Overview

• Réal Courtemanche, 62, admitted in court that evidence proves he murdered Marie-Chantale Desjardins and was found guilty of second-degree murder.
• Quebec Superior Court Justice Hélène Di Salvo took the joint Crown–defence recommendation under advisement and set a sentencing decision for Nov. 10.
• The case was reopened after advances in DNA testing linked Courtemanche to the crime, leading to his December 2023 arrest at La Macaza Institution.
• Desjardins disappeared on July 16, 1994, in Ste-Thérèse, and her body was found four days later in a wooded area behind a Rosemère shopping centre.
• Courtemanche has a lengthy criminal record and was declared a dangerous offender in 2015, receiving an indeterminate sentence; the victim’s mother said the conviction brings long-sought closure.