MARATHON, Ont. - A man who admitted to shooting his wife twice with a shotgun will spend at least 17 years in custody.
Alain Lepage, 64, of Marathon, was sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 17, 2020 in a Thunder Bay Courtroom after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for killing his wife, 61-year-old Anne Rainville, in April 2018.
Lepage will be eligible for parole in 17 years.
According to the agreed statement of facts, officers with the Marathon Ontario Provincial Police detachment responded to a Michano Drive home to assist paramedics just after 8:30 p.m. on April 5, 2018.
Police learned that Lepage called 911 and reported he had shot his wife. Lepage exited the residence with his hands in the air and told police “I killed her, she’s dead . . . my wife Anne I shot her twice.”
Paramedics attempted to revive Rainville but she was pronounced dead at the scene just before 9 p.m. Lepage was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
In a statement to police, Lepage said he planned to shoot Rainville and then himself with a 7mm Mauser rifle, but it did not work, so he used a .410 shotgun instead.
Lepage loaded the gun in the basement and carried additional ammunition upstairs where Rainville was sitting at a computer in a bedroom office.
From a distance of 8 feet, Lepage fired at Rainville who was facing away from him, hitting her right thigh. She was able to get up and run to the master bedroom where she collapsed. Lepage then shot Rainville in the neck from a short distance.
After the shooting, Lepage drove to a local bar and spent an hour drinking and eating chicken wings before returning home and calling 911.
According to the post-mortem examination, Rainville suffered a laceration to the left common carotid artery and the right femoral artery and vein.
It was determined Rainville could have survived the first gunshot wound to her leg but could not have survived the gunshot wound to her neck.
Lepage was in custody for 653 days prior to sentencing. He is also facing a lifetime prohibition from owning or possessing any weapons, a no contact order, and is required to submit a DNA sample.
