Strangers in the Dark: The Murder of Sarnia Teacher Noelle Paquette

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[00:01:19] The case featured in this episode has been researched using police records, court documents, witness statements, and the news. Listener discretion is advised. All parties mentioned are innocent until proven guilty, and all opinions are my own.

[00:01:53] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young, and this is Serial Napper, the true crime podcast for naps. I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep, or perhaps to give you nightmares. Tonight, we're heading into the shadows of a quiet Canadian town, Sarnia, Ontario, where the life of a young woman was stolen in the most unimaginable way by two strangers who should have never, ever crossed paths.

[00:02:22] Her name was Noelle Paquette, a radiant 27-year-old kindergarten teacher with a heart as big as her smile. She was adored by her students, respected by her community, and had only just begun her work at St. Matthew's Catholic School, where she quickly saw how many children needed more than just an education. They needed compassion, support, and someone who truly cared. Noelle became that person.

[00:02:52] And while it wasn't in her job description, she made it her mission to help every one of those kids, financially, emotionally, in any way that she could. She was that kind of teacher, that kind of human being. But on New Year's Eve, as fireworks cracked across the sky and people toasted to a fresh start, Noelle quietly disappeared. She had been celebrating with friends at a party in Sarnia.

[00:03:20] Around 2am, she left with plans to walk home. But what she didn't know was someone was watching. She walked down the street unaware that she was being followed, hunted. What happened next would horrify even the most seasoned detectives. Because Noelle wasn't just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had crossed paths with two people whose plan for the evening was born from the darkest corners of the internet.

[00:03:51] A fantasy rooted in violence, carried out by a man and a woman who hid their true intentions behind ordinary faces. The suspects? A nurse and a teenage boy she met on a BDSM fetish website. Not who you'd expect. Not even close. So, dim the lights, put your phone down, and listen as I unravel one of Ontario's most disturbing cases.

[00:04:18] One that left even hardened investigators stunned. So, let's jump right in. Before we get into what happened that night, I want to take a moment to talk about who Noelle Paquette really was. Because this story isn't just about how she died, it's about how she lived, and the lives that she touched along the way. Noelle was born on December 11th, 1985.

[00:04:42] From the beginning, she was a light, one of those people who could walk into a room and instantly lift the mood. Her smile? The kind that was impossible to fake and impossible to forget. She grew up in Sarnia, Ontario, surrounded by her close-knit family. She was the loving daughter of Roger and Lynn Paquette, and one of four siblings who were all really close.

[00:05:07] Noelle graduated from St. Christopher Secondary School in Sarnia, before heading to Ottawa to complete her undergraduate studies. She then spent a stint in Seoul, South Korea, where she fell in love with teaching. Following this, she attended Nipissing University, earning her teaching degree. Quote, I always loved bumping into her, wrote one of her classmates.

[00:05:32] She was one of the first people I met in North Bay, and it was always nice to see her familiar face around town. Noelle loved people, and they loved her right back. She had recently been working with the Catholic school board, and had just started covering a maternity leave position at St. Michael's School in Sarnia, teaching kindergarten. It didn't take long for the kids and the parents to fall head over heels for her. One mom wrote,

[00:06:02] My son loved Noelle. He would talk about how much fun he had in her class, and how much he missed her on the weekends. But teaching was just one part of what made Noelle so special. She also worked with community living Sarnia Lampton, helping people with developmental disabilities,

[00:06:21] and she volunteered her time with the Sunshine Foundation, a charity that makes dreams come true for kids living with severe physical disabilities or life-threatening illnesses. One former chapter president of the foundation said, She was just an all-around, fun-loving, outgoing person. She loved people. She was devoted, loyal, and truly believed that it was all about the kids.

[00:06:47] And when she wasn't working or giving back, Noelle was living life to the fullest. She loved playing soccer, working out at Good Life Fitness, and being around the people that she loved the most. Her family, her friends, her students. She was only 27 years old, just getting started, just beginning to really bloom. That's what makes this case so hard to swallow.

