Previously, “A Grieving Mother Struggles to Say Goodbye to Her Son at the Epitome of His Life and Career”
On the day before the two-week anniversary of the murder of her son at a lonely construction site in Fox Hills, Margaret Bilodeau said that for her, only one question remains:
“I don’t want to know who killed Paul. I just want to know why.”
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The Bilodeau twins, Paula and Paul
Paul Bilodeau and his assailant presumably were the only persons the night his life was violently ended on an isolated patch of property that stretches out for about one and a half acres.
It was not widely known that Mr. Bilodeau frequently worked well into the dark hours.
Aware of the dangers of being distant from bright lights, safety and any semblance of civilization, the 45-year-old work-centric victim would lock himself in because the setting was so ominous.
In response to the baffling homicide, Public Works Director Charles Herbertson said that for the first time, the city has hired a security team.
Their assignment: To stand vigilant 24 hours a day over a site that seems particularly remote after dark and twice has been violated.
Who He Was
Mr. Bilodeau, the admired but little-known project manager for the city of Culver City at the site of its new Fire Station on Bristol Parkway, was fastidious and meticulous about his job responsibilities.
Nothing deterred him from his professional duties.
On Friday, Jan. 2, after an early evening dinner out with his uncle, he made a U-turn and drove back up the hill to complete several reports.
That was the only reason the consultant had returned to his field office, a shared trailer at the construction site, between 8 and 9 o’clock.
Everything that happened thereafter, and for the next 10 hours, remains speculative.
When Mr. Bilodeau’s body was found the next morning, he had been shot at least four times.
Meanwhile, construction proceeded for the next five days, albeit at a much slower pace. Last Friday, at the recommendation of Mr. Herbertson, City Manager Jerry Fulwood, Police Chief Don Pedersen and City Atty. Carol Schwab agreed to suspend operations indefinitely.
“We need to sort things out,” said Mr. Herbertson.
The project will remain inoperative until Mr. Bilodeau’s already designated successor as project manager has been fully brought abreast of construction developments during the past two years.
“Initially,” Mr. Herbertson said, “we thought the suspension would be for two weeks. But it will take longer than that.”
