The vandals on a cemetery of Quebec, have left traces

Sébastien Dubois

Monday, 23 October 2017 18:12

UPDATE
Monday, 23 October 2017 18:15

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The devastation is unprecedented for a cemetery in the middle of the night of June, two years ago, may not go unpunished if the police in Quebec can identify the owner of a shoe.

In the early morning of 4 June 2015, the section of the cemetery Saint-Charles, located between the rue Saint-Vallier and Saint-Charles river, had its air of yesteryear. Theatre momentum of vandalism as violent as inexplicable, the cemetery was strewn with stones knocked over, broken, trampled.

In total, 170 tombstones have been damaged; a considerable number given the weight and size of some parts, often very massive, which have not been spared by the vandals.

Photo archives Agence QMI, Aurélie Girard

“Such a magnitude, such a hard… We couldn’t believe it and it was difficult to understand,” says the director general of the company of the cemetery Saint-Charles, François Chapdelaine, who still vividly remember the horror offering to him that day.

Several indices

Two years after the events, the Quebec city police (SPVQ) reveals new information in the hope of finding the suspects, starting with the photo of a footprint of the shoe, very clear, picked up on one of the stones overturned.

Two footprints have been identified on site.

Photo courtesy SPVQ

“With the forensic identification which really contributes to our record, we have still been able to see that depending on the damage – including the crypt, which had been smashed – (…) it always has two distinguishing marks,” says detective sergeant Claude Roy, head of the investigation.

“We have young people who have been heard here, screaming, which had the air of having fun and who were on the party, and it lasts a long time,” adds Mr. Roy about the accumulated clues up here.

Screenshot of VAT New

Detective sergeant Claude Roy, head of the investigation.

For the first time since the events, the SPVQ advance the summary description of the three suspects associated, according to them, this act of vandalism without precedent: young, early twenties, with short hair, dressed in dark colors and not wearing caps. One of the three suspects was wearing skinny pants.

The three suspects also fled in a vehicle dark, and the police holds a photo.

Photo courtesy SPVQ

Later, during the same night, two witnesses saw the three suspects busy to commit other acts of vandalism to the outside of the grounds of the cemetery.

“The young people are going to have fun knocking over trestle, kicking on cars, knocking over trash cans,” says Claude Roy, stating that it is an element of significant investigation.

In the days that followed the devastation, many families are made at the cemetery of Saint-Charles to ensure that the state of the headstones dedicated to their loved ones. With 170 monuments vandalized, the surprises were many and the direction of the cemetery there had to accompany several families in this event.

Photo archives Agence QMI, Aurélie Girard

“It is very comforting”

Despite the numerous survey items, some clues remain thin and the police are always trying to identify the perpetrators of this gesture, also free that shocking.

The director general of the company of the cemetery Saint-Charles is delighted at the progress of the investigation and of the interest still present in the police to want to solve this crime without human consequence, but still go unpunished.

“It’s very comforting,” says François Chapdelaine, and I’m so excited to know that they could continue their investigation and get closer to the goal.”

For all information and to communicate on the record, the population is invited to contact the Québec police via the number 418-641-ACT (2447).