[00:07:15] Because if someone like Noelle, someone so full of life and light and good, could be targeted so randomly, so senselessly, it really makes you question everything. Now, the date? It's December 31st, 2012. It was New Year's Eve, the kind of night that's supposed to be full of laughter, champagne, and midnight kisses. For Noelle Paquette, it started out just like that.

[00:07:44] She was attending a party with friends, celebrating the end of another year. But something shifted. At some point during the evening, Noelle got into a pretty heated argument with her boyfriend. Eyewitnesses say that it wasn't explosive, just emotional enough to cause her to leave the party early. Around 2am, she stormed out, saying that she was going to walk home.

[00:08:10] Home was in Courtright, a small community about a 20-minute drive from where she was. That's not exactly a walkable distance, but she was upset, frustrated, determined. Friends tried to get her to stay, to cool off. But she was done. She couldn't get a cab, it was really busy being New Year's Eve, and she didn't really want to wait, so she walked.

[00:08:37] The night was cold, snow had fallen recently, and the streets were slick and quiet. Noelle walked alone, unaware that someone was watching her. As she made her way down the street, a white Pontiac pulled up beside her. The driver leaned out the window, offering Noelle a ride. And here's where your stomach just drops. According to eyewitness reports, she accepted.

[00:09:05] Maybe she thought it was someone trying to help. Maybe it was someone she recognized. Or maybe she was just cold and tired and wanted to get home. Whatever the reason, she got into that car. Before she knew it, she was in real danger. Once she was inside the vehicle, the driver quickly reversed, and a man jumped in before they sped away into the dark. This man had been walking closely behind Noelle.

[00:09:35] Maybe that's why she felt she should get in the car, to get away from this stranger who had been following her. We don't know, because Noelle would never make it home that night. At about 2.30am, her cell phone went dead and was basically untrackable. Her boyfriend, of course, was trying frantically to get a hold of her, completely worried sick and wanting to make up. But she couldn't pick up the phone.

[00:10:02] Her parents also began to worry the next morning when she didn't return any phone calls or text messages. By 1.30pm on January 1st, her mother reported her missing to the police. At first, maybe it seemed like she just needed space. A young woman out late after a party, not all that unusual. But the hours kept passing, and Noelle wasn't someone who just… vanished.

[00:10:30] What no one knew yet was that by the time that call was made to the police, it was already too late. By the early hours of January 1st, Nicole Paquette was missing, and no one knew it yet. While her family slept, hoping she was safe, Sarnia police were out patrolling the snowy streets, making their usual holiday rounds. Around 4am, an officer spotted a white Pontiac pulled over on the side of the road.

[00:10:59] Hazard lights blinking, steam rising into the cold night air. Thinking it might be someone who slid on the ice or needed help, the officer pulled in behind them. What he found was anything but routine. Inside the car were two people, a young man just 19 years old, and a woman 31, both of them covered in blood. The woman stepped out to speak with police.

[00:11:25] Her face, hands, and clothes, they were smeared with blood, like something out of a horror movie. She introduced herself as Tanya Bogdanovich. Her companion was Michael McGregor. Tanya explained the scene away with a straight face. The two had been on their way to the woods for some kinky fun. According to her, they were into knife play, and things had gotten a little too real.

[00:11:53] Michael, she claimed, had accidentally cut himself during their intimate adventure. And since their car had broken down on the way to the woods, well, they just decided to do it right there in the Pontiac. Yeah, and look, I'm not here to kink shame anyone. But blood-soaked knife play in a broken down car on New Year's Eve, even the cops had to be thinking, what?

[00:12:19] An ambulance was called, and both Tanya and Michael were transported to the hospital for evaluation. According to hospital staff, they were acting like nothing had happened. Laughing, hugging, kissing. At one point, someone said that they looked like they were celebrating. Michael, it turns out, was a college dropout who had been working as a pizza delivery driver.

