MONTREAL – It took a single phone interview broadcast on French-language TV Tuesday morning to reactivate a longtime cold case – the disappearance of 16-year-old Julie Surprenant in late 1999.
Two Sûreté du Québec investigators, accompanied by a Terrebonne municipal police officer, spent several hours on the site where Surprenant’s body was allegedly dumped into the Mille ÃŽles River by Richard Bouillon, a convicted sexual predator.
They were following up a lead contained in an account of an alleged deathbed confession from Bouillon more than four years ago, one that included a location for his disposal of Surprenant’s body.
The tip was relayed by a woman whose name was not provided and whose face was not shown, but who said she was one of Bouillon’s hospital caregivers during the final weeks of his life. During the interview, aired by TVA crime reporter Claude Poirier, the woman said Bouillon told her he’d left Surprenant for dead in a sports bag that he dumped into the river near a Terrebonne church.
On that basis, SQ investigators were deployed near the Église chrétienne des Moulins, along the riverfront where Highway 25 intersects with the south side of Île St. Jean.
“In a case of this magnitude,” SQ spokesperson Sgt. Benoit Richard said, “people could come on the scene with little bits of information that could help us to solve the case.”
After investigators left the site in mid-afternoon, Richard said he hadn’t been apprised of any immediate progress.
The site has changed considerably since Surprenant vanished nearby, Richard said – notably with construction of at least 10 six-unit dwellings near the riverfront.
“The main investigator (in the Surprenant case from its start) is still in the unit,” he added. “The case is still open. It is still under investigation. It will remain open until we have a satisfying close to it. And right now we don’t.”
As for the woman who relayed her account of the deathbed confession and the possible body-disposal location, he said, “we’re trying to meet with that person.” He said the woman’s fellow caregivers – to whom Bouillon also confessed, she said – also will be questioned.
In terms of physical evidence, such as Surprenant’s remains, Richard said, “we’re not looking for anything at this point. … It’s too early right now to say that we’re going to send the helicopter and the divers into the water.”
Bouillon died of cancer in 2006 at the age of 52.
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