Homicide suspected after cops find remains of girl missing since 1999

MONTREAL – It was a little more than a dozen years ago that 10-year-old Jolene Riendeau vanished mysteriously from the gritty Montreal neighbourhood she called home.

As the months and years rolled by, her family never gave up the belief she would be found alive and well.

That hope was dashed Wednesday when Riendeau’s family received the grim news that police had found her remains – a discovery that also triggered an official homicide investigation.

Jolene was last seen on April 12, 1999, and the story of her disappearance became well known throughout the province.

She came home from school that day to help her father with supper. As a reward, she was given $2 so she could get a treat from a local convenience store. Strapping on a pair of rollerblades, she assured him she’d be back for dinner.

The last sighting of Jolene was in front of the shop as she munched on a bag of chips.

Then she vanished.

Hundreds of tips came in – Montreal police said Wednesday that detectives followed up on 1,500 of them – but none were founded.

There was a vast search of the working-class neighbourhood: alleyways, laneways and door-to-door canvasses.

They looked in the Lachine Canal and did so again a few years later when a tip came in saying the body was there.

Throughout it all, Jolene’s mother, Dolores Soucy, never gave up hope she’d turn up. She began volunteering with Montreal’s Missing Children’s Network to help others experiencing the same pain.

"Because she understood and she lived the disappearance of her daughter, she made herself available to other families who were going through the nightmare," said Pina Arcamone, the organization’s executive director, who was with Soucy when she received the tragic news Wednesday.

"She found solace within our organization, but (found) solidarity with other families knowing she wasn’t alone."

Soucy made a number of pilgrimages to the neighbourhood she left behind years ago.

Last August, she returned to the Pointe-St-Charles borough to distribute new posters – one showing what Jolene might look like in her early 20s.

Jolene’s face became one of the most recognizable on missing children’s posters in Quebec. About a million were distributed after her disappearance.

Police offered their condolences on Wednesday and vowed to follow through on their investigation.

"We hope the discovery of the body gives the family some level of closure," said Sgt. Ian Lafreniere.

"For us, there are serious leads in the case and we’re working those leads."

Police were being prudent with any information they revealed.

It was not immediately known where or when the remains were located.

Detectives have been on the case since the day after her disappearance, but Lafreniere insisted that details of the case remain under wraps so as not to jeopardize any future prosecution.

One retired Montreal police homicide detective said it’s a sad time for the family and that such cases weigh heavily on the investigators involved.

"When you’re an investigator, you’re always waiting for that one piece of information to come in that’ll help you solve the case," said Steve Roberts, a former homicide squad lieutenant who was not directly involved in the Riendeau investigation.

"Usually that piece of information will come in from a source that you never thought you’d get it from."

The family were gathered together on Wednesday and did not plan to make any statements to the media in the immediate future, Arcamone said.

Arcamone described them as being shocked and crushed. Her organization was also saddened by the news.

"This is obviously not the ending we wanted to offer the family and we had all clung to the hope that Jolene was still alive," Arcamone said.