[00:12:44] Tanya, a registered practical nurse and mother of three, worked at a Sarnia nursing home. They weren't a couple in the traditional sense. Actually, Tanya had a long-term boyfriend that she lived with. So, Michael and Tanya, they weren't dating. They weren't living together. But they were definitely connected. The two had met seven months earlier on a BDSM fetish networking site called FetLife,

[00:13:10] where they quickly began sharing disturbing fantasies and intimate blog posts. What started as online roleplay spiraled into something far more dangerous and very real. But even then, no one had any idea just how bad things were going to get. The next day, January 2nd, police received a tip, a potential location on where they should look for Noel.

[00:13:37] When officers arrived at a secluded, wooded area outside of town, they discovered Noel Paquette's body. It was a devastating scene. Noel had been violently attacked and left in the snow. There were signs of a struggle, defensive wounds on her hands, proof that she had tried to fight off her attackers. She didn't go down without a fight.

[00:14:02] And in an even more chilling twist, investigators believed that her killers had returned to the scene just minutes before they arrived, likely to retrieve a knife that they had left behind. Let that sink in. They were that confident or that disturbed. The puzzle pieces were starting to click into place. A missing teacher, a blood-soaked couple with a bizarre story, a body in the woods,

[00:14:30] and a connection that no one, not even the most experienced detectives, could have predicted. So how do two people go from flirty texts to online roleplay to murder? Well, that's what police would spend the next few months trying to unravel. After the grim discovery of Noel Paquette's body on January 2nd, 2013, police wasted no time locking down potential suspects.

[00:14:57] That white Pontiac, the one found on the side of the road in the early morning hours with Michael McGregor and Tanya Bogdanovich inside, yeah, that car, it was towed and it was quietly impounded. Witnesses had reported to the police that they had seen Noel getting into a vehicle matching this description. It couldn't just be a coincidence. And the officer who had pulled over to help Tanya and Michael,

[00:15:25] he had already gotten a weird vibe from the blood-splattered couple. But now, with a body in the woods and no clear answers, red flags were waving furiously. Police ordered that the vehicle not be released, and surveillance teams, they were assigned to follow both Michael and Tanya as investigators scrambled to connect the dots. And then, the next day, they made their move.

[00:15:51] On January 3rd, just two days after Noel's body was discovered, Tanya was arrested in the parking lot of St. Joseph's Healthcare Centre in London, Ontario, where she had accompanied Michael for a surgery on his hand, likely from injuries sustained during the attack. Michael was discharged shortly after, and arrested later that same day at a London hotel. It was official. The fantasy-fueled nightmare,

[00:16:19] it had become a murder investigation. And it would take nearly three years for the entire horrifying truth to unravel. It's time for a quick break and a word from tonight's sponsors. Hang on, I'll be back before you know it. Nominated as one of the best British true crime podcasts. Murder Mile is hailed as a masterpiece of compelling storytelling. Researcher using the original police files.

[00:16:48] Over 300 episodes. Murder Mile has covered hundreds of crimes you won't hear anywhere else. As well as solving cold cases, unearthing new evidence, and even discovering a serial killer no one even knew existed. For a truly original podcast, subscribe to Murder Mile. Egal, ob Sie gerade erst beginnen oder Ihr Sicherheitsprogramm erweitern, herausragende Sicherheitspraktiken zu demonstrieren und Vertrauen aufzubauen, ist wichtiger denn je.

[00:17:17] Vanta automatisiert die Einhaltung von ISO 27001, SOC 2 und mehr, spart Ihnen Zeit und Geld und hilft Ihnen, das Vertrauen Ihrer Kunden zu stärken. Darüber hinaus können Sie Sicherheitsüberprüfungen vereinfachen, indem Sie Fragebögen automatisieren und die Sicherheit Ihrer IT-Infrastruktur mit einem kundenorientierten Trust Center demonstrieren. Über 9000 globale Unternehmen wie Atlassian, Flow Health und Quora nutzen Vanta bereits,

[00:17:45] um Risiken zu managen und Sicherheit in Echtzeit nachzuweisen. Erhalten Sie ein spezielles Angebot von 1000 Dollar Rabatt unter venta.com slash hohren. Now back to our story. Police began pouring over electronic evidence, texts, emails, blog posts and private messages to exchange between the pair. They uncovered a digital trail of breadcrumbs

