Friday, November 6th, 2009
Murder charge laid in killing of Corrections Canada employee
MONTREAL - Montreal police say the slaying of a federal corrections employee last month was an entirely random act that had nothing to do with her prison-related job.
Claude Larouche, a carpenter by trade, was charged with first-degree murder Friday in the case of Natasha Cournoyer.
The mysterious disappearance of the Correctional Service of Canada employee from outside a suburban office tower prompted a frantic search and ended with the tragic discovery of her body five days later.
Cournoyer vanished while walking to her car and was found in a partly wooded area by the shores of the St. Lawrence River in Montreal.
The stocky, balding, bespectacled suspect appeared before a judge and pleaded not guilty through a lawyer, but did not utter a word himself during his one-minute court appearance.
Prosecutors say a DNA match led investigators to Larouche, 48, and that police already had his DNA on file.
They told reporters outside the courtroom about Larouche's criminal record.
Crown prosecutor Eliane Perreault said he had convictions in different parts of the province. The worst one, she said, was a June 2005 conviction for kidnapping a seven-year-old girl as she walked to school.
The girl fought back and ran to a nearby home. Larouche was arrested the following spring, and was eventually sentenced to 40 months in prison.
On Thursday, Larouche was arrested by homicide detectives at a home he shares with a woman and two children, said Crown prosecutor Eliane Perreault.
Montreal police stressed that the crime appeared to have no link to Cournoyer's job with the prison service.
They also downplayed any possible ties between the suspect and Cournoyer.
"He had no personal ties to the victim," said Montreal police Insp. Daniel Rousseau.
"(And) there is no link with the work of Ms. Cournoyer."
Police also stressed that residents need not fear, even though the investigation has so far pointed to a seemingly random act.
"I think with the arrest of this suspect, we think that the citizens (should) feel more safe," Rousseau said.
Rousseau said police were conducting seizures in three different locations related to the case on Friday, but he otherwise remained mum on the investigation.
The accused returns to court Dec. 8.
Prosecutors could not say whether Cournoyer was sexually assaulted, but added that autopsy results are expected soon.
"We're still waiting for the other results because there are a lot of samples that have been taken," Perreault said.
Cournoyer, who had worked in communications work for the correctional service since May, was 37.
Her boyfriend made an impassioned plea to the public for any news of Cournoyer's whereabouts and held vigil in the parking lot where she was last seen.
Boyfriend Michel Trottier later passed a polygraph test which he had sought to rule himself out as a suspect.
He didn't answer a call from The Canadian Press but told other media that he wasn't in any condition to talk.
Cournoyer lived in Piedmont, Que., about 60 kilometres from Montreal.
