MONTREAL -- A 46-year-old man from Montmagny was accused Wednesday of killing a 69-year-old woman, whose dead body was discovered a few hours earlier in the small town of 11,078 residents an hour east of Quebec City.

Steve Bilodeau was arraigned by phone in the afternoon at the Montmagny courthouse, to be formally charged with one count of first-degree murder. He remains detained pending his next court appearance, according to SQ Sergeant Louis-Philippe Bibeau.

For reasons that have not been specified, SQ officers arrested Steve Bilodeau at around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning while he was walking on the sidewalk on 8th St. During the intervention, information prompted the police to go to a residence located nearby on Sainte-Brigitte Ave., where the lifeless victim was found.

The SQ was unable to reveal the identity of the victim in the evening. It is still uncertain whether the victim and the accused knew each other.

The SQ investigation continues.

This report by the Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2020.