CANADA Canada - Valerie Leblanc, 18, Gatineau QC, 23 Aug 2011

[dotr]

The investigation was a difficult one for police, Lemay said, though officers were trained to handle any situation.

“Our officers, our uniformed officer, our investigators, we’re not any different,” he said. “We are members of the community, so we react the same way. In a career we go through a lot of things, and we can’t be indifferent to what happened here,” he said.


Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/P...ng+with+body/5308809/story.html#ixzz1WAEzcba1

Late Wednesday afternoon, Gatineau police established a phone line to receive information from the public about the incident: 819-243-2346, ext. 6677. Police are looking specifically for anyone who observed suspicious behaviour in the area between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Police+continue+hunt+killer+Gatineau+student+investigate+tampering+with+body/5308809/story.html#ixzz1WAFXwCdg"

 

[matou]

Police declined to offer any more details on the results of the autopsy, but said it did not appear the body had been moved from another location.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/08/26/ott-gatineau-body-autopsy.html

 

[matou]

Leblanc was last seen Tuesday morning at school. Denis St-Jacques, a teacher at the college, told police she was present in his Tuesday morning communication psychology class, according to his attendance records, taken around 10 a.m.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/P...ng+with+body/5308809/story.html#ixzz1WATi9Oim

 

[Hazel]

<snips>

Police have no suspects in the murder yet, but have put on hold the secondary investigation into the tampering of Leblanc's body after she was killed, saying they know who did it and charges are pending.

He did say that the injuries have compromised the evidence and could impede the investigation.

He said police haven't seen anything to tell them this could be serial in nature but it is still important for people to take precautions to stay safe.

He said people should avoid walking alone and if they have to they should make sure someone knows where they are going and at what time they should be getting there.

He was adamant that this is a safe community and that no extra precautions need to be taken but said it is always important to keep basic safety in mind. He added that carrying a whistle is a simple but effective tool because it is universally recognized as a signal of distress.

http://www.1310news.com/news/local/article/270667--murdered-gatineau-student-died-of-severe-head-trauma

 

[matou]

...the injuries have compromised the evidence????

 

[matou]

Charges pending are for the person or people who tampered with her body right?

 

[dotr]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/08/24/18595136.html
OTTAWA - Gatineau, Que., cops are looking for links between the homicide of 18-year-old Valerie Leblanc and three attempted abductions of young women in June.

In June, police released a sketch of a man they say tried to abduct three different women on the evening of June 8. In each case, the man targeted women in their 20s.

He's described as white, in his late 30s and between 5-foot-11 and 6-feet tall, with a muscular build. He was driving a grey Ford Focus.


"Maybe his crimes are getting worse ... Escalating," the detective said.

 

[~n/t~]

OTTAWA &#8212; A young man with his hair pushed over his face was seen Tuesday emerging from the woods behind CEGEP a few hours before a young woman was found dead, a student has told police.

Charlotte Dupuis told police Friday she was sitting in her car when she saw the man leaving the woods around 12:30 p.m. She said she didn&#8217;t think the young man saw her.


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/W...slain+teen+body+discovered/5312526/story.html


I wouldn't consider a 30 year old as a young man. The perp sounds more like someone her own age. Hope the cops know what the heck they're doing. Maybe they're looking for the wrong guy. :banghead:

 

[matou]

OTTAWA — A young man with his hair pushed over his face was seen Tuesday emerging from the woods behind CEGEP a few hours before a young woman was found dead, a student has told police.

Charlotte Dupuis told police Friday she was sitting in her car when she saw the man leaving the woods around 12:30 p.m. She said she didn’t think the young man saw her.


http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/W...slain+teen+body+discovered/5312526/story.html


I wouldn't consider a 30 year old as a young man. The perp sounds more like someone her own age. Hope the cops know what the heck they're doing. Maybe they're looking for the wrong guy. :banghead:

I agree nt. I think it's a young person or maybe more than one. This happened in a small window of time during the day. I found a french media release of the guy dotr mentioned above. I found the link from Valerie's cousin's fb. I can read french and it is the same info as what dotr included with a composite drawing and a photo of the vehicle type, grey ford focus.

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/ottawa/2011/06/16/001-portrait-robot-suspect.shtml

 

[Snoopster]

Two of the people that found her body interviewed in these video clips.


1) http://fr.video.canoe.tv/video/1127635269001

2) http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110824/burned-body-student-found-gatineau-park-quebec-110824/

Thanks for posting these clips, Hazel.
I'm still confused as to whether LE thinks it's a predator or someone known to Valerie. I'm guessing that they are being unclear on purpose???

 

[dotr]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/08/24/18595136.html
Cops are also looking to other jurisdictions for any cases that might bear some similarities with Leblanc's death.

The investigation was hampered, however, because cops believe somebody tampered with Leblanc's body at the scene.

 

[dotr]

Leblanc may have had only a small group of friends, but she had many passions that kept a friendship with her interesting, the two said. She played the drums, and she played all sorts of flutes, including Irish and Peruvian. She was a very artistic girl, who also loved to write poetry.

The creative Leblanc had a job as an animator at children’s birthday parties for Fetes en Boîtes. She played 008, a secret agent who went on adventures solving mysteries and crimes.

Leblanc wanted to be a police officer, and had hoped to work in a tactical squad.


Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Witnes...y+discovered/5312526/story.html#ixzz1WCHBhH1P

 

[Hazel]

...the injuries have compromised the evidence????

