Melissa Ann Shepard, a Nova Scotia woman, was convicted of manslaughter in the early 1990s in the death of her second husband, Gordon Stewart. She was later convicted of offenses against two older men, one in Florida and one in Nova Scotia. Only one death is among her convictions. She was 78 when she was sentenced in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in June 2013, and she was 80 when she was released in March 2016.
Shepard was charged with murder after the death of her second husband near Halifax. The charge was reduced and she was convicted of manslaughter. She received a six-year sentence and served two years of it.
In 2005 Shepard was sentenced in Florida to five years on seven counts, three of grand theft from a person aged 65 or older, two of forgery and two of using a forged document. The man involved was a Florida resident, and she pleaded guilty.
In autumn 2012 Shepard went through a form of marriage with a man in his seventies; the province never certified the union. Offenses against him that autumn led to charges. She pleaded guilty in Nova Scotia Supreme Court at Sydney in June 2013 to administering a noxious thing and failing to provide the necessities of life. The Crown asked for three and a half years less time already served and the defense for two years. The court imposed the term the Crown sought. Shepard did not address the court. The remaining sentence was two years, nine months and 10 days. Parole was denied and she served the term in full.
Shepard left a federal women's institution in Nova Scotia in March 2016. Halifax Regional Police warned residents and described her as a high risk to reoffend. The Crown sought a peace bond, and while the hearing was pending she agreed to 22 conditions, among them reporting any relationship, keeping police informed of her details, and limits on internet use. In August 2016 she pleaded not guilty to a charge of breaching the conditions. In October 2016 she agreed to sign a new two-year peace bond with similar terms, and it was signed in Dartmouth provincial court on November 23, 2016, with 21 conditions. The breach charge was withdrawn in December 2016 because the Crown saw no prospect of a conviction. The two-year term ran to about November 2018.
No court has convicted Shepard of any other death.
Early 1990s: Charged with murder over the death of her second husband; convicted of manslaughter in 1992 and sentenced to six years, two served.
2005: Sentenced to five years in Florida on seven counts.
Autumn 2012: Offenses against a man she had gone through a form of marriage with.
June 2013: Guilty plea and sentence at Sydney, Nova Scotia.
March 2016: Released after a full term; peace bond proceedings begin.
August 2016: Pleads not guilty to a breach charge.
November 23, 2016: Signs a two-year peace bond in Dartmouth.
December 2016: Breach charge withdrawn.