Man's body pulled from Lachine Canal following homicide of woman, girl

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Hours after a 56-year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter were found dead in a home in Lachine Thursday morning, the body of a man was fished from the waters nearby.

Montreal police say the man’s body was spotted by passersby near the old Lachine Marina, where the Lachine Canal meets the St. Lawrence River.

It is too early to confirm if there is a link between the discovery of the man’s body and the double homicide in Lachine, though police conducted marine searches Thursday afternoon, because the family's vehicle was located in a parking lot on du Musee Street, near the water’s edge.

The bodies of the mother and daughter were found early Thursday morning. Police say they received a call from concerned relatives about multiple missing people around 12:15 a.m., leading them to a residence on Terrasse J.-S.-Aimé-Ashby, the street that borders Renaissance Park.

When they arrived, they discovered two lifeless bodies, later confirmed to be mother and daughter. 

"Unfortunately, their death was pronounced on site," SPVM spokesperson Mariane Allaire Morin told reporters at the scene Thursday morning.

"She's 56 years old and a little girl at 12 years old."  

Forensic investigators are working to determine when exactly the pair were killed.

Police said they have at least one suspect and are also searching for an "important witness" to the crime.

FAMILY VEHICLE FOUND NEAR LACHINE CANAL  

According to Morin, the family vehicle was located in a parking lot on du Musée Street, near the Lachine Canal, which is about a 10-minute drive from the victims' home, but it's unclear how the vehicle got there. 

Officers were searching the vehicle Thursday morning, and also conducted marine searches.

"Who brought the car, when, why -- it's all questions that we don't have any answers [to]," Allaire Morin said, adding that officers are searching for surveillance camera footage and witnesses to help explain. 

Michel Parent has been living in the neighbourhood for 26 years and said the deaths are a total shock. 

"It's very sad," he told CTV News. "This is a quiet place, we've got children playing in the park. We've been here for a long time. I think it's going to affect all of us."

Neighbour Akil Alleyne was upset hearing the news.

"To my knowledge, nothing like this has happened anywhere particularly close to here, let alone on this block," he said. "It's a very peaceful, calm, quiet and family-friendly neighbourhood. The kind of place most people, particularly with young kids, want to live."

He said he heard "absolutely nothing" in the night.

"I was awake around midnight, and I heard nothing," said Alleyne. "It was like any other night as far as I could tell. I didn't know anything happened until I woke up this morning, and I happened to look out the front window and saw that there were police on the block."

The deaths marked the 17th and 18th homicides of 2023 on the Island of Montreal in what has been a particularly violent week. 

There have been four homicides in the city since Monday alone; a 45-year-old man was found shot dead inside a car in Montreal North on Wednesday and on Monday evening, a 42-year-old man was fatally stabbed in the Mile End.

- With files from CTV News Montreal's Olivia O'Malley