[00:18:14] that revealed more than just intent. It revealed obsession, escalation and premeditation. From the beginning, Tanya and Michael described themselves in strange and twisted terms. They were quote-unquote playmates. They were best friends. She was the puma. He was her cub. And everything, even the most horrific acts, they were described as amazing. But there was one word that came up

[00:18:43] over and over again in their communications. A word that made investigators and later courtroom spectators physically recoil. Rape. Their chats were filled with it. Forest rape, knife play and rape. Harrowing, brutal descriptions of what it would feel like not just to commit it, but to experience it. One message from Tanya read gleefully, quote, I scream, you scream,

[00:19:11] we all scream for... rape. Yeah, that actually happened. And if you're wondering how two people like this find each other, so were police. But they did. It started in June 2012. Their first in-person meetup ended with Michael raping Tanya in a conservation area. At least, that's what they called it, but it was more like a rape fantasy because it was something that Tanya wanted to do.

[00:19:40] And that was the beginning of what they called training. Tanya later called it, quote, easily the best sexual experience I ever had. From there, their relationship escalated in the most disturbing ways. They met regularly, often in public places, pushing boundaries and posting about their encounters using the names Sterling Archer and Lana Kane, characters from the animated TV show Archer.

[00:20:09] It added a layer of cartoonish detachment to something that was horrifyingly real. Their blog entries detailed bondage sessions, role-playing as father-daughter pairs, even leading each other around shopping malls with leashes and handcuffs. And over time, it stopped being enough. In September 2012, just three months before Noelle's murder, they started talking about expanding their fantasies to include a third person,

[00:20:39] a real victim. One blog post was even titled Jailbait. Tanya fantasized about directing a man to rape a teenager, even writing about it in a story she titled That Dark Corner. In it, she wrote about how she, quote, feels empowered by rape. Then came the planning. Tanya, a mother of three, let's not forget, bought two knives from a local home hardware, the eventual murder weapons.

[00:21:08] She sent Michael McGregor a digital picture frame for his birthday filled with photos of young girls, including one teenager that she knew personally. All of these girls have been described as petite with long hair, the pair's preferred victim type, they would say. They were actively scouting victims. They were ready. And on New Year's Eve, when the young woman that they had been targeting wasn't available, Tanya sent

[00:21:37] a text message to Michael from work reading, we might have to take a random. That random was Noelle Paquette, a kind-hearted, radiant teacher, a woman who had just had a fight with her boyfriend, who couldn't catch a cab, who decided to walk, just a good person in the wrong place at the wrong time. The investigation exposed more than a crime. It revealed the depths that two people could sink into

[00:22:07] when their shared fantasies fed off one another, unchecked, unsupervised, and totally detached from reality. It wasn't love. It wasn't sex. It was control. It was domination. It was violence cloaked in the language of play. But it wasn't a game, not for Noelle, and it cost her everything. While Noelle Paquette was laughing with friends, saying goodbye to one year and welcoming another,

[00:22:36] two other people were making plans of a very different kind. Tanya spent New Year's Eve of 2012 working a shift at a senior's home in Sarnia. But her focus wasn't on her patients. It wasn't even on her children or her boyfriend that was at home. It was on Michael, the 19-year-old young man she had been grooming and fantasizing with for months. All night long, she sent him messages, calming his nerves, encouraging him, feeding the fire

[00:23:06] that they had been stoking for half a year now. Their goal was clear. Their plan was already in motion. They were going to find someone. Tanya left work at 11 p.m., just in time to meet Michael at the Sarnia waterfront to ring in the New Year. Maybe they kissed under the fireworks. Maybe they laughed. To anyone watching, they were just a couple out celebrating. But once the clock struck midnight, the hunt began.

