge will be addressed in Middlesex Superior Court.
In Ayer, she was charged with intimidate witness/juror/police/court official, resist arrest, and assault and battery on a police officer.
Roxanne was arraigned in Ayer District Court on Dec. 4, 2023, after which she was released on her own personal recognizance under the condition that she not contact Nicole and stay 100 yards away from Paul. She was also required to have a mental health evaluation and to be affixed with a GPS monitor with 24/7 lockdown in home confinement, with windows for medical appointments, at the residence she shares with Paul at 75 Ash Street in Townsend.
Roxanne appeared in Ayer District Court again on Jan. 3, 2024.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from December, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.
