Cis document Cedrica solon claude de poiller Oh the Celebra Chronicle. Judicial scrubs upound
the show's meme nouvelle claude clade two visions. He could clude de sabet Ea
or disused put the ball during On July three, first, two thousand and
seven, nine year olds Cedrica prov she disappeared from Troi Rivie, Quebec.
Her disappearance resulted in the biggest police search in Quebec history. At first,
Cedrico was simply declared missing by this certe to Quebec, but given the circumstances
surrounding her disappearance, it was clear she had been abducted. It has been
a very emotional week for the Plavache family and of course we're all of Quebec
to give us a better perspective and better understanding, of course than what is
going on with the case and with this family. It was one of the
biggest missing person cases ever in Quebec history. I mean there was a point
I think in two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight you can walk
anywhere without seeing her face. Her face everywhere blasted around, so you know,
obviously such a sad moment everyone was hoping for. Unneath and in many
respects, I'm the last person who should cover the the Cedrica Provencier case.
It's been done to death in Quebec, but nevertheless, it's mostly been done
in the French language. So um and I certainly I don't. I don't
have any proximity to this case, and I'm strictly a wire in this matter.
I have nothing to do. I don't know the family, I don't
know the investigative investigating officers. Although over the years there have been points of
intersection. For instance, I might I might want to have a meeting with
the Serte to Quebec and they say, well, not this week, we
can't, we can't meet with you this week, or we can't talk on
the telephone this week because we really we have a task force really working an
angle on the Cedrica case and all our resources are going towards that. But
outside of that, I really don't. I really don't have any skin in
the game with this one. But as I say, nevertheless, because it
was so infamous, maybe as an outsider and given some of my experience,
I might be able to give some sense of perspective to the matter. And
like so many of these cases, I'm going to begin with a prelude.
I often say what's past is prologue and you can learn from the past.
So we're going to start with before we get to Cedrica, we're going to
start with the case of Claudette Pokier. And on my website, this is
the last case. It's the one we have not dealt with yet, in
part because there's so little information to be gleaned from it. I wasn't sure
really how to integrate it. But I think I found a way now to
incorporate Claudette's murder in a way that might be instructive. So we're going to
go back to nineteen seventy seven and at that time, Claudette Poirier, she's
a fifteen year old kid. She lives with her parents at one zero Montfette
in Drummondville, Quebec, and it's the summer of nineteen seventy seven, and
the family decides to do some camping about four miles south at this campground called
Camp Plain Familia along cham Hemming. On July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy seven,
Adette, who's five foot five hundred and ten pounds. She's she's seen
riding her bicycle along the twas ym Rache de Simpson on her way. She's
at the campground, but she's on her way to visit friends who live on
Saint Charles Boulevard back near her home in Drummondville, so where she was camping
was within traveling distance from where she lived. From this point on, Claudette
disappears. Her bicycle is found along Range Sankiem in Saint Cerel, about two
miles from the campground, and at this point the police are called in and
the investigating forces there are two, actually there's this Artetiquebec force from Tuire Riviere,
but also the Artetaebec from her home of Drummondville are are called in.
So we have two agencies and they are unable to find any trace of Claudette.
Nine years later, on October ninth, nineteen eighty six, two hunters
find a skull and some other bones and women's clothing about fifteen meters from the
road at larreserv Saint Saint Lucien, about four miles south from the site of
Claudette's disappearance. Now I've also heard reports that the bones were charred as if
her remains were somehow burnt in a fire pit. The remains are analyzed by
doctor Andre Lezan at the serteti Quebec's medical lab at Parthenay in Montreal, and
they are identified as the bones the remains of Claudette Parier nine years later,
and given the length of time, of course, they are unable to determine
an exact cause of death. And if you want a little geographic rendering of
the distances between where she lived, where she was camping, where the bike
was found, where she was last seen, I've created a little map online.
If you go to the to the site, the initial site where it
says missing, missing women and murders from the seventies, click on Claudette's case.
They'll give you more details There just a few more items to talk about.
So can we connect Claudett's case in nineteen seventy seven in Drummondville with the
other cases we've been discussing. It's it's hard to tell. They're probably not
connected at all. However, I would note that we recently profiled the case
of Alice Pare, who was murdered in nineteen seventy She also disappeared from Drummondville
and was later, as we say, found murdered. And Alice Pare lived
about two miles south of Claudette Poirier, just across the Saint Frasoi River.
