The Disturbing Murder of Angela Louise Belisle - Who Was Her Mysterious Killer?

Angela Louise Gage was born on December 5, 1945, in England, to John Wesley Gage and M. Louise Gage. Barry Gage, her only brother, died on May 9, 1973, when she was 15 years old.

Her parents met during WWII when her father was a Royal Canadian Air Force bomber pilot and her mother was a member of the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force. After the war, the Gages returned to Canada and settled in Stanbridge East, Quebec, about 10 miles north of the Vermont border. Angela attended college for two years after graduating from high school and obtained her teaching certificate.

In the mid-1960s, she met Gerald "Jerry" Belisle, a cement truck driver, at a dance hall in Bedford, Quebec. They married in 1968 and settled in Swanton, Vermont, in a trailer. Selena, born in December 1970, Travis, born in April 1972, and Trevor, born in February 1974, were the couple's three children.

Belisle established a successful cement-pouring company and built a $90,000 home to replace the trailer. So angela got a job teaching first grade in St. Albans and started taking graduate psychology courses at the University of Vermont. Their combined income in 1978 was more than $78,000 a month.

The couple purchased a camp on Lake Champlain's Lapans Bay, but they began having marital problems and divorced in 1978. In 1979, the divorce was finalized. In 1980, Angela and her children moved to 62 Brooks Avenue in Burlington.

Angela became concerned for her safety after a fire destroyed her former Swanton home in 1979 and someone vandalized her Lake Champlain home in 1980. She stopped going out at night and took safety precautions.

On December 12, 1980, She petitioned Franklin County Superior Court to reopen her divorce case, requesting a modification in child support payments from Belisle because she no longer had an income from her psychology internship. She also requested that the summer camp's appraisal be adjusted because it had been vandalized. Angela was supposed to appear at a hearing on January 14, 1981, but she never showed up.

The first detective on the scene, Patrick Foley, assumed the victim had fallen. In 2021, Foley stated, "it appeared as if she stepped out of her vehicle, lost her balance, fell, banged her head, and pretty much froze to death." He knew it had to be a homicide when he saw the blood. According to Foley, there were no signs of a struggle or a flurry of footprints in the snow.

She was not robbed, implying that robbery was not the motive, was not raped and she was most likely familiar with her assailant.

She also had been shot twice, once in the head and once in the top of her skull, according to an autopsy.

The police were unable to locate any DNA evidence at the scene. The shooting was not witnessed by anyone. Police never discovered the murder weapon, only a bullet on the ground after scooping up and melting the snow.

Belisle had a good excuse: he was at home with the kids. Selena, who was ten at the time, awoke to find her father snoring like a freight train on the living room floor. She remembered the time, 12:34 a.m. because she was awake at the time.

Belisle claimed he drove his children home after picking them up from their mother in a UVM parking lot around 6 p.m. on Jan. 2, 1981. However, Foley stated in 2006 that he did not believe Belisle returned home immediately.

I believe he went somewhere else. Something was missing from his timeframe. His daily routine had changed.-By Author.

It is reasonable to assume that Angela was exiting her car on her way home from shopping when she was shot and killed. As a result, the assassin was waiting outside. The shooter most likely hid near the garage, waiting for Angela to pull into the driveway before approaching and shooting her.

My True Crime Opinion

Jerry comes to mind as the first person who killed her because prior to her court appearance to increase child support, She was assassinated.

Harrison then committed suicide two months after the murder. He was only 37 years old. So, did Jerry or someone else hire Harrison to murder Angela, and guilt got the best of him? The police said the evidence and autopsy proved suicide, but I'm still curious because, Why did he do that, months after Angela died?

I believe the fire and vandalism that occurred prior to her death played a role in her murder. Why would Jerry set fire to his own property? I'm assuming they both still own it, so perhaps he did it to frighten Angela.

I don't buy that nobody heard the shots but it's not impossible because if the person who kill used a silencer on the gun, means that the person was prepared to do it, maybe was an expert on that.

If the person touched something and it wasn't DNA, it means he was using gloves to cover his DNA.