Wendy Flanagan is happy her daughter’s killer had no success appealing his conviction of second-degree murder and parole inelegibility for 17 years on his life sentence, but she says she will remain vigilant.
“It’s never over,” she said, explaining that when Andrew Keene becomes eligible for parole, her family will be active again.
“We’re going to fight it.”
Alexandra Flanagan disappeared on July 8, 2007. Her mother became concerned when she found her daughter’s cats hungry in her Barrie apartment and food spoiled.
Months later, some of the 33-year-old hairdresser's body parts were found scattered throughout the city.
And although Keene was a suspect early on, he wasn’t charged until several years later when police launched a so-called Mr. Big sting operation when an officer posed as a crime boss and lured Keene into his net with the promise that someone in jail would take the fall for Flanagan’s killing.
Keene confessed and led undercover officers to her body parts.
In a unanimous decision last week, an Ontario Court of Appeal panel denied Keene’s attempt to have his conviction on murder and another of performing indignity to human remains overturned and his sentence be reduced.
“The evidence in relation to the dismemberment of Ms. Flanagan’s body and the disposal of her remains about Barrie, coupled with the victim impact statements from her family (parents, sisters, and aunt), speak to the horrific nature of the appellant’s crimes," wrote Justice George Strathy for the appeal panel.
"The recommendation of nine jurors that the appellant be subjected to a 25-year period of parole ineligibility reflects their assessment of the brutal and shocking nature of the appellant’s actions," Strathy added.
Keene’s lawyer was hoping to have the parole ineligibility reduced to 12 or 13 years, but the appeal court sided with the trial judge’s decision of 17 years.
“I feel he’s very evil,” said Wendy Flanagan, adding that she had no idea police were planning or conducting the sting operation, but were delighted with its success and resolution. “It’s been a long journey.”
A simple plaque with Alexandra Flanagan’s name rests against a tree in the arboretum in Barrie’s Sunnidale Park in her memory.
