Police seeking new witness in Amber Alert case
Police are asking the public to help identify an important witness in the case of a homicide and an abduction that led to an Amber Alert last week.
Sunday afternoon, the Sûreté du Québec made public a composite sketch of “an important witness” in the case. The man, who is about 40 years old, was reportedly seen on the night of Sept. 15 in the Rouyn-Noranda area, with the person suspected of abducting a six-year-old boy, the SQ said.
The boy vanished from St-Eu- stache on Thursday. He was unin- jured when his father was apprehended in Ontario nearly 24 hours later. By then, the body of the boy’s mother had also been discovered in the family home.
The witness is 5-foot-6, weighs 220 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes. He has a dark beard.
Anyone with information is asked to call the SQ at 1-800-659-4264.
SUSPECT IN HOSPITAL
Meanwhile, the boy’s father remains in an Ontario hospital. Ontario Provincial Police said the man suffered injuries that required medical assessment and he was sent to a hospital Saturday.
The man appeared by video link earlier in the day from a police station in Renfrew, Ont., where he had been held since his arrest Friday.
The SQ has not responded to requests for comment about what charges the man might face when he returns to his home province.
As of Sunday afternoon, it was not yet clear when the man would be transferred to Quebec police.
“This man will be back in Quebec when his health conditions are better,” SQ spokesman Claude Denis said.
SEARCH CONTINUES
Volunteers and police officers continued their search Sunday for a 71-year-old man missing from Lachute, west of Montreal, since Friday.
Yvon Lacasse previously used the car in which the six-year-old boy was found safe.
Lacasse’s friends and family have reason to be concerned about his well-being, Denis said Saturday.
“He is still missing and searches are being carried on.”
The SQ is asking people between Lachute and Rouyn-Noranda to be on the lookout for Lacasse. Denis said police asked civilian volunteers to join the search, which they did Saturday and again Sunday. Police, who also searched through the night, used a helicopter and sniffer dogs.
“If you are a landowner, a camper or a fisherman, or if you are travelling in this area, we ask you to work with us by looking around to check if Mr. Lacasse is there,” the SQ said. “If he is injured, he may have difficulty moving around.”
Denis said it’s too early to say whether the search will expand into Ontario, where Lacasse’s car was found.
Lacasse is bald with brown eyes, 5-foot-5 and weighs just under 100 pounds. Police are asking anyone who thinks they may have seen him to call 911.
Earlier Sunday, the SQ asked for the public’s help finding another important potential witness — a motorcyclist seen near the roadside stop in Lachute around the same time the Honda CR-V was stolen. That motorcyclist later contacted the SQ.