In that sentence, they are referring to the injuries inflicted by the people who tampered with her body after she was killed (not to the injuries caused by the murderer).
:waitasec: All along I had been thinking it was the murderer who set her body on fire, but now I am starting to wonder what kind of injuries these other people could have inflicted to her body for LE to say the evidence is compromised. I truly hope it wasn't any of them to start the fire, though in one of the articles I remember reading them saying they were going to that area to have a smoke. We'll just have to wait till charges are laid to find out what exactly they did.:maddening:

Charges pending are for the person or people who tampered with her body right?

Correct!

Thanks for posting these clips, Hazel.
I'm still confused as to whether LE thinks it's a predator or someone known to Valerie. I'm guessing that they are being unclear on purpose???

No problem Snoopster.
IMHO, and this is just my own opinion, I believe the ex-bf is still being looked at, but while they investigate him, LE doesn't want to overlook any other possibilities, and that is why they are checking all other sexual attacks in the area (Aylmer, Hull, Gatineau), and I am guessing also in Ottawa.

 

[Hazel]

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/08/24/18595136.html
Cops are also looking to other jurisdictions for any cases that might bear some similarities with Leblanc's death.

The investigation was hampered, however, because cops believe somebody tampered with Leblanc's body at the scene.

These sexual assaults in Ottawa don't bear any similarities, but will post the link anyways

Increased number of sexual assaults in Riverside area

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

Quoted from Hazel's post :

Police have no suspects in the murder yet, but have put on hold the secondary investigation into the tampering of Leblanc's body after she was killed, saying they know who did it and charges are pending.


So there are TWO suspects/psychopaths here - the one(s) who did the killing and the one(s) who did the tampering. (Did I understand that correctly?)

This is horrific!:shakehead:

 

[~n/t~]

The perps who tampered with her body know who did this, imo.

Yes, there may be a 30 year old guy out there but this crime was done by kids her age.

 

[matou]

r.e. injuries have compromised the evidence: I was thinking that maybe the four people who came upon her body added things on to her since she was still on fire when they got there. They could have thrown their cigarette butts on her or poked her with a stick. Argh...this is so upsetting. I hope the perp is caught soon, and I agree, I believe a young person did this based on other cases where a body of a young person was burned. It was always another young person or gang of young people. JMO

 

[matou]

Police are only investigating one crime scene, Lemay said, which meant Leblanc is believed to have been killed in the forest.

Lemay said police have information about why Leblanc was in the wooded area, but won't release it to the public. He said most people come to the area to run, walk, bike, take photos or paint. "There's a lot of good reasons to be here and Valérie Leblanc was here for a good reason," Lemay said.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Witnes...y+discovered/5316683/story.html#ixzz1WEsRHbms

Times:

-Valerie is in class at 10 am as per her teacher.

-Valerie has lunch with a friend. Another student said her friend had eaten lunch with Leblanc around noon.

-A young man is seen leaving the woods around 12:30.

-Four hours after the sighting, four CEGEP students found Valérie Leblanc's body on a trail leading to the NCC bicycle path in the forest behind the campus at 333 Cité des Jeunes Blvd.

So Valerie was discovered by the four around 4:30 pm?

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Witnes...y+discovered/5316683/story.html#ixzz1WEtHbYJD


Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Witnes...y+discovered/5316683/story.html#ixzz1WEspQEDv

 

[dotr]

&#8216;Rest in peace, little angel&#8217;: teen memorialized


Grieving Gatineau residents visit site where 18-year-old&#8217;s body was found

Despite the efforts made by the CEGEP to help students and teachers cope, Carbonneau Pilotte said the mood in school was strange. &#8220;This is a huge crime, and it could be anyone around us,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It could easily be one of my colleagues, a student, you know &#8230; it could be anybody.&#8221;

Carbonneau Pilotte also said a public march to denounce violence against women was being organized as a means of helping the school and Gatineau residents cope with Leblanc&#8217;s death, and he added there was a movement within the school to have students wear white bands in memory of Leblanc during the march.

&#8220;We can&#8217;t hide it like an isolated event,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s an attack against women.&#8221;

It is expected that the march will take place next Saturday, departing from the CEGEP, Carbonneau Pilotte said.


Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Rest+p...memorialized/5318178/story.html#ixzz1WLNwcB1b

 

[dotr]

"Just metres from a well-travelled NCC bike path, the spot where Valérie Leblanc&#8217;s body was found is surrounded by forest, making it hard for anyone to see out or for people on the path to see in."



"Behind a tall tree, with the number 8 spray-painted on its thick trunk, lies another fallen tree. Among its branches is a burned patch of grass, marking the spot where Leblanc&#8217;s body was found by four CEGEP students on Tuesday, only hours after the 18-year-old Gatineau woman had been at school".




"Trottier had worked at the neighbouring high school for more than 10 years, but, even though he was generally familiar with the neighbourhood, said he had no idea there was a trail where Leblanc&#8217;s body was found".


Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Rest+p...memorialized/5318178/story.html#ixzz1WLQA5HbH

I snipped these parts to get a feel for why and how everyone all ended up in a part of the trail that is not well known.Was the number 8 on the tree a clue in a puzzle of some sort, or a marker used by LE?

Also, off topic, but it seemed impossible that Mariam Makhniashvili, could suddenly disappear in the daytime from school, at the start of the school year - but sadly, this case shows otherwise.