(Montreal) A coroner from Quebec who investigated the deaths of two young sisters killed by their father recommends broader criteria for triggering Amber alerts and the creation of a special police unit to investigate missing children in across the province.
These are some of the recommendations from Coroner Sophie Régnière stemming from the murders of Romy and Norah Carpentier last year and the suicide of their father, Martin Carpentier.
The girls and their father disappeared after their car was involved in a serious accident on Highway 20 in Saint-Apollinaire, in the Chaudière-Appalaches region, on July 8, 2020, shortly before 9:30 p.m.
It wasn’t until 3 p.m. the next day, July 9, that an Amber Alert was issued.
In reports released Thursday, the coroner concludes that the girls’ deaths likely occurred on the afternoon of July 9 and their bodies were found on July 11 not far from each other.
Martin Carpentier committed suicide in the hours following the murder of the girls, but his body was not found until July 20.
The coroner recommends that the Sûreté du Québec draw up an exhaustive report on its procedures when a child goes missing.
She found that a number of factors hindered the investigation and that, had they been treated differently, it could have helped locate the girls more quickly and possibly even prevent their deaths.
She says Martin Carpentier’s actions were sparked by an impending divorce from the mother of the two daughters and that he feared losing access to the children. Romy, 6, was Martin Carpentier’s biological daughter, but Norah, 11, was not and he adopted her when she was born.
These disappearances created a shock wave in Quebec, in particular in the city of just over 6,000 inhabitants where the tragedy took place and in Lévis, the hometown of the family.