Cédrika it still lacks much

Photo Amélie St-Yves
Martin Provencher is not known how it was to survive the nightmare that has lasted for 10 years. He says with candor that he has not had the choice to continue to move forward.

Amélie St-Yves

Saturday, 22 July, 2017 08:00

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Saturday, 22 July, 2017 08:00

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THREE-RIVERS | In a few days, it will be 10 years that Martin Provencher has received the call that every parent dreads : her little Cédrika was not back to the house, and was not found.

The murderer is still on the run, a decade later, and the father is still not prepared to know everything that happened to his daughter on the evening of July 31, 2007, even if he wishes more than anything that the murderer be arrested.

“If they stop someone, and that there is a trial, we will not have the choice [of knowledge]. At this time, is what I’m going to decide to be there and hear it all ? I don’t even know yet, ” he said.

In an interview touching given in the Journal, Martin Provencher has mentioned the nightmare that he lives in the past 10 years. The man quickly switches from smile to tears when he speaks of his daughter, Cédrika, whom he loved from the depths of his heart.

Photo courtesy

The disappearance of Cédrika Provencher has marked all of Quebec, 10 years ago, just as the discovery of his bones in December 2015.

The last two years have been particularly trying, since the discovery of the bones of Cédrika by hunters in a wooded area of Saint-Maurice, in Mauricie, in December 2015. There has been the funeral of his daughter and the arrest of the main suspect… in a different folder (see box).

Not ready

July 31, 2007, to 20: 30, the small Cédrika Provencher, 9 years old, had a part to play in the park with friends when she was abducted, near the parc Chapais to Trois-Rivières. Witnesses have reported seeing an Acura red, and the small was helping a man find his dog black and white earlier in the evening.

Mr. Provencher is not ready to learn what they did to his daughter after kidnapping her. For the moment, the vase is too full.

He still can’t accept that the body of his little girl, who was so playful, might have been left to languish for eight years in a wooded area along highway 40.

“Once, I walked around the bike in the corner. I was forced to stop, I was no longer able to drive. Just tell me that there was someone who took it and left it there, the rage gotten into, and that is why you should avoid “, he explains.

The Long calvary

What remained of the child was found eight years after kidnapping her, the December 11, 2015, by hunters.

“Really, when the police come you announce it, you cry like a baby. It feels weird, because thou hast really an issue. And you have a lot of trouble, ” says Martin Provencher, eyes in the water.

He went on the premises, while the hundreds of police officers were passing the site at a fine-toothed comb.

“It went unnoticed, but the police have led us. Nobody has seen anything, ” he continued.

See all the stuffed animals piled up on the fences at the entrance to the site has been good to the father, who felt supported by an entire population in this trial.

Funeral

Cédrika will eventually have been entitled to a funeral last August, nine months after the discovery of his skull. About 300 people came to the ceremony sober, safe from the media.

“You’re going to lead your child in the ground when it’s been nine years that you haven’t. It is responsible for emotion, ” he says, crying.

He now wants the police to put the hand in the collar of the man who killed his daughter. In the meantime, he lets out his emotions quietly.

“When you are looking for for eight years, with your emotions, you put them aside, because we would not have been able to do what we did there. But you might have an onion quite thick, as soon as you take off the first layer, you have just the taste of crying, ” he says.

How Cédrika has changed their lives

The mission of the grand-father of Cédrika : prevent further abductions of children

Photo Amélie St-Yves

Henri Provencher, grandfather.

The paternal grandfather of Cédrika wants a little rest, after being devoted for several years to prevent the abduction of children since her granddaughter was missing.

Henri Provencher became a public figure overnight, when it has requested the help of the entire population to find Cédrika.

He looked the girl over more than eight years, and launched, in 2010, the Fondation Cédrika-Provencher, dedicated to the prevention of child abduction.

He would like to begin to slow down, among other things, to take care of his wife, but he will not leave the Foundation to anyone, and intend to continue to be involved.

“I’ll always be there, that’s for sure. I pray that it arrives a person of heart, who has the same convictions and the same desire to see things change “, he explains.

