François Sénécal, a longtime friend of the family, was charged with premeditated murder on Friday at the Saint-Jérôme courthouse.
In the courtroom, around thirty relatives of Océane were present. Many could not hold back their tears. The tension was palpable.
The 51-year-old man kept his head down for almost the entire length of his appearance. While she was talking to him and he was still staring at the floor, the judge even had to intervene by asking him to look at her.
He will remain detained pending further proceedings, and is scheduled to return to court on March 4.
knock out
Everything indicates that Sénécal apostrophied the young Océane Wednesday, shortly after 8 am, when she had just left her home to go to school.
Around 5:30 p.m., seeing that their teenage girl was not coming home after school, Océane's parents reported her disappearance to the police. Sénécal would then have pushed the odious to offer his help to the parents in order to locate it.
"When I told you what he had done to Océane, you started to cry [...], you even dared to ask me to do research with you, in Brownsburg, you wanted me to find with you [...] or else you would have gotten rid of me too, "published Caroline Sarrazin, the mother of the little one, on her Facebook page, Friday around 8 am.
Suspect from the start
Like many members of Océane's entourage, François Sénécal was questioned by investigators shortly after the discovery of his body.
They quickly placed him on the list of potential suspects, particularly since he allegedly lied about his movements, sources said.
He is said to have told the police that he was in one place, when they had located his cell phone and knew it elsewhere.
Investigators finally arrested him at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Montreal.
Being friends with the Boyer family for several years, Sénécal had seen Océane grow. Relatives told us that he always covered her with gifts.
Always with the girl
The duo also did activities together on a regular basis, including shopping.
"If she wanted something, she just had to ask him, and it was done, she had it," says Madeleine Sarrazin, Océane's great aunt. I always said that the relationship was not healthy. A man of that age who always wants to be with a little girl, between you and me, it rings bells. "
She had a lot of distrust of Sénécal and had even talked about it with Océane's parents. They had also decided to move away from him recently, according to Ms. Sarrazin.
