Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced that Sendra Beauregard (age 43), with a last known address of 330 Simmonsville Avenue, Johnston, was sentenced today by Superior Court Justice Susan E. McGuirl for the December 2, 2014 murder of 50-year-old Pamela Donahue. Beauregard received a life sentence for the charge of second degree murder and a consecutive life sentence for the charge of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in murder.
The defendant was found guilty by a jury after a six-day trial in November, 2015.
During the trial, Walter Woodyatt testified that during the evening hours on December 2, 2014, Beauregard, Donahue and he were hanging out at the apartment he shared with Donahue. At one point in the evening, Beauregard gave Woodyatt $40 to purchase cigarettes and soda at a convenience store across from the apartment.
Woodyatt testified that as he exited the store, he witnessed Beauregard leaving the area in her motor vehicle. When he returned to the apartment, Woodyatt found Donahue unresponsive. He called E-911 and reported that he believed Donahue was suffering from an overdose. Emergency personnel noticed a small gunshot wound to Donahue's upper chest. She was transported to Rhode Island Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The investigation led the Providence Police to execute search warrants on Beauregard's residence, motor vehicle, and cell phone. In a search of Beauregard's cell phone records, Providence Police Detective Teddy Michael found numerous hostile and threatening text messages from Beauregard to Donahue in the days leading up to the murder.
Providence Police Bureau of Criminal Identification located a spent shell casing on the floor of Beauregard's motor vehicle and a .38 Derringer pistol was recovered from a wooded area in Scituate.
During the trial, Neil Clapperton of the Rhode Island Crime Lab at the University of Rhode Island testified that the spent shell casing was a match to the firearm police seized. He further testified that the bullet removed from the victim also matched the firearm.
"Last week, I stood with the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence to honor victims of domestic violence. At the moving ceremony, 54 candles were lit to represent the 54 men and women who lost their lives in the past ten years to domestic violence. Among those we honored was Pamela Donahue. May we remember Pamela today and every day, not just as a victim of domestic violence, but as a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend," said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin.
Providence Police Detectives William Corrigan and Fabio Zuema led the investigation. Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit Daniel C. Guglielmo and Special Assistant Attorney General Meghan McDonough prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.