OTTAWA - Montreal Police plan to charge a 33-year-old Ottawa man with second-degree murder in connection with a grisly discovery of a body found stuffed inside a suitcase in downtown Montreal.
The victim is also from Ottawa, said Montreal police spokesman Olivier Lapointe. Police are not releasing names, but said the victims did know each other. Lapointe said the victim’s family has not been contacted by police yet.
“Both of them, the victim and suspect, were from the Ottawa area,” Lapointe said. “We won’t release his name for now. We’re going to wait until he’s formally charged.”
The suspect was arrested by Ottawa police at a residence on the 100 block of Nicholas St. at about 10 p.m. on Thursday night after turning himself in.
Montreal investigators from the major crimes unit were in Ottawa to interrogate the suspect today and will transport him back to Montreal tonight. He will appear in court on Saturday via video link, Lapointe said.
The victim was found stuffed inside the suitcase Thursday morning by a pedestrian near the corner of De Bullion and Charlotte streets north of Ste-Catherine St. in downtown Montreal.
The slaying is believed to have happened at a Montreal hotel and then the victim was moved to the site where he was found.
“The suitcase was slightly open so he saw there was something that looked like a foot inside. So he called 9-1-1,” Lapointe said.
When police arrived, they opened the suitcase to find a 29-year-old man inside with no vital signs, and visible signs of trauma to his body.
“The body was taken out of the suitcase, there was some CPR attempted by the paramedics and he was sent to hospital where his death was confirmed,” Lapointe said.
“He was visibly not stabbed or shot so we’re still waiting for the complete results of the autopsy. We don’t know exactly how he was killed but we’re going to know that possibly by the end of the day or by tomorrow morning.”
The murder is Montreal’s first of the year.
