A 31-year-old man who was arrested last week following the disappearance of his fiancée in Quebec’s Montérégie region has been charged with second-degree murder.
Nicholas Gravel was charged Wednesday after an appearance at the Valleyfield courthouse.
He was arrested last Thursday, the same day the body of his partner, 29-year-old Kelsey Watt, was found near her home in Hemmingford, Que., a small town south of Montreal near the U.S. border. The discovery was made following a days-long search by police and volunteers in the tight-knit community.
Watt was a mother of a young boy.
Gravel’s case was adjourned to Dec. 16 to set a date for a preliminary hearing.
According to a charge sheet, Watt died sometime between Sept. 15 and 21, the day she was reported missing by Quebec provincial police.
SOS Violence Conjugale, a Quebec group that advocates for victims of intimate partner violence, said her death is the 11th femicide reported in the province this year.
With files from The Canadian Press