The frantic search for a missing six year-old began Thursday night with the murder of his mother, a 41-year-old daycare worker in St-Eustache.

Police had discovered the body of Veronique Barbe inside her home at the moment the Amber Alert for Louka Fredette was launched.

Barbe, the mother of four children, ran a popular home daycare.

“That this happened in a daycare, you know, it couldn't be worse than that,” said neighbour Luis Quinteros.

On Friday morning, crime scene investigators were combing the house, looking for evidence.

In addition to the missing boy, Barbe had three more children from a previous relationship. They were unharmed and are now staying with their father.

The Sureté du Quebec is giving relatively few details about the woman's murder, because they have been focused on finding the missing boy.

“We're not going into the details of the investigation our main priority is to find the child, we will talk about the investigation after,” said SQ spokesperson Jason Allard before the boy was found.

Police won't confirm the cause of death.

Neighbours of the couple say the two had a very intense relationship and that there were many arguments.

One neighbour who didn't want to be identified said it was Fredette who would walk away during arguments.

“We always saw him very calm. When they were fighting and everything, he would just leave,” they said.

Despite the split, Fredette's Facebook page showed he was still in a relationship, and he kept a photo of him and Barbe as his profile picture.