LIMESTONE, Maine — Courtney DuBois’ family has been devastated since discovering that she was found dismembered and discarded in garbage bags at a Georgia landfill in August. On top of processing this horrifying news, relatives in Aroostook who wished to give her a proper burial were faced with up to $8,000 in funeral expenses.
They initially planned to host a benefit supper at the Caribou VFW on Nov. 3 but then Adam DuBois, Courtney’s father, recently discovered an old military insurance policy that would cover the expenses.
Sylvio DuBois of Limestone, her grandfather, said he received the call from his son, who let him know that “you won’t need to have a benefit.”
Sylvio DeBois said the policy started when Courtney was a child and her father was in the military.
“They just took it out of his check,” said Sylvio DuBois, “and he’d forgotten all about it, but it’s still active.”
Now, the family is making an effort to return money already donated to assist with the funeral expenses.
“We don’t take money we don’t need,” said Sylvio DuBois. “Returning that money is very important.”
He said he had taken out all of his savings to help fund the funeral, and is thankful to have one less expense burdening him and his family. Now, he’s focusing on returning donations.
“Things are going to work themselves out,” he said.
According to Sylvio DuBois, the family plans to have a service in Limestone, where Courtney DuBois lived for about three years.
The remains are now in northern Maine, and a service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 20 at the St. Louis Church in Limestone.
DuBois said his granddaughter was born with clubbed feet and had “many operations as a youngster,” and that since her parents divorced, she moved around frequently. Born in Castleview, North Carolina, DuBois moved to Wisconsin and Indiana before coming to The County as a teenager.
“She wasn’t used to the little communities up here,” he said. “She had a difficult time and ended up going to Alternative Ed in Caribou. She did very well over there and graduated.”
Courtney DuBois later moved to West Virginia, and her grandfather would often keep in touch with her via Facebook and “go to her page and see what’s going on” if he hadn’t heard from her in a while.
“She posted in July that she ‘finally made it and was now a college student,’” Sylvio DuBois said. “My son, Adam, had given her his GI Bill and she was going to go to college at some point in August.”
Then, DuBois found a post on his granddaughter’s page asking Courtney “if you’re around, please notify us. We’re worried about you.” He told his sister about the post and his sister contacted the person who wrote it, and learned that “Courtney had been missing for some time.”
His son soon filed a missing person report, and “the very next day the FBI told him they found some remains in a landfill and wanted him to look at some tattoos,” according to Sylvio.
The family was devastated to learn that the FBI had found DuBois’s body parts discarded in a landfill in Georgia.
“For someone to discard someone and throw them away doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Whoever did this — I pray they find whoever did this, but in the meantime my hope was to give Courtney a proper burial and resting place and she’s going to be buried at St. Louis Cemetery in Limestone.”
He said the family is absolutely seeking justice for what happened and does not want to see the case go cold.
“It’s easy to become vindictive and vengeful about something like this,” he said, “but at this time we just want to make sure the investigation goes on. The big thing right now is just to give her a funeral and a burial place.”
At this point, DuBois said he’s just focused on trying to get through the funeral.
