MONTREAL – A man who has long been considered a suspect in the disappearance and death of Jolène Riendeau has spoken out for the first time, and denied he killed the 10-year-old girl.
Robert Laramée, 49, issued the denial Wednesday morning during an interview with Claude Poirier, host of a morning show on LCN, the French-language cable news channel.
The interview was done over the telephone and Laramée answered several questions from Poirier.
Laramée denied killing Jolène, who disappeared from Point St. Charles in 1999, and said claims made by the victim’s mother, Dolores Soucy, are false.
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Several sources within the Montreal police major crimes unit have confirmed to The Gazette, over a period of several years, that Laramée was a suspect in Jolène’s disappearance from early in the investigation.
Soucy is currently charged with assaulting Laramée last month at the Montreal courthouse after he had just been convicted of assaulting and forcibly confining a woman he had dated for weeks.
Laramée was ordered to undergo a psychological assessment. He awaits sentencing in that case and has another trial, where he is charged with abusing a woman, scheduled to start in weeks.
Laramée has a criminal record for sex offences, including a sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl.
He admitted to Poirier that he was the man arrested last year after the Montreal police revealed Jolène’s remains had been discovered, underneath a span that is part of the approach to the Champlain Bridge.
Laramée, who has never been charged in connection with the girl’s death, said he was interrogated for hours.
He also claimed investigators with the Montreal police have harassed him for years because of his suspected involvement.
Montreal police declined to comment on the interview.
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