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Foster Girl Murdered

August 22, 2007 permalink

A fourteen-year-old foster girl has been murdered in Montreal. The press is playing down her residence in a group home.

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CTV.ca

Mtl. police arrest 15-year-old in death of teen

Francesca St. Pierre
Francesca St. Pierre is seen in this image taken from video that aired on CTV Montreal.
Genevieve Moreau
'My heart just stopped when I saw him,' Genevieve Moreau, one of the victim's sisters, told CTV Montreal. 'He must be tried as an adult.'

A day after the body of a teenage girl was found strewn in a ditch, Montreal police have charged a 15-year-old suspect with first-degree murder.

Police will not say if the suspect knew the 14-year-old victim, Francesca St. Pierre, or if investigators had figured out a motive for the murder.

Francesca was found with bruises all over her body on Sunday in a wooded area near the group home she was living in. She disappeared from the home Saturday morning at 10:50 a.m. after she told people in charge she'd be running out for an hour or so to run some errands.

When they didn't hear from the girl by later that afternoon, they notified St. Pierre's family and police.

Her body was discovered Sunday night by pedestrians passing through the area. She is Montreal's 23rd homicide of the year.

Police received more than 50 tips from people at a command post near the site where her body was found in Rivière-des-Prairies, a community northeast of Montreal. A suspect was traced to his home and was arrested Monday night.

The young man appeared in court Tuesday afternoon. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of six years in detention, unless he is tried as an adult.

"My heart just stopped when I saw him," Genevieve Moreau, one of the victim's sisters, told CTV Montreal. "He must be tried as an adult."

But the Crown has already indicated it won't seek an adult sentence, which would mean life in prison. The case returns to court on Thursday.

With a report from CTV's Stephane Giroux

Source: CTV

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