WESTVILLE CENTER - Although a decade has passed since Marie Fleury was murdered in her Westville home in 2002, a state police official said this week at a meeting of the Westville Community Action Network the case is very much active, and investigators have tracked down over 700 leads, including two recently: one developed earlier in the day Wednesday and the other last week.

“I can absolutely assure you this is not a cold case,” Bureau of Criminal Investigation Senior Investigator Kurt Taylor said, adding state police and the Franklin County District Attorney’s Office discuss the case at minimum on a weekly basis. “We are looking at a small, select group of individuals as being responsible for this homicide.”

Mrs. Fleury was bludgeoned to death at her residence located next door to the Elm Circle Diner on the night of Oct. 17, 2002. Mr. Taylor said the slaying was not a random act - the perpetrators were there to steal something, which he did not specify.

“They knew (Fleury’s) patterns,”Mr. Taylor said. “They didn’t believe Marie was home, and she was.”

Mrs. Fleury’s brothers, Herb Healey of Chateaugay and Ken Healey of Lake Placid, were present at the meeting. Although Herb Healey remained mostly silent during an interview, Ken Healey stated that the lengthy process in collaring his sister’s killer has not shattered his faith in the American justice system.

“You just hope they find something in a reasonable amount of time. Every year is kind of the same, though you know they’re still looking,” he said. “You have to have faith in the justice system.”

Despite his faith in the ability of police and prosecutors to bring the murderer to justice, Mr. Healey said the experience as a whole has left him a changed man.

“Right from the get-go, it changed my life immediately,” he said. “It certainly changed my way of life and my daily routine.”

Mr. Healey went on to say that he never really has had any idea of who took his sister’s life 10 years ago.

“I can’t say I’ve ever had any suspects,” he said. “Maybe at one time I did and it’s proven not so.”

One of those in attendance at the meeting was Westville Town Supervisor Rod Lauzon, who said he knew Mrs. Fleury very well.

“You could set your watch by her: The 5:15 Westville service [at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church], at five minutes to five she’d be on the right side, five pews back, you could set your watch by it,”Mr. Lauzon said.

Mr. Lauzon and Ken Healey said she was a very kind person and cared deeply for all those in her life.

“She was a very special lady,”Mr. Healey said through tears.

“She was a nice person,”Mr. Lauzon said solemnly. “I always found her jovial, very nice.”

But above all, Mr. Lauzon noted Mrs. Fleury’s generous spirit.

“If they [Fleury’s murderer] needed something, all they would’ve had to have done is asked her. She would’ve given it to them,” he said.

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