Two charged in murder of Quebec college student

MONTREAL • Two men are facing first-degree murder charges in the slaying of a 19-year-old Quebec college student whose death may be linked to the discovery of two more bodies, provincial police said Friday.

Réne Kègle, 38, and Francis Martel, 31 — both from Quebec’s Mauricie region — appeared in court in Trois Rivières late Friday in connection with the killing of Ophélie Martin-Cyr.

Kègle is also charged with the attempted murder of a 21-year-old woman who escaped from a moving car early Wednesday.

Police say the woman was a friend of Martin-Cyr, and she was the one who alerted authorities to Martin-Cyr’s disappearance.

A farmer found Martin Cyr’s body a few hours later in a field in Yamachiche, about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.

The body bore marks of violence and the death was later determined to be a homicide.

Provincial police spokeswoman Eloise Cossette said Friday that investigators now believe the case is connected to the discovery the same day of a burnt-out SUV 35 kilometres away. The vehicle was later found to contain two charred bodies.

Cossette said it’s impossible to determine the age or sex of the badly burned victims, and she did not elaborate on how the two events might be connected.

She said the investigation is ongoing.

While police were giving few details about the murder, a close friend of the victim said she and some other friends had become worried about some of the people in Martin-Cyr’s extended circle.

Shannie Gélinas remembers Martin-Cyr as a kind and open-hearted person who always wanted to help her friends.

She worries her friend’s generous spirit led to her death.