One other thing to mention, because we're going to get into this. I've
mentioned several times on this podcast the Quebec journalist claud Poirier, and then we
have Claudette Poirier. There's no evidence that that Claudette was a relation of Claude.
I've asked that question and I'm pretty certain that they were not related.
And I bring that up because it's going to get just a tiny bit confusing,
and because we're gonna start talking a little later about Claudette and Claude,
and I don't want people to be confused. Claude is a seventy year old
journalist quite active in Quebect right now. Claudette was a fifteen year old victim
who was murdered in nineteen seventy seven. So now what I want you to
do is I want you to just parking lot that case for a bit and
we're gon we're gonna switch gears and we're going to get into some details about
Cedrica provench In the early evening of July thirty first, nineteen ninety seven,
Cedrica was out riding her bike not far from her home in Tirivie. Cedrica
was approached by a man who asked for help searching for a lost dog.
Cedrica went around her neighborhood, knocking on doors and asking residence if they'd seen
the dog. She was seen emerging from a wooded area with a friend,
closely followed by a man. She was then seen on her bike in a
local park and on various nearby side streets. Cedrica Provanchet was last seen around
eight pm. Cedrica was supposed to be home by eight thirty pm, but
she never showed up and her parents called nine one one immediately. The following
morning, August first, police find Cedrica's bicycle leaning against a garage dumpster near
the corner of Rue Chabanel and Chapee, about two kilometers from the spot where
she was last seen the preceding evening. On the third of August two thousand
and seven, the media suggests that Cedrica has been abducted, largely based on
the testimony of a woman who comes forward saying the previous Saturday, a man
had approached her five year old daughter and a thirteen year old babysitter to go
swimming with him. Nevertheless, the Seftet Quebec contend that she is merely missing.
Police spokesman Pierre Revard states that it's still too early for the police to
label the case of kidnapping, and he stresses that police are still considering all
theories. Quote it's a disappearance for the time being, he says. I
hope they find her because she's one of my best friends, says friend of
Cedrica's Annabelle, who was with Cedrica just a few hours before she disappeared.
On the eighth of August, more than a week after the disappearance, the
Sarte to Quebec issue a wanted notice for Cedrica, suggesting that she had voluntarily
run away rather than being abducted. A massive search is organized, consisting of
provincial police RCMP and public volunteers. A team of thirty officers follow up on
two hundred tips from the public as volunteers continue to scour the streets and wooded
areas around tis Riviere. Cedrica's mother and father, Marten and Cairine Fortier,
appeal for her safe return. The Sun youth charity collects eighty thousand dollars in
public volunteer money to offer as a reward, the largest amount ever collected for
a police operation. On August twelfth, nineteen ninety seven, police suspend their
ground search for Cedrica, but continue to check out tips they received from the
public. August thirteenth, the Premier of Quebec, Jean Charier, meets privately
with the probanchise and investigating officers. Condolences are given, but few answers.
A local woman, Madelin bonnival comes forward to say she had seen Cedrica,
who had told her she was helping a woman find a lost dog. Bonnivale
tells the regional newspaper La Nuvelliste she's sticking to her story that Cedrica said it
was a woman who approached her. The account leaves open the possibility that two
people may have been involved in Cedrica's disappearance. By late August, the prominent
crime journalist Claude Poirier gets involved, promising to keep his phone line open around
the clock for information on the disappearance. Leads are followed as far away as
Quebec's Gaspay, Regent, Montreal, and in New Brunswick. In September,
police hold a news conference saying they are looking for a suspicious car, a
red four door Acura. Several eyewitnesses spotted moments leading up to Cedrica's disappearance.
