The ex-boyfriend of a woman who went missing last week has been charged with second-degree murder.
The body of 27 year-old Pamela Jean of Longueuil was discovered Friday evening in the basement of a duplex in Montreal North, five days after Jean was last seen alive.
Earlier in the week, police asked for the public's help in tracking down the missing woman.
"During this investigation police went to Hotel de Ville Ave. to a duplex, that's where the body was found," said Const. Daniel Lacoursiere.
Officers arrested the resident of the home, Juan Ferma Palma, 32, and waited for autopsy results to determine the cause of death before recommending charges.
By all accounts Jean and Palma had been a couple for some time, but had reportedly broken up recently, with Jean and her son moving in with her parents in Longueuil.
Police confirmed they had been, on at least one occasion, intervened at the home, and that charges of domestic abuse had been filed and dropped against Palma.
Defence lawyer Valerie Costa confirmed there were conjugal violence charges brought against him in the past involving Jean, but they were dropped because she chose not to pursue it.
“There's been a previous case with the victim for which the Crown had stayed the proceeding and withdrawn the accusation in the past,” said Costa.
In an unrelated case, Palma is currently facing charges of breaking and entering, and possession of tools used to commit crimes.
He is due back in court Feb. 4 on those charges.
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