Accused Killer's Record Of Violence Against Women Started In 1990

NORTH ANDOVER, MA -- When Brian Chevalier was sentenced in a New Hampshire court in January 2005 after being convicted on one charge of kidnapping, Assistant Cheshire County Attorney Kathleen O'Reilly didn't pull punches. Even though the previous October a jury acquitted Chevalier of 10 of the 11 counts for which he had been indicted, O'Reilly asked the judge to impose a sentence of 10 to 30 years -- a sentence usually reserved for convicted murderers in New Hampshire.

Chevalier posed "a substantial threat to any woman he comes in contact with," O'Reilly said at the sentencing hearing more than 13 years ago. A judge agreed, and Chevalier was sent to prison until this past December, when he was paroled. Now Chevalier stands accused of killing 49-year-old Wendi Davidson, a North Andover woman he met and got engaged to after he was released. Now O'Reilly's words are both prophetic and tragic.

Chevalier, now 51, had already served eight years in prison and was on parole in December 2003 when he attacked and repeatedly raped a woman he had dated after he was released that same year. During the 21-hour ordeal he had threatened to kill her.

>>>LATEST: Accused Does Not Waive Rendition, DA Seeks Gov.'s Warrant

After he was convicted, a pre-sentencing investigation found that Chevalier's history of abusing women started in 1990, when he was 22. That was when he was indicted on five counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. Prosecutors alleged that he choked a 27-year-old woman and tried to smother her with a pillow during the attack. In 1991 he was released after a mistrial.

The same pre-sentencing investigation found that Chevalier had twice assaulted a woman, punching and kicking her in the head and cutting her with a razor blade. One of those assaults occurred in a prison visiting room, according to court records. His rap sheet also included other felonies, including three burglaries, simple assault, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest and two convictions for criminal threatening.

But he was seemingly unrepentant after his arrest following the night he held a Jaffrey, NH woman hostage. He refused a plea agreement that would have given him a shorter sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Throughout the trial he had maintained that the encounter with the Jaffrey woman was consensual. During the sentencing hearing he said he had been a model prisoner who had gotten a job and tried to stay out of trouble after he was released.

"I was doing everything I was supposed to do," he told the judge. "I was changing my life. Nobody looks at that. Nobody takes that into consideration. I jus don't feel I should be put behind the walls for 10 to 30."

An appeal on his kidnapping conviction was turned down by the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and Chevalier stayed in prison until this past December. Not long after he was released he met and started dating Davidson, and by February they were engaged. But Davidson broke off the engagement earlier this month, telling a friend Chevalier was prone to sudden fits of anger and that she had uncovered some of the unnerving details of his past.

Then on April 21, police were called to the 50 Lincoln Street at 12:28 pm where Davidson lived with her brother. Investigators have released few details about Davidson's murder, but have said that she appears to have been strangled. Her body was found by a neighbor in the basement of her home at 50 Lincoln Street, who alerted Davidson's brother. Davidson's brother called police at 12:28 pm last Saturday.

Chevalier was arrested Friday in California. A hearing is scheduled for Monday in a Imperial County, CA court, at which times investigators expect to learn whether or not Chevalier will waive extradition back to Massachusetts to face the murder charge.

More on this story:

• North Andover Victim Met Alleged Killer On Dating Site (4/28/2018)
• Ex-Fiance Charged With North Andover Woman's Murder (4/27/2018)
• Murder Victim's Fiance Kidnapped Ex-Girlfriend In 2003 (4/24/2018)
• North Andover Murder Victim Was "Kind, Caring" (4/23/2018)
• North Andover Homicide Victim Was Strangled (4/22/2018)
• Police Investigating Homicide In North Andover (4/21/2018)

Never miss another local news story: Get free local news alerts right to your inbox.

Photo by Imperial County Sheriff's Office.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).