Quebec provincial police says deaths of woman, 5-year-old likely murder-suicide

Police are investigating what they say is likely a murder-suicide after the bodies of a woman and a young girl were found Wednesday in a Quebec cottage.

Provincial police said today the bodies of Julie Meunier, 40, of Montreal and a five-year-old girl were found at around 4 p.m. Wednesday in the town of Lac-des-Plages, about 175 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

Police say the woman and the girl were family members but wouldn’t give additional details.

A police spokesman says investigators with the force’s major crimes unit believe the deaths resulted from a murder followed by a suicide.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the two deaths.