The author of the possible feminicide that occurred on Boxing Day in Montreal would have used a ladder to enter the housing of his victim by breaking a window, suggesting that he had premeditated his gesture.
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The victim is Marie Josie Vanté St-Ville, 45, confirms the Coroner’s Office to the Journal. This would be the 14th woman killed by a spouse or ex-spouse in the province in 2022.
According to our information, Jacques Jérôme Estimé, 45, broke into Ms. Vanté St-Ville’s balcony window before murdering her with a hammer and taking his own life.
The two bodies were found in a stairwell of the building in Pointe-aux-Trembles, in the east of Montreal.
“It definitely shows a level of determination. You see from the start that this guy had malicious intent. Breaking and entering is already a crime. It was not on the right side, ”comments André Gélinas, former detective sergeant at the Service de police la Ville de Montréal (SPVM).
“It is a phenomenon of cowardice. He commits the irreparable and then he commits suicide, ”adds the ex-policeman.
No history
Jacques Jérôme Estimé had no criminal history. He worked as a security guard at GardaWorld. He had been employed by the company since 2019, confirms the media relations team by email.
Investigators point out that the suspect and his victim have already had an affair, but they do not know if they were still a couple at the time of the tragedy. One thing is certain, Mrs. Vanté St-Ville lived alone.
The man who would have murdered her would have entered her life two or three months ago.
“Before, I didn’t hear any bickering or anything. I could hear him cleaning and talking,” a neighbor said on condition of anonymity. The lady had lived in a nearby dwelling for about two years, he said.
He finds it difficult to explain how the man could have come to this.
“What makes an emotional or marital relationship turn sour at some point and all of a sudden the guy “snaps” and decides to kill the girl? We would like to find a way to intervene upstream, ”raises André Gélinas, who worked for 21 years at the SPVM.
Help for neighbors
Prévention Pointe-de-l’Île is organizing a meeting on January 11 at the Roussin Center for the neighbors affected.
“Sometimes just talking is a solution. We try to put citizens at the heart of the action. We want to accompany them in this, ”explains the director, Johanne Daigle.
Workers knocked on a hundred doors in the neighborhood for the meeting, which is part of the Community Resilience program, in which five boroughs in northeast Montreal participate, including Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe- at Trembles.
Last year, citizens made a “diagnosis” of their concerns regarding urban safety. In Pointe-aux-Trembles, it is the issue of feminicides that has been named.
“We’ve had a few in the last year,” Ms. Daigle points out.
THE 14 FEMICIDES IN 2022 IN QUEBEC