By a December, police say they are questioning five people of interest connected to
the case. All five suspects have histories of sexual deviance. By mid December,
the Provenchais have separated. Cedrica's mother, Cairene praises the work of police
officers involved in the investigation. Quote I am entirely confident in the Serte de
Goebec, she tells Radio Canada. By late May two thousand and eight,
the Sertet de Cobec announced they are canceling the award in Sadrica's case and reimbursing
donors. On the one year anniversary of Sadrica's disappearance, investigators have received more
than fifteen thousand calls, met with more than six hundred people, can check
some eight hundred cars in their search for the girl. Police maintain the case
is very active, but they have very little to show for it. In
June two thousand and nine, a second reward of one hundred and seventy thousand
dollars is offered, this time administered not by the police but privately by the
attorney Gui bertramp I. December, the reward expires again and without any new
leads in her disappearance. In the summer of two thousand and ten, the
family of Sirdrica Provencis officially start a foundation to help families of victims of child
abductions. The goal of La Foundacion Cedrica Provencist is to intervene quickly when a
child is abducted and help support the families involved. Quote We're not here to
replace the police or investigators, says Provenchie. We want the foundation to be
an extra tool. In two thousand and twelve, five years after her disappearance,
the Provencist Foundation announces an international day to prevent child abduction. A spokesman
with the Quebec's Missing Children's Network says Cedrica's case has already spurned changes in child
abduction cases. The spokesman goes on to say that it took several hours for
the search for Cedrica to begin. She says authorities act faster now. Quote
Cedrica brought out change that we have to intervene rapidly when vulnerable children go missing.
We know how crucial those first few hours are. End quote. In
twenty fourteen, the Quebec documentary filmmaker or Stefan Paramount releases the film No Vomb
Cat Cat. The film suggests a serial killer was operating in Quebec, killing
children from nineteen eighty four up into the disappearance of Cedrica in two thousand and
seven. Discovery of the remains eight years after her disappearance. On December eleventh,
twenty fifteen, three hunters stumble upon a set of human remains in the
woods in Saint Maurice, a suburb of tis Riviere, close to Highway forty,
about fifteen kilometers from the last place where Cedrica had been seen. On
December twelfth, police confirmed that the remains are Cedrica's, although police had no
further information at the time and said they would need to carry out further investigations.
More than two hundred officers descend on the wooded area searching for evidence.
On December sixteenth, Radio Canada reveals that investigators are still looking for a person
of interest who had been seen around the area where Cedrica disappeared. Arrest of
Jonathan Betez on August twenty ninth two sixteen, Jonathan Betetz is arrested and charged
with six counts of possessing and distributing child pornography depicting children between the ages of
eight and twelve years of age. The police consider him the prime suspect and
Sedrica's abduction and murder, and several investigators working on Cedrica's case are involved in
questioning Betez. In two thousand and seven, Betez owned a red accurate car
with silver door handles, which matches the description of a suspicious car scene at
the time of the abduction. Betez has always refused to take a polygraph test
or to cooperate in any way with the police. According to crime journalist Claude
Poirier, Betez was planning to flee to Switzerland, which has no extradition treaty
with Canada. I'll offer some thoughts on these matters. Number One, I
don't think the Poitier and Provanche cases are connected, but I would note some
striking similarities. Three decades before Planche at the same time at the Summer's Apex
in late July, Claudette disappears under under strikingly similar circum stances. She's she's
riding her bike like Cedrica on a summer's evening. UM, there's almost a
decade gap before the remains in both cases are found, and and again not
far from where they disappeared. And also like Provencier, many at that time
believed that that Claudette was still alive all those years. And it's it's also
curious that the Pigier investigation is led by the the Toi Riviere detachment of the
Steti Quebec now in UM. In some accounts and most of the accounts you
read in the Provenche case, they say that her skull was found, but
I have heard through channels that it was the full skeletal remains. As to
the filmmaker Stefan pars So, we mentioned he made this this movie Novambret Catre.
He's since made a second documentary UM that is in post production called Cedrica.
In fact, when she was found December twenty fifteen, he was he
was on the scene at the site UM where she where she disappeared. UM.
Now, initially the family was cooperating in the in the making of that
that film, but since then Martin Pravanche has come forward and he's asked Paran
not to release the film I don't know what the reasoning is for it,
um, but that that has been his statement to the to the media.
