Quebec orders public inquiry into deaths of Carpentier sisters killed by their father

The Quebec government has ordered a public inquiry into the deaths of young sisters Norah and Romy Carpentier at the hands of their father in 2020.

Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault issued a statement Wednesday confirming she asked the province’s chief coroner to look into the case.

“Given the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Norah and Romy Carpentier as well as their father, Martin Carpentier, I hope the holding of a public inquiry will shed light on this terrible tragedy,” she said.

The Carpentier sisters were the subject of an Amber Alert after they went missing after an outing with their father in July 2020. They were involved in a car accident on Highway 20 in Saint-Apollinaire before they disappeared, with the girls’ bodies found in a wooded area several days later.

Quebec provincial police carried out an intense manhunt to find Martin Carpentier, only to discover his body 12 days later. Investigators ruled the two girls were killed by their father before he took his own life.

In November 2021, coroner Sophie Régnière issued her report into the disappearance and killings. She found that a number of factors hampered the investigation and if things had been handled differently, the girls might have been found more quickly and their deaths prevented.

The government’s decision to order a public inquiry comes on the heels of the coroner’s office tapping Montreal police to investigate the case in the wake of a report by Radio-Canada earlier this month.

The information, which had not been given to the coroner at the time of the investigation, along with questions raised by the television program, prompted the chief coroner to order a second investigation.

Speaking at the provincial legislature, Guilbault told reporters that the mother of the young girls is still searching for answers about their deaths.

“She asked me to call this public inquiry by the coroner so that she can have the answers that she is looking for,” she said.

No other details about the upcoming public inquiry were provided.

— with files from Global News’ Gloria Henriquez and The Canadian Press

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