Brian Audette sentenced to life for murder charge

Brian Audette sentenced to life for murder charge

Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that Brian Audette (age 49) was sentenced yesterday before Superior Court Justice Joseph A. Montalbano to a life sentence at the Adult Correctional Institution after pleading nolo contendere to a charge of second-degree murder stemming from a 2013 incident that claimed the life of Donna Pike.

Had the case proceeded to trial, the state was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that on April 7, 2013 Audette murdered Donna Pike while she was lying in bed in her apartment located at 79 Rathbun Street in Woonsocket. After a verbal argument he struck her repeatedly in the head with a 25-pound dumbbell causing blunt force trauma that resulted in her death.

The case was investigated by the Woonsocket Police Department. Assistant Attorney General Shannon Signore and Special Assistant Attorney General Alison DeCosta prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General.