It was the discovery in the garbage of a bloody knife and the cell phone of a sixty-year-old man who went missing on Saturday that enabled the police to find and arrest two young students when they were probably trying to get rid of his body.
Photos taken from Facebook
The accused, Nicolas Côté and Zoé Boutin.
Saturday evening, Luc Lafontaine was to join his relatives for a dinner near his residence in La Prairie. However, he never showed up.
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Realizing that the 64-year-old man had left his home without his bank cards, cell phone, vehicle and diabetes medication, his family became concerned and reported his disappearance to the Roussillon police.
The next day, while officers were canvassing his neighborhood, they discovered a blood-covered steak knife in a garbage bag about 50 yards from his residence.
Photo QMI Agency, Thierry Laforce
A scene erected around the residence of Luc Lafontaine, in La Prairie.
They also found Luc Lafontaine’s cell phone in a recycling bin thanks to his son and his tracking application.
PHOTO COURTESY INTERMUNICIPAL BOARD OF POLICE ROUSSILLON
He was looking for his father
“He was running around the block, he was walking the streets, he was talking loudly. He was looking for his father. He was looking for his cell phone. He kept triangulating it, but he was 200 yards away all the time. At some point, they found it in the broken recycling bin,” the Log a neighbour.
Considering the nebulous and disturbing circumstances, the file was quickly transferred to the investigators of crimes against the person of the Sûreté du Québec.
Thanks to investigative steps taken from the elements discovered in the garbage, the authorities were able to trace two young students when they were probably preparing to dump the body in the Richelieu River, in Saint-Basile- le-Grand, Monday evening.
Formally accused
Nicolas Côté, 19, and Zoé Boutin, 18, were formally charged Tuesday at the Longueuil courthouse.
The young man, dressed in a white jumpsuit provided by the police and looking solemn, appeared to face a charge of unpremeditated murder.
The one he has been dating for the past few weeks will have to respond to a charge of complicity after the fact.
The lovebirds, who recently met at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, in Longueuil, are also accused of having committed contempt for the corpse of Luc Lafontaine.
Photo QMI Agency, Thierry Laforce
The two students, who have no criminal history, reportedly transported the body in the trunk of a car.
According to the indictment, the victim was killed on Saturday in La Prairie. It was therefore two days between the murder and the moment when the duo would have tried to get rid of the body.
Incomprehension
Investigators will therefore try to determine what happened during these 48 hours and where the body had been hidden.
A friend of the accused, who preferred to remain anonymous, was completely upset yesterday when she heard the news.
“Zoé is a sweet and kind person, it clashes, I don’t understand anything at the moment,” she said.
– With Laurent Lavoie