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Quebec cold case: Man faces first degree murder charge in young girl’s 1994 killing

Dec. 12, 2023, Montreal, Que. – Quebec provincial police say they’ve arrested a 61-year-old prison inmate in the killing of a young girl in a Montreal suburb nearly three decades ago.

Investigators say Real Courtemanche, detained at La Macaza Institution in Quebec’s Laurentians region, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the 1994 killing of Marie-Chantale Desjardins.

Desjardins was just 10 years old when she disappeared on July 16, 1994, after she left a friend’s house at the end of the day in Ste-Therese, Que., northwest of Montreal.

Her body was found four days later in the neighbouring community of Rosemere in the woods behind a shopping centre.

Provincial police say Courtemanche will appear before a judge later today in St-Jerome, Que., northwest of Montreal.

Authorities say the arrest was made possible thanks to innovative methods in forensic biology by the province’s crime lab.