The husband of the woman killed two years ago in the ice cream aisle of the Shaw’s supermarket in Saco has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court in Portland alleging the company needs to do more to protect customers.
Wendy Boudreau, 59, of Saco died Aug. 19, 2015, after she was attacked from behind by Connor S. MacCalister, who slit Boudreau’s throat.
MacCalister, now 33, of Saco first saw Boudreau in the grocery store parking lot and followed her into the grocery store before attacking her, the affidavit filed in the criminal case said.
She is serving a life sentenceat the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. MacCalister pleaded guilty to murdering Boudreau in October 2015 in York County Superior Court in Alfred.
The wrongful death suit, filed July 10, alleged that MacCalister stalked Wendy Boudreau throughout the store until they reached the frozen food aisle. Shaw’s failed to adequately monitor the store and failed to use existing security measures to protect customers, the complaint alleges.
Elizabeth Stouder, the Portland attorney representing Shaw’s, on Tuesday denied the allegations in the complaint. She also said that MacCalister, not Shaw’s, was responsible for Wendy Boudreau’s death and asked that the lawsuit be dismissed. She did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Jeffrey Boudreau’s attorney, Laura White of Kennebunk, listed in the complaint 28 incidents of violence she said happened over the past 25 years in Shaw’s stores in New England. The list included the May 1997 abduction of an employee named Virginia Jackson from the Scarborough store. Her assailants carjacked and murdered her and left her badly beaten body in nearby woods, according to Bangor Daily News archives.
“The evidence is going to show that Shaw’s should have known that a lot of criminal activity had gone on in its stores and should have had better security,” White said Tuesday.
White expects to get security tapes through the discovery process from the store’s parking lot and frozen food aisle that will show MacCalister following Wendy Boudreau, she said.
“That is the kind of evidence that would have been presented if MacCalister had opted for a trial,” she said.
This story appears through a media sharing agreement with Bangor Daily News.