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A 31-year-old man from Hemmingford has been charged with causing an indignity to the body of a woman who was reported as missing last weekend.
Nicholas Gravel appeared before a Quebec Court judge at the Valleyfield courthouse on Friday where he was charged with the Criminal Code offence, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP) wrote in an exchange of emails. A spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec referred all questions about their investigation into the woman’s death to the DPCP.
A publication ban has been imposed on the court case, which prohibits media from identifying the woman.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the provincial police said the woman was last seen the previous day, Sept. 21, at about 12:30 p.m. However, the charge Gravel faces alleges he “did improperly or indecently interfere” with the woman’s body between Sept. 15 and Sept. 21, an indication police now believe she died days before she was reported as missing.
Hemmingford is more than 60 kilometres south of Montreal, near the U.S. border.
Her body was found Thursday in a wooded area behind the home on Covey Hill St. where she lived. Gravel was arrested hours later.
Gravel was ordered to remain detained and his case will return to court next week.
A friend of the woman who was contacted by The Gazette declined to comment Friday, citing a request from her family that her loved ones not talk to the media.
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