CANADA Canada - Cedrika Provencher, 9, Trois-Rivieres, QC, 31 July 2007

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They come for all manner of reasons – some with concrete clues about the freckled 9-year-old girl's whereabouts, others with nothing more than a hunch.

But still they come.

Almost one month after Cedrika Provencher disappeared, a mobile police command centre parked outside a strip mall in Trois-Rivieres continues to receive a steady flow of tipsters.

"I couldn't sleep," one woman says as she leaves the command centre after telling police about a mysterious car she spotted near a golf course. "The car just struck me as strange."

Information such as this makes up the bulk of the 3,000 tips police have received so far in the case. Yet among the tips they received last week were several credible sightings of Cedrika with a man in eastern Quebec's Gaspe region.

Police say witnesses have told them the girl was helping a man look for a lost dog.

The news has breathed new hope into a case that is costing other youngsters their innocence and freedom in this city, midway between Montreal and Quebec City.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/250012
 
I wouldn't rule out Karla. That woman is evil and just because she spent a few years in prison doesn't mean that she has changed. I can't for the life of me see any decent man wanting to marry her either. Who knows, she could have married one just like the last one. She got just as much out of those murders as her husband did.

All I know about Karla Homolka is what the Crime Library has on her... which is quite a lot actually, she is by far the best documented female criminal on that site and there are plenty of links to other resources. I saw the Hollywood flick "Karla" but it didn't strike me as realistic, it was more like a documentary about battered wives and was clearly biased and some aspects of the film were in contradiction with known facts about the case.

This being said, I don't know who married her but I suspect it's the male equivalent of those women who fall in love with men convicted of violent crimes thinking they can change them, likely not a violent criminal himself (the media would have reported it). In any case I'm quite sure LE is keeping an eye on the couple regardless of the fact that Homolka has served the whole length of her sentence and thus doesn't have to report to police. Homolka may have committed unspeakable crimes but doesn't strike me as someone who'd be prone to initiate violent crimes, she's more of a follower than a leader.

Also, the Provencher case doesn't fit the profile of Homolka's previous victims who were teens while Provencher is a little girl. This just reeks of a male pedophile, witnesses say he made attempts on other little girls as well but not on teens, who wouldn't fall for the old lost pet trick so easily (I hope). I don't know why people would presume the guy or couple came from Montreal, the MO sounds more like a local especially if it has to do with Pool Guy. If the story about him is true (see the forum on Courttv.com) I'd say local LE should be hounding this bozo out. I understand they have hundreds of tips to sift through but Pool Guy stands out.
 
Last week it was reported that a witness thinks they saw her in a car being driven to New Brunswick - I haven't anything else in the news about this. So not sure if the lead panned out. Praying for the safe return of Cedrika
 
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/275729

Nov 12, 2007

The reward for helping find a Quebec girl who has been missing for more than three months is now $100,000.

Cedrika Provencher disappeared July 31 after reportedly helping a man look for a lost dog.

more at link
 
Martin Provencher isn't hanging up Christmas decorations this year. And he's reacting with more caution than cheer to news that police are focusing on five "individuals of interest" in connection with his daughter's disappearance.

It's been nearly five months since Cédrika Provencher, a fresh-faced, nine-year-old Girl Scout, vanished after talking to a man who said he was looking for his dog. This week, provincial police said they've narrowed their investigation to a group of possible suspects.

"We had a lot of people to meet. Through elimination, the investigation has shown there were five people who were nearby or on the scene of the abduction," Sergeant Marc Butz of the Sûreté du Québec said yesterday.

A news report said the five have a history of sexual deviance or attraction to children, and were familiar with the Trois-Rivières region where Cédrika lived.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071222.CEDRIKA22/TPStory/National
 
Father of missing Quebec girl holds out hope for return one year later

Peter Rakobowchuk, THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL - Martin Provencher has one simple message for his 10-year-old daughter who has been missing for almost one year - "Hang on."

Even though it's been months since investigators have brought forward any new leads, the tireless father of Cedrika Provencher hasn't given up hope of finding her.


The young girl vanished on July 31, 2007, near her home in Trois-Rivieres, Que., after telling a woman she was helping a man look for a lost dog.

Her ever-determined father wants Cedrika to know that it's not just her parents, but everyone, including the police, who are still on alert.

"If there's a way to send us a signal, in whatever manner possible, she should do it," the soft-spoken Provencher said in an interview with The Canadian Press.


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"I know that she's smart and if there's something, she could easily find a way to give us a clue."

Last month, the 36-year-old Provencher took part in another fruitless search with sniffer dogs after receiving some guidance from psychics.

The search party checked out a strip of highway near Cedrika's hometown, which is halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.


"It was a piece of land that wasn't done in the past," Provencher added.

He said that the search was carried out after several clairvoyants in the U.S. sent along some GPS co-ordinates.

Cedrika's 62-year-old grandfather Henri Provencher said the family believes the girl can still be found alive.

"We are sure Cedrika is somewhere with somebody and we must find her," he