‘ Deeply shocked’
Police search area after 9-year-old’s remains found in Quebec town.
Martin Lanthier wa s heading back to his truck after an afternoon of hunting on Friday when he spotted a white object on the ground a few feet away. When Lanthier, his brother Pascal, and a friend got closer, they realized it was the skull of a young child. Being longtime residents of Trois- Rivières, the men immediately suspected that they had stumbled upon the remains of Cédrika Provencher, the freckle- faced nine- year- old girl who was abducted on a summer evening in July, 2007, while riding her bike home.
“There aren’t a lot of kidnappings in Trois- Rivières and by the size of the skull, we were pretty sure it was Cédrika,” Pascal Lanthier said on Monday. The men called 911 and did their best not to disturb what they were sure was a crime scene.
Lanthier said they found the skull by chance because the area would normally be covered in snow at this time of year. Over the weekend, Cédrika’s father, Martin Provencher, sent a text to Martin Lanthier thanking him for finding his daughter. “He’s grieving right now, so we want to give him peace,” Pascal Lanthier told the Montreal Gazette when asked whether the men had met Cédrika’s father.
When Pina Arcamone’s phone rang just before midnight on Saturday, the head of the Missing Children’s Network feared there was another Amber Alert. She was wrong. A journalist was calling to inform her that after eight long years, parts of Cédrika’s remains had been found in a wooded area about 12 kilometres from her Trois-Rivières home.
“I was in shock,” Arcamone said. “I couldn’t help but think of her family and all the work they had done to find her. They clung to that slim hope that Cédrika would still be alive today. Nothing prepares you for that knock on the door from the police.”
Cédrika was last seen after being approached by a man who asked her to help him find his lost dog.
Arcamone said the closeknit community of Trois-Rivières has never recovered from the abduction of the young girl, whose smiling picture was displayed in dépanneurs and on lamp posts for months after the kidnapping.
“People were deeply shocked and stunned that something like this could happen in their community in broad daylight,” she said. “Unfortunately, Cédrika trusted the wrong individual. The entire community went out looking for her and distributed flyers. This little girl could have been anyone’s daughter.”
Arcamone spoke to the girl’s father on Sunday and said he was saddened, but relieved that his daughter’s remains had been found. “This is not the ending the family wanted, but now they can start grieving for their daughter,” she said. “Families need answers, good or bad, so they can go on with their lives.”
Cédrika’s family will finally be able to bury her “with the respect and dignity that every human being deserves,” she said.
Arcamone pointed out that criminal abductions are the rarest form of kidnappings, but said the search needs to start immediately because “time is our worst enemy.
“When it happens, it’s usually done by a sexual predator,” she said.
Trois- Rivières’s Mayor Yves Lévesque was stunned when he l earned Saturday night that hunters had found Cédrika. Earlier that day, Lévesque had given an interview to Stéphan Parent, a director who is making a documentary about the girl’s disappearance.
On Sunday, Lévesque went to the site of the discovery, a wooded area on the edge of Highway 40 in St- Maurice, and told reporters that his community was still shaken by her disappearance. He said he was hopeful that a police investigation will lead to the arrest of the person who abducted the young girl. “With DNA, it’ s possible to find the murderer years later,” he said.
On Monday, more than 200 Sûreté du Québec officers searched the woods for evidence that could lead them to Cédrika’s killer. Investigators hope to collect any evidence before it gets buried under snow.
Members of t he community who are mourning Cédrika’s death have been going to the search area to place flowers and stuffed animals. On Sunday, Henri Provencher, Cédrika’s grandfather, posted on Facebook that the family could now begin to grieve. He thanked volunteers, friends, police officers and the media who rallied to help find his granddaughter.
Provencher visited the woods on Monday where his granddaughter was found and couldn’t hide his sadness. “It makes us relive bad moments,” he said, adding he hopes the police will find the person who killed Cédrika.
He said he had hoped that his granddaughter would one day be found alive. “It is a strange mix of sadness and consolation to say that it’s finished.”
PEOPLE WERE DEEPLY SHOCKED AND STUNNED THAT SOMETHING LIKE THIS COULD HAPPEN IN THEIR COMMUNITY.