Quebec man charged in decades old murder after beefed-up cold case unit marks 1st arrest

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Over two decades later, a Quebec man has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault in the homicide of a junior college student 22 years ago in Jonquière, Que.

A Crown prosecutor said Marc-André Grenon was charged in court Thursday morning in connection with the murder of Guylaine Potvin, a 19-year-old who was found dead in her apartment near Cégep de Jonquière on the morning of April 28, 2000. She lived on Panet Street with two other women, also students attending the same college, who were absent the night of the killing.

Crown prosecutor Pierre-Alexandre Bernard said Grenon, 47, of Granby, Que., was also charged with the attempted murder and sexual assault of another woman that same year.

READ MORE: Expanded Quebec provincial police cold case squad has yet to solve a murder

Officers say the Potvin investigation turned up similarities with a case in Ste-Foy, a Quebec City suburb, dating back to July 2000, in which a young woman student who lived alone was violently assaulted and left for dead but survived the incident. The second victim’s identity is protected by a publication ban.

Sûreté du Québec (SQ) provincial police confirmed Thursday that Grenon’s arrest is the first since the force’s cold case department was beefed up four years ago, when in 2018 the SQ announced that it was increasing its unit from five officers to nearly 30 in order to tackle hundreds of cases dating back to the 1960s.

On its website, the police lists 292 cases of unsolved homicides or disappearances where murder is suspected. As of this summer, the unit had yet to solve a single one.

In a statement released Wednesday, authorities said advances into the investigation were made due to “innovative forensic biology methods.”

The Crown prosecutor says Grenon will remain detained until his case returns to court on Nov. 21.

Anyone with any information regarding the other unsolved cases can contact the Sûreté du Québec’s criminal info line at 1-800-659-4264.

–with files from the Canadian Press

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