[00:23:35] They started driving through downtown Sarnia, scanning the streets, watching. Tanya was behind the wheel and Michael walked a short distance behind her, staying close but out of sight. And we've seen this play out just like this in so many other cases, where a disturbed woman will lure these other women in for their men. They play on the fact that while a woman typically won't trust a man enough to get in a car with him

[00:24:04] or go somewhere with him, we often see other women as allies, as safe people that we can trust. But it was both Tanya and Michael who were hunting, looking for someone to hurt for their pleasure. Then they saw her, Noelle, walking alone. She was trying to get home, vulnerable, distracted, cold. Tanya pulled the car up alongside her and offered her a ride. Eyewitnesses saw Noelle

[00:24:34] get in. And after she did, Tanya reversed the vehicle and picked up Michael, who had been trailing from behind. Now, all three of them were in the car. Noelle likely didn't even realize what was happening until it was too late. At knife point, the pair drove her 18 kilometers out of town, down quiet, unlit back roads until they reached a wooded lot off of Mandamin Road, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere,

[00:25:04] no one would hear her scream. And then, their car broke down. But by then, it didn't matter. In that cold, dark forest, Tanya and Michael forced Noelle out of the car. They raped her, they brutalized her, they murdered her, and just like that, Noelle Paquette, a vibrant, radiant teacher, daughter, sister, friend, was gone. An autopsy found that Noelle died from the dozens

[00:25:33] of stab wounds that punctured her heart, lungs, liver, and other organs. However, it was a slashed throat that ultimately killed her. They left her in the snow, stripped not just of her dignity, but of her life, her future, her dreams. And then, they walked away, covered in blood, as if it was just part of the night. This wasn't an accident. This wasn't a moment of passion or a crime of opportunity. This was planned,

[00:26:03] premeditated, predatory, and unspeakably evil. The two people who should have never met had finally carried out the fantasy they had spent months perfecting. And they didn't look back. But the investigation was closing in fast. And soon, the whole world would learn what they had done. By the end of 2015, the gruesome and tragic story of Noelle Paquette had played out over nearly three years.

[00:26:33] The investigation had been long, painful, exhausting, but her family, her friends, and the community that loved her, they were finally about to see justice served. In December of 2015, during what was supposed to be a pretrial motion, Tanya Bogdanovich and Michael McGregor unexpectedly pled, to first -degree murder. Just like that, they waived their right to a trial, avoiding a lengthy courtroom

[00:27:02] battle and a public airing of every horrifying detail. In 2016, the sentence was handed down, life in prison with no chance of parole. It's the most severe punishment allowed under Canadian law, but for many, it still didn't feel like enough. Ontario Superior Court Justice Bruce Thomas didn't mince words. He called their actions, quote, vile and despicable, and said they needed to be removed from society for the rest

[00:27:31] of their lives. And while it was the harshest sentence available, he acknowledged that no punishment could ever truly ease the ache of loss. He also made something very clear, that Noelle's family should never, ever blame themselves. There was nothing that they could have done to prevent this. The evil didn't come from within their home, it came from two people who should have never met, and a plan born out of fantasy that turned fatal. Along with life sentences,

[00:28:02] both killers were added to Canada's DNA data bank. They were placed on the National Sex Offender Registry, banned from owning firearms for life, and barred from ever contacting Noelle's family or friends. In a packed St. Thomas courtroom, Tanya, now 34, and Michael, 22, stood before Noelle's loved ones and offered what some might call remorse. Michael spoke first, and he said,

[00:28:51] Tanya also spoke. She said she wished she could undo what she had done, but neither of them really explained why they did it, and neither of them asked for forgiveness. What followed were some of the most heartbreaking victim impact statements ever shared in a courtroom. Roger Paquette, Noelle's father, said, Words alone cannot explain how much pain your actions have caused to our family and friends. A father is supposed to protect his kids

[00:29:20] from dangerous people, and the fact that I couldn't protect Noelle crushes me. He spoke of everything they had lost, saying, You have deprived me of the honor of walking Noelle down the aisle on her wedding day. You have deprived her mother and I of the joy of seeing our grandchildren. You have deprived hundreds of children in Sarnia, Lambton, the privilege of having that one teacher that everyone remembers from their school days. Lynn Paquette,

