Police kept silent for more than 7 months after finding body of missing girl

<p>MONTREAL – For more than seven months, Montreal police knew they had the body of a girl who went missing in 1999 and avoided telling anyone – not even the girl’s family.</p> <p>Jolene Riendeau’s body was found on Sept. 9, 2010, when a citizen’s tip led police to a spot underneath a bridge in an industrial sector on the southern tip of Montreal.</p> <p>The girl had gone missing years earlier in the same part of town and was the object of a massive search operation, making her a household name in the province.</p> <p>But police kept silent until a few days ago. A family friend said not even Riendeau’s parents were told until last Wednesday.</p> <p>Pina Arcamone, director of the Missing Children’s Network, says family members had plenty of questions when they finally found out last week that the remains had been found:</p> <p>Where was the body? Who led police to the site? What were the circumstances of the death?</p> <p>Even then, police remained tight-lipped. Family members were only made aware of the site when they were brought there for a visit on Monday morning.</p> <p>”Until we arrived . . . they did not know the exact location,” said Arcamone, who joined the family for its emotional pilgrimmage.</p> <p>”(It) was also a bit frustrating for the family, when they found out that they had recovered the body in September.</p> <p>”But the detectives also explained the reasons why.”</p> <p>Arcamone says investigators said they didn’t know how long ago the body had been placed below the bridge and didn’t want to destroy any evidence that might still have been on the remains.</p> <p>The body also had to be sent to the coroner’s office for analysis. </p> <p>A funeral service is now planned for Friday morning at a church in the area where the girl lived. </p> <p>During the visit Monday, the girl’s family laid flowers underneath a set of scaffolding, where construction workers were repairing parts of the Champlain Bridge.</p> <p>They were led to the site by detectives – before the journalists, photographers and TV cameras arrived.</p> <p>Two bouquets were placed at the base of a cement wall where the body was found.</p> <p>Arcamone said one bouquet with tulips was placed by the family and the other from the Missing Children’s Network contained daisies.</p> <p>”We chose some of Jolene’s favourite colours,” she said. “It was a very emotional moment.”</p> <p>When questioned by reporters on Monday, police remained mum on basic details of the case – such as how their tipster came across the body, why their investigation required discretion, and why the family was among those kept in the dark.</p> <p>Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafreniere said only that there were operational reasons for the decision.</p> <p>”We kept a lot of information secret for ourselves because of the investigation,” Lafreniere said in an interview.</p> <p>Lafreniere says it took more than a month to establish that it was, in fact, the 10-year-old girl who went missing all those years ago.</p> <p>He says investigators have decided to go public now, hoping that someone might have seen something unusual. The site is close to a paved roadway regularly used by cyclists and joggers.</p> <p>Riendeau’s case is now being treated as a homicide. Police picked up and questioned a man in his forties last Friday, but he was released.</p> <p>The man, who has a criminal record, remains a suspect.</p> <p>”He is still a prime suspect for us. . . It’s not over,” Lafreniere said. “We’re still working on the case and we hope to bring him back to justice.”</p> <p>Riendeau was last seen on April 12th, 1999, after leaving a corner store near her home in southwest Montreal.</p> <p>Police are now hoping that a witness, made aware of the significance of the bridge location, might recall seeing something strange in the area years ago. Any such witness is being encouraged to contact authorities.</p> <p>”That could make a difference between a suspect who was questioned and released – and a suspect who will finish his days in prison,” Lafreniere said.</p>