Man charged with 1980 murder in North Bay area

A North Bay man has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1980 stabbing death of Micheline St. Amour in the Township of East Ferris.

Roger Deschenes, 62, was arrested by Ontario Provincial Police in North Bay on Nov. 18 and appeared in court last week.

The investigation is continuing. “We are able finally to bring resolution” to the 40-year-old case, Chief Supt. Carson Pardy, regional commander of the OPP's North East Region, said during a media conference Wednesday.

St. Amour was found dead in a bedroom of her home on July 10, 1980.

Her two-year-old child was found unharmed in another room.

In the four decades since the slaying, the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch had made “numerous appeals to the public for tips and as forensic technology advanced, they employed innovative investigation techniques to help solve the case,” Det. Insp. Kurtis Fredericks said.

Although a charge has been laid, Fredericks called on anyone with additional information to call the OPP.

He said OPP investigators had been in contact with St. Amour's family.

Police are not able to provide any specific information on the investigation as it is before the courts, but Fredericks said the fact someone had been charged after such a long time was a source of pride among officers who had kept the investigation active.

“It's a good feeling,” he said. “It is what you want as a criminal investigator.”

Fredericks said the investigation “progressed quickly over the past two years.” He added, though, that dealing with “historic cases” such as this “involves challenges,” with investigators moving to other areas or retiring over the years.

He said the roughly dozen investigators now active on the case had been in contact with their predecessors and had kept them updated.

“All of them are relieved … that we have been able to bring resolution to the case,” he said.