And then also interesting um. Two months ago, the Quebec talk show host
Andrea Arter he accused Claude Poirier, the journalist Claude Poirier, of and I
quote fucking the Cedrica investigation. It's Poirier a fucky Lanquette dispersion homicide the Cedrica
provencher and Andrea Arthur maintains that Poirier had the sertidicavex ear at this time and
he wasted millions and not that is that is the figure millions of hours of
the sertiticavex time by giving them tips from his phone line and sending him on
on wild goose chases with every single rumor that he would collect. And these
places were running to the gas Bazi to see if a suspect was there,
running to the province of New Brunswick to see if Cedrica was in fact being
held captive there, and and the Andrea Arthur he said that Poirier's efforts m
albeit they might have been of good intention, and slowed the investigation by two
years. So this is a recent controversy that is unfolding in the province of
Quebec. Now, the Serte de Quebec shot back and they defended Poirier.
And I'd point out that it was the police spokesman Gui LaPoint La point is
the same spokesman we continue to hear on Poirier's television show A Kett Poirier.
In fact, Lapointe was the spokesman that was interviewed when Poirier did the episode
on Teresa Alare's case. And and my point there is to say, yes,
I've worked with Claude Poarier. He's he's well respected, he deserves his
reputation. But we're all human, we're all fallible, and perhaps in this
instance he may have he may have obstructed an investigation with his good intentions.
And to find out that over the years, potentially Poirier and the Certetic Quebec
have just been their relationship has just been possibly a little too cozy. Now
as to the rumors of where over the years where Provencher might have been beginning
with the rumor of the gas be z, that's that's not a bad assumption.
Um. When Julie Boisvenue was was murdered, her her assailant Hugo Bernier
um ran to the gas be Z many times this is where people they run
to. And if you've ever been there, if you're in the gas be
Z um right at the point where where per Se Rock is, that's sort
of the tip of the the gas per Se Rock is a tourist attraction basically
in the in the Gulf and what lies beyond there is the Atlantic Ocean.
So you could not in terms of a Quebec or you could not go further
east than the gas Baz, So it's commonly a place where criminals run to.
Nevertheless, on the other hand, we get this theme again right where
where everybody's looking for the victim and the victim is where the victim is within
miles of where they were last seen. We've we've seen it with Teresa Lord,
We've seen it in many cases that we've we've discussed. Now, the
one item in all of this that absolutely breaks my heart, despite the best
intentions, is the work of the Provence Foundation and Quebec's Missing a Children's Network.
I appreciate that they say that Cedrica brought about change and that now police
agencies intervene quicker. In the first forty eight, But why did that lesson
have to be learned again? We discussed this lesson when we talked of the
Alice par case from nineteen seventy. At the same time in the early seventies
that we had to deal it was the fallout from the abduction and murder of
Ursula Schultz on the south shore of Montreal where she disappeared in the first forty
eight. No police agency had the ball and it led to a public inquiry
where there was a promise made for better cooperation between police agencies and the necessity
and the promise that there would be follow through in the first forty eight when
young people go missing, and yet here we are, thirty years later,
having to learn the whole lesson against Cedrica should not have That's not a lesson
that Cedrica Provencier should have borne. It should have been learned, digested and
become part of the Quebec police's process instead of continually being forgotten and having to
relearn again. The past is prologue. And again just look at the timeline.
They take over a week the Serte de Quebec to publicly issue a notice
and at that time they still say she's voluntarily runaway rather than been abducted.
This is August eighth, a mere four days later, on August twelfth,
they suspend the ground search for Cedrica, but they say they'll they'll continue to
check and receive tips, which means basically they'll stand by on the phone,
but they won't get their asses out of the chair and do anything proactive in
the matter. So Madame Pravalcher carrying fourtier can say that she's or was.
I don't know if she still is entirely confident in the Serte de Quebec,
but I am I am not. I haven't been for my own purposes,
and with all the cases that we've discussed, But come on, now we're
talking. We've moved into the next millennia. We're talking two thousand seven.
So much progress should have been made this out of the gate when she disappeared.
This investigation should have run like a watch, and it appears to have
run the same way they all ran, from Alice Paret in the nineteen seventies
through all of the cases in the late seventies. Sweet and quiet avec methods
de la sorte de Quebec Quiet. That is our program for this week.
You've been listening to Who Killed Teresa and I'm your host, John A.
Lore. Music this week from the great Conrad Coldwood from the French surreal adventure
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Thanks again for joining us this weekend. Have a great evening.