The events that led to the arrest of Raymond Cormier

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This article was published 11/12/2015 (3594 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two critical leads helped police make an arrest in the slaying of Tina Fontaine: a house in the east side of Winnipeg where she encountered her alleged killer, and a 911 call she made to report a friend’s truck had been stolen.

Those aspects of the investigation were not publicly known until Friday, 16 months after the body of the 15-year-old girl, who was in the care of Child and Family Services, was pulled from the Red River.

“The murder of this child, and let’s not forget she was a child, has shocked and outraged this community and resonated across our nation,” Winnipeg Police Service Deputy Chief Danny Smyth said at a news conference Friday to announce an arrest had been made.

Raymond Joseph Cormier, 53, was charged with second-degree murder. He was arrested in the Vancouver area and will be transported back to Winnipeg,” Smyth said.

Police said he was identified as a suspect within weeks of the discovery of Tina’s body.

“(He) came into our investigation very early on, but so did a lot of other people. Everyone that came under our scrutiny was investigated fully,” Sgt. John O’Donovan said.

Cormier had told police he knew Tina, the public learned Friday.

“In this investigation we were able to eliminate the other people as suspects and we were left with Raymond Cormier,” O’Donovan said.

Police detailed their investigation — forensics, tips, covert operations and help from the RCMP and police forces in Vancouver and Calgary — that led to Cormier’s arrest.

Cormier, originally from New Brunswick, has spent much of his life imprisoned in many provinces. He was out of work and living in Winnipeg after being released from prison when he met Tina, police said.

During the final weeks of her life, the two had several encounters, police said.

“There is no magic as to why we’re here today. We followed the evidence, and evidence came to us because the people of Winnipeg and Manitoba kept bringing the evidence to us,” O’Donovan said.

“That’s what connected us to that house,” O’Donovan said.

The house is in the east end of Winnipeg, but police refused to release its address.

It’s the place where Fontaine first met Cormier, police said.

“It was definitely someone who came forward from the public, who connected us to that house… People who had connections to Tina in the two to three days before she died,” O’Donovan said.

Police said no charges have been laid against the home’s owner.

The other key piece of evidence disclosed Friday was a call Tina made to 911.

Police said the call helped them establish a timeline of events.

Tina was reported missing July 31 from a city hotel where she was living as a CFS ward.

At some point, she dialed 911 to report the theft of a truck owned by her friend.

“That call was extremely important. We were able to place her at a certain place, at a certain time and at a certain day. What came from that certainly helped to advance our investigation,” O’Donovan said.

Police said they will work with other police agencies in Canada to determine if Cormier is connected to other cases involving missing or slain women.

The case has had an effect on officers, both Smyth and O’Donovan said.

“When you see pictures of this little kid before she died, she’s just a little kid. For any of us who have kids of our own, to see what was recovered from the river was horrific, absolutely horrific,” O’Donovan said.

Also Friday, Smyth said one of two officers who had contact with Tina after she was reported missing Aug. 8, 2014, is no longer a police officer. The officers had Tina but let her go even though she was the subject of a missing-person alert.

Months ago, police released the findings of a review of both officers. Neither was charged but both were disciplined and one had been reported as returning to service after a suspension.

Police had been silent on the fate of the second officer until Friday.

“The disciplinary process was resolved but he is no longer a police officer with us,” Smyth said.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca