The lifeless body of a woman with traces of violence was found in a residential building in the Center-Sud district of the Ville-Marie district on Wednesday. Montreal police confirmed shortly thereafter that it was the first murder to take place on their territory that year.
Posted 12:40pm Updated 3:31pm
Police first showed up at a flat on rue Fullum, off rue de Rouen, earlier in the day just after 7am on Wednesday to check on the resident’s health following a call received by the emergency services.
Speaking of a “suspicious death” at the time, the authorities then confirmed that it was a murder. The victim is a woman whose age was not disclosed at the time of writing this article.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Police operation at the crime scene, Wednesday
A man was identified shortly after the incident before he was met by investigators. Officially, he is still considered an “important witness” and charges have not yet been brought against him. According to our information, the man arrested by the investigators is the victim’s son. He would be in his twenties.
Obvious traces of violence
According to the report by Agent Caroline Chèvrefils, spokeswoman for the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), the victim’s body showed signs of violence when it was discovered early in the morning.
“The crime scene remains protected to allow investigators and forensic identification technicians to do their jobs,” Ms Chèvrefils added, without giving further details. A large security area remained in place for most of Wednesday until just under 5 p.m.
No arrests have yet been made in connection with this event. The SPVM’s Serious Crimes Unit will be in charge of the file.
It was the first killing on SPVM territory in 2023, but not in all of Quebec. In early January, Sûreté du Québec (SQ) police officers also discovered the lifeless body of Nadine Flora Alinanyinyi at her home on rue Joseph-Elzéar-Bernier in Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
The 34-year-old victim had been a domestic worker at Le Groupe Maurice’s Le Quartier Mont-Saint-Hilaire residence since arriving from Cameroon in 2020. She was recently on maternity leave. And like two of her Cameroonian colleagues, she had been hired at the residence as part of an international recruitment program.
Just days later, the SQ had launched an investigation following the discovery of two bodies in an opulent home in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Montérégie. With no news, a relative had called the police. In this case it would be murder committed by a man followed by suicide.