The woman arrested for the murder of an octogenarian committed at the end of October in a residence for the elderly in Montreal would suffer from serious mental problems and would have randomly chosen her victim, whose apartment was located on the ground floor and whose the patio door opened onto the street.
Updated yesterday at 11:03 p.m.
Moreover, on the very day of the murder, October 20, presumably before the crime was committed, she would have been transported to the Santa Cabrini hospital, whose emergency room is 300 meters from the victim’s apartment.
That’s what The Press was able to learn from various sources in the wake of the appearance of the accused, Élise Quenneville-Proulx, at the Montreal courthouse on Friday afternoon.
Élise Quenneville-Proulx, 34, a resident of the borough of Lachine, is charged with the unpremeditated murder of Rolande Ducharme, 81.
She appeared by videoconference from the eastern operational center of the SPVM, but her appearance was postponed to November 14, because her lawyer, Ms.e Audrey Amzalag, requested and obtained that her client undergo a psychiatric evaluation of at least five days at the Philippe-Pinel Institute “to determine her fitness to appear”, ordered Judge Yves Paradis, of the Court of Quebec, under the haggard eye of the accused.
suspicious death
According to our information, they are members of the family of Mr.me Ducharme, worried about not having heard from him, who would have alerted, on the evening of October 22, the management of the RPA where the octogenarian lived, the NDF Retired City, located at the corner of rue de Pontoise and rue Beaubien East, in the Rosemont district.
When residence employees arrived at the victim’s apartment, they found her unconscious.
Urgences-Santé technicians then arrived at the scene and found him dead.
The cause of death was not established at the scene. The death was initially considered suspicious and the body was examined by a pathologist and a coroner. They then concluded that it was a murder and transferred the file to the SPVM Major Crimes investigators.
At the hospital the same day
According to the indictment, the crime was allegedly committed on October 20, the same day the accused was admitted to Santa Cabrini Hospital, according to our sources, and approximately 48 hours before the discovery of Ms.me Some charm.
The Press went to the Santa Cabrini hospital, where the employees of the admissions office did not want to confirm that the suspect would have been admitted to the establishment, specifying that the information remains confidential, except for her relatives.
Mme Ducharme was killed with a sharp or blunt object, according to our information.
According to our information, the suspect did not know the victim, and everything indicates that this is a random murder.
The person who committed the crime would have taken advantage of the fact that Ms.me Ducharme is on the first floor, and his patio door opens onto the street, to get into the room.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
On the left, the patio door to Mr.me Ducharme in front of which a wreath was laid.
It is unclear how investigators managed to link the suspect to the murder.
A distinguished woman
Huguette Crète has lost a neighbor she has known for the past six years, a “distinguished, kind and polite” woman. Rolande Ducharme was recognized by residents of the Cité des Retraites NDF as a generous woman who took care of her 104-year-old mother. “She was her mother, volunteering and her mother,” says the octogenarian.
The murder, which happened two doors down from her home, shook her up. “The first evening, I was on my sofa and I was not able to sleep”, specifies the lady. Friday evening, sitting at the table in her dining room, she confirmed that she was now paying more attention to her doors, for fear that a stranger would enter.
I left my doors open to go for a walk, now I always lock my doors.
Huguette Crète, neighbor of the victim
Employees of the Crime Victims Assistance Center (CAVAC) met with residents of the City during the week to “secure them”, underlines Thérèse Desrochers, also a resident of the establishment. She confirms that “a lot of people mentioned that it would be nice if there was [plus] surveillance cameras” around the residence. At present, only the main entrance, the large living room and the corridors are under surveillance, she indicates.
The NDF Retirement City is divided into several sections, all of which are locked and accessible to residents only. Visitors must pass through the main entrance to enter the building, with authorization. On the spot, the administration of the City did not want to answer the questions of The Press.
Élise Quenneville-Proulx has a criminal history. In February 2021, in the district of Sherbrooke, she was convicted of one count of threatening and received a conditional discharge with a two-year probation period, which was therefore to end next February.
The octogenarian’s murder is the 32e committed this year on the island of Montreal.
With this new case, it would be four murder victims who were randomly murdered by a mentally ill person this year in Montreal.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.