This story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on Aug. 22, 2025.
A botched robbery led to the shooting early Thursday morning that left a Canaan man dead and his girlfriend injured, according to police affidavits filed in court on Friday.
Witnesses told police that David Labrecque, 65, was shot and killed outside a home on Verna Court when he charged the gunman who had already shot his girlfriend, Jessica Lemay, 36, also of Canaan, according to the affidavits.
Labrecque was pronounced dead at the scence just after 4 a.m. on Thursday morning. Lemay, who was shot in the abdomen and the hand, was transported to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where she was able to tell investigators what happened.
The alleged gunman, Demtrius Drew, 30, of New Haven, Conn., and his two alleged accomplices, Jeffrey Mullins, 46, and Michelle Mullins, 48, were arrested later Thursday while attempting to leave a residence in a mobile home park off Sykes Mountain Avenue.
Drew entered a not guilty plea on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted assault and robbery with a weapon at his arraignment Friday afternoon at Windsor County Superior Court in Woodstock.
Jeffrey and Michelle Mullins, who the affidavit said until recently lived in Enfield, each pleaded not guilty on charges of aiding in the commission of first-degree murder and accessory to attempted assault and robbery.
According to police, Drew and the Mullinses, who had known each other for just weeks, concocted a plan to rob the home at 34 Verna Court, which they believed contained a significant amount of cash, and split the proceeds.
Around 2:30 Thursday morning, Jeffrey Mullins showed Drew the a path through the woods to reach 34 Verna Court from a motel on Route 4, according to the affidavit.
About an hour later, Jeffrey Mullins dropped Michelle Mullins off at 34 Verna Court with $500 in counterfeit bills with a plan to buy drugs, according to the affidavit.
In an interview after her arrest, Michelle Mullins told police she was outside the house at 34 Verna Court speaking with Labrecque and Lemay when the shooting started, according to the affidavits.
In an interview at DHMC, Lemay told police that the gunman, identified by police as Drew, shot her in the stomach after emerging from behind a tent erected on the property.
Lemay told police Labrecque attempted to come to her aid but was stopped short when he was shot twice and killed, according to the affidavit. She tried to wrestle with the gunman afterward, but he pistol whipped her and shot her again, this time in the hand, she told police.
Michelle Mullins, who fled the scene after the gunfire, gave a similar account of the shootings, according to the affidavits.
The gunman also fled the scene, according to the affidavit. An occupant in the home called 911.
With information provided by witnesses, investigators were able to trace Drew and the Mullinses and their distinctive blue Dodge Charger to the mobile home at 77 Spring Circle, where police believed Drew had been staying.
Using security camera footage from nearby buildings and police surveillance, authorities were able to confirm that Drew and the Mullinses were inside the mobile home.
All three were arrested without incident later on Thursday outside 77 Spring Circle while preparing to depart in the Charger, according to affidavits.
Witnesses and security footage also placed the Charger at the hotel at the time of the shooting, according to the affidavits.
Judge Dickson Corbett ruled in Windsor County Superior Court Friday that there was sufficient evidence and threat to the public to detain the three defendants. Drew and the Mullinses appeared remotely from jail via video conference at Friday’s arraignment.
All three were ordered held without bail pending a full evidentiary hearing. Corbett also upheld conditions that the trio have no contact with each other or with others involved in the incident including Lemay, the property owner at 34 Verna Court and the individual who called 911.
During the arraignment, Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough represented the state.
