Suspect on the lam after woman killed in Montreal's latest alleged femicide

Montreal -

A 32-year-old woman is dead and police are on a manhunt for a suspect after another alleged femicide in Montreal. 

"The victim and the suspect are spouses and on the scene there was a child," said Caroline Chèvrefils, a spokesperson with Montreal police. "The suspect is a man of 30 years old and he has not been arrested."

At 5 p.m. Monday, Montreal police (SPVM) were called to an apartment on Birnam Street, near Saint-Roch Street, in the Parc-Extension neighbourhood. 

When officers entered the apartment, the woman was found unconscious.  She had suffered from upper body injuries "in an unknown way," according to Chèvrefils.

Her death was pronounced on the scene.

Police are on the hunt for Navdeep Ghotra, who was released on bail with conditions in May after allegedly uttering threats against a woman. 

Court records show he was awaiting a trial date on Oct. 8 stemming from his arrest on May 19. 

The building's concierge, Joseph Fernando, told CTV News the victim in Monday's killing had asked that the locks be changed on her apartment in April after a fight with her spouse in April. 

"She was rushing me to change the locks. She paid me for the locks," he told CTV News. 

"And after two days, he came inside the building and I said you're not allowed to come into the building because your wife doesn't want you to come in. And he called the wife, then the wife called me again and said, 'No, I want to take back my husband.' So then, he go back."

Monday's killing marked the 13th homicide on the Montreal police territory in 2021.

A child was also found in the apartment and police say could be a possible witness.

Neighbours said they head heard screaming earlier that day.

"My wife, she heard screaming. The children, they were screaming around like 3:30," said one local resident. "So she thought probably that the parents, they're shouting at the children, so that's why they're shouting, but she never knew that it was going to be that horrible scene."

Another resident said the family was new to the neighbourhood.

"It feels a bit scary. Well we are shocked, first of all, by that. It’s a new family here, I think they just moved like probably four months ago. So, we saw them a couple of times. This seemed to be a very nice people, but you never know sometimes," he said. 

Montreal police continue to investigate the killing.