A 62-year-old Quebec man has been convicted of second-degree murder in the death of a 10-year-old girl in a Montreal suburb more than three decades after the crime.
Réal Courtemanche, who is already serving time for other offences, admitted in court Friday that the evidence proves he killed Marie-Chantale Desjardins.
A statement from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) said 10-year-old Marie-Chantale went missing on July 16, 1994, after leaving a friend’s home in , northwest of Montreal. Four days later, her body was discovered in a wooded area behind a shopping centre in nearby Rosemère.
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The case remained unsolved for nearly 30 years until DNA testing linked Courtemanche to the crime, leading to his arrest in 2023 while he was still incarcerated.
Both the Crown and the defence recommended that Courtemanche receive the maximum penalty for second-degree murder — life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo has taken the joint recommendation under advisement and is expected to deliver her decision in November.
Courtemanche, who has amassed dozens of convictions since 1981, was designated a dangerous offender in 2015 and handed an indeterminate sentence after being found guilty of kidnapping and assaulting a woman with a knife.
–with files from The Canadian Press