[00:29:50] Noelle's mother, recalled the day her daughter vanished, saying, I will never forget that New Year's day when we did not hear from Noelle. My heart ached immediately. I knew something was wrong. She described the moment they learned Noelle's body had been found, saying, quote, My legs collapsed and my heart felt like it broke into pieces. Since her daughter's murder, Lynn said she had been diagnosed with PTSD and depression, plagued by nightmares,

[00:30:19] unable to return to work. She said, quote, To listen to the unfathomable, devastating circumstances of Noelle's last hours of life tears me apart. Not a day goes by that I do not yearn to hear her voice, to go shopping, or just give her a hug. While Noelle Paquette's life was taken far too soon, her legacy didn't end with her final breath. In the wake of unimaginable grief, something truly beautiful was

[00:30:49] born, Noelle's gift foundation. Created in her memory, Noelle's gift is a living reflection of who she was, a kindergarten teacher who went above and beyond for her students, not just in the classroom, but in life. Noelle was known for quietly helping families who were struggling. Whether a child needed a warm winter coat, a pair of shoes, or even just enough food to get through the day, she made sure they had it. No judgment,

[00:31:20] no hesitation, and now that mission continues. Since its inception, Noelle's gift foundation has given out hundreds of thousands of dollars to families in need. Principals across the region can submit applications when they see a student who's struggling, maybe with medical costs, school supplies, or even something as simple but essential as food and clothing. Requests are processed quickly so families can get support right away when they need it

[00:31:49] the most. It's an incredible reminder that one person can make a difference, and that love, compassion, and kindness, it can ripple outward in ways that we may never fully see. The foundation continues to be fueled by community support, and every dollar donated goes towards keeping Noelle's memory alive by doing what she loved the most, taking care of kids. So, if you're listening to this

[00:32:19] and wondering what you can do, this is it. Support Noelle's gift, share her story, choose kindness, and don't underestimate the power of helping one person, because that's exactly what Noelle did every single day. Noelle Paquette's life ended in tragedy, but her light, it didn't go out. It shines through the children who continue to benefit from her generosity. Through every warm meal,

[00:32:48] every backpack filled with supplies, every coat wrapped around a child's shoulders, and through the hearts of everyone who refuses to let her be forgotten. That's it for me tonight. If this story has moved you, consider donating to Noelle's Gift Foundation. I'll be sure to leave the link in my show notes. And if you wanted to reach out to me, you can find me on Facebook at Serial Napper. You can find my audio on Apple

[00:33:17] or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. I post all of my episodes in video format over on YouTube, so go check it out. And if you're watching on YouTube, I would love if you can give me a thumbs up and subscribe. Every little bit helps. I'm also on Patreon. If you'd like to get your Serial Napper episodes early and ad-free, hop on over and check out all the details at patreon.com slash Serial Napper. Until next time,

[00:33:46] hug your people, be kind, and never underestimate the good one soul can do in this world. And as always, sleep tight. Bye. Bye.

[00:34:16] Egal, ob Sie gerade erst beginnen oder Ihr Sicherheitsprogramm erweitern, herausragende Sicherheitspraktiken zu demonstrieren und Vertrauen aufzubauen, ist wichtiger denn je. Venter automatisiert die Einhaltung von ISO 27001, SOC 2 und mehr, spart Ihnen Zeit und Geld und hilft Ihnen, das Vertrauen Ihrer Kunden zu stärken. Darüber hinaus können Sie Sicherheitsüberprüfungen vereinfachen, indem Sie Fragebögen automatisieren und die Sicherheit Ihrer IT-Infrastruktur mit einem kundenorientierten

[00:34:46] Trust Center demonstrieren. Über 9000 globale Unternehmen wie Atlassian, Flow Health und Quora nutzen Venter bereits, um Risiken zu managen und Sicherheit in Echtzeit nachzuweisen. Erhalten Sie ein spezielles Angebot von 1000 Dollar Rabatt unter venter.com slash Horen und Horen Horen Horen