Henri Provencher will mark the world Day of prevention of child abduction, July 31, during a family reunion in Three Rivers.

“I failed miserably” — Claude Poirier

Photo courtesy

Claude Poirier, reporter.

The reporter Claude Poirier, who came to the assistance of the family two days after the kidnapping, is shocked not to be able to unravel the mystery.

Even today, he is hard on himself.

“I had at my disposal a sum of $ 100,000 to any person who would provide information to find Cédrika, and I failed miserably “, he complained.

The mother of Cédrika, Karine Fortier, had founded many hopes in him.

“When she threw herself in my arms and she told me that if someone was going to bring her daughter, it was to be me, I told him that I didn’t have a crystal ball “, he says.

Even today he regularly receives calls related to this matter. He continues to hammer that the police would have had to consider the case as a kidnapping criminal from the start.

A discovery a heavy one to carry

Photo Amélie St-Yves

Hunter Martin Lanthier, Sébastien Lupien and Pascal Lanthier want an arrest for the murder of little Cédrika Provencher.

The three hunters who discovered the bones of Cédrika Provencher, in December 2015, have had to learn how to live with images of the deceased who will remain in their heads forever.

Pascal and Martin Lanthier, as well as Sébastien Lupien, three fathers, have immediately thought of Cédrika when they saw bones in a wooded area near highway 40 in Saint-Maurice. After this discovery, the life has not resumed exactly as before.

“The image of the remains that we found, I’ll remember it for always. The hair on me stands on the arm every time that I hear about Cédrika, ” explains Pascal Lanthier.

His brother and his friend also have difficulty to get rid of the images.

“Every time you pass in front of the fence [where there are stuffed animals], do you think “, illustrates Sébastien Lupien, who travels often in the corner.

A big disappointment for Me Guy Bertrand

Photo Agence QMI, Daniel Mallard

Guy Bertrand, a lawyer.

The lawyer who was involved for months to gather information from the public is surprised that the murderer has not yet been unmasked.

“It means that this person acted totally alone. And to keep a secret like this for so long, it is necessary to have psychiatric problems, ” explains the lawyer Guy Bertrand.

At a certain point, the reward for anyone giving information that is relevant to recover the body or the murderer has reached 175 000 $.

Beyond this sense of incomprehension, Me Bertrand is bitter to see that the recommendations that it has issued the result of his work has remained a dead letter. It suggested, among other things, the creation of a permanent office of independent counsel to collect the confidences of the public that did not want to go to the police.

“It is as if, when the ideas don’t come from politicians, they find it a little humiliating,” he says.

Marked by the despair of the parents

July 31, 2007, Jacques Dupuis, minister of public Safety. He remained troubled by the removal of Cédrika Provencher, an event that marked his political career.

He says, he had himself lost a child to illness a few years earlier, which had brought him to have a lot of empathy for the family.

“I understood perfectly the sadness, the helplessness and the despair of the parents. The more time that progressed, the more it was unfortunately likely that Cédrika was no longer alive “, he says.

It has introduced additional training on the disappearance of children at the national police academy of Nicolet following the events.

In six dates

July 31, 2007

Cédrika Provencher was abducted near a park of Trois-Rivières, while she was helping a man looking for a small dog, black and white. His bike is found around 20: 30.

September 2007

The SQ reveals the description of a suspect vehicle, it is an Acura red. As to the individual who would have addressed the child, we speak of a man brown, frame average, in the thirties.

March 9, 2012

A report of the issuance of the J. E. reveals that 260 Acura TSX 2004 have been recorded in 2007 in Quebec by the investigators, including six belonging to people in the area of Trois-Rivières. They have all successfully passed the lie detector, except one, who refused to lend themselves to the exercise.

December 11, 2015

Three hunters found skeletal remains in a wooded area of Saint-Maurice, on the edge of highway 40. The police confirmed the next day that they are those of Cédrika Provencher.

August 2016

The funeral of Cédrika Provencher

29 August 2016

Arrest of Jonathan Bettez in respect of child pornography. It is also known to be the suspect number 1 in the removal of Cédrika Provencher, but he faces no prosecution in this case.