Murder of Guylaine Potvin | A man arrested 22 years after the facts

More than 20 years after the events, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) arrested a man on Wednesday in connection with the murder of Guylaine Potvin, a young student found dead in her Jonquière apartment on April 28, 2000. .

Vincent Larin
The Press

Marc-André Grenon, 47, will appear Thursday morning, by videoconference, in the districts of Saguenay and Quebec. He was arrested Wednesday in Granby, Montérégie.

He will face charges of first degree murder and sexual assault against Guylaine Potvin for events that occurred on April 28, 2000. That day, the student at Cégep de Jonquière was found lifeless in his apartment on rue Panet. She lived with two girlfriends, also students, who were absent the night of the events.

But the charges against Marc-André Grenon do not stop there. The individual is also accused of having sexually assaulted another student and of having attempted her life, in Quebec, in the Sainte-Foy district, a few months after the murder of Guylaine Potvin.

This second victim, identified by initials in court documents to protect her identity, was living alone when she was attacked in her apartment in the capital in July 2000. Left for dead at the time of the events, she had survived the assault.

In a press release released Wednesday, the SQ also specifies that its investigation had shown “certain similarities” between the two attacks, which occurred a few months apart.

As for Marc-André Grenon’s criminal record, he has a long track record for various minor crimes, most of which were committed in the late 1990s. He had also been arrested and then convicted of several low value thefts just before and after the murder of Guylaine Potvin.

These records show that he was residing in Chicoutimi when the young woman was found dead in her apartment, but he seems to have moved shortly after.

“It is thanks to the meticulous and long-term work of the investigators of the unresolved cases division of the Sûreté du Québec, in collaboration with the laboratory of forensic sciences and forensic medicine, and the innovative methods used today in biology judiciary that the suspect could be identified and arrested, ”said the police force on Wednesday.

“A month that is very hard”

In an interview given earlier this year to Dailythe mother of Guylaine Potvin confided how the month of April was particularly painful for the relatives of the young woman.

“It was his birthday on the 3rd and his death on the 28th. It’s a month that is very hard, all in all,” said Jeannine Caouette.

“It’s a great relief for us, for the whole family. We never despaired that the investigators would eventually find the person who harmed Guylaine, ”she said on Wednesday, still at the Daily.

Originally from Saint-Eugène-d’Argentenay, north of Lac-Saint-Jean, Guylaine Potvin had just celebrated her 19th birthday at the time of the tragedy.

The police investigation showed that she had been beaten and sexually assaulted, then strangled. Photos of her and her friends, as well as a graduation ring, had also been stolen on the spot, presumably by the murderer.

The crime had obviously shaken the population and sowed fear in the CEGEP sector.

A few months after the tragedy, on July 3, 2000, the predator struck again, this time in Quebec. A 19-year-old student was assaulted and left for dead by the same individual in her apartment in Sainte-Foy. Fortunately, she survived.

Investigators were then able to confirm that it was the same predator, since the DNA found at the scene of the two crimes was the same.

With The Daily