A 30-year-old Bolton woman pleaded not guilty Monday to second-degree murder in the death of Cameron Faling, 45, also of the Chittenden County town.
Averil Beliveau is being held at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington without bail. The next hearing in the case is set for Friday.
Beliveau was arrested by Vermont State Police Sunday after troopers determined she had killed Faling Thursday night at an apartment at the Bolton Valley base village where they were both residents. She called police Saturday morning to report the incident.
A report from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington ruled the death a homicide that was caused by “incised wounds” to the neck.
According to a police affidavit, Beliveau had called police Saturday morning to report that she had been in a fight with Faling Thursday evening and that she needed to defend herself. She told police on the phone that she had cut Faling’s throat and that he had died.
State troopers then arrived at the Bolton aparment and confirmed that Faling was deceased. Beliveau was transported to the State Police barracks in Williston.
In a statement given to detectives, Beliveau described her relationship with Faling as abusive. Friends and neighbors of Faling and Beliveau said the couple had been together for less than a year, the affidavit said.
Beliveau referenced an incident that occurred in the summer of 2019 during which she claimed Faling repeatedly shut a door on her head, broke her nose and gave her a black eye. Beliveau did not call the police after that incident, but did call the police last November after she said Faling broke her finger.
During the interview, Beliveau said she had purchased two knives, including the one she used Thursday night, because she recently had eye surgery and claimed the surgeon intentionally sewed her eye smaller, and she needed to cut it to make it bigger so she could see.
“At this point I have been scared of him attacking me, and I’m like no, because I have a knife now kid,” she told detectives. “He doesn’t technically know I have a knife, but I know I have a knife. … I keep warning him, like Cam don’t try to attack me, like don’t violently come at me. Don’t try to strangle me. My body is bruised and broken enough; you have done enough.”
The night Faling died, Beliveau described a violent altercation that involved Faling strangling her until she worried she was going to die. After she cut his throat with a hunting knife, Beliveau said she barricaded herself in the bathroom because Faling was still trying to attack her.
Early Friday morning, Beliveau said she drove around the area and slept in her car. During one of her stops, she visited her father’s house in a nearby town, took a shower, and left the clothes and shoes she had been wearing at his residence.
After offering her statement, Beliveau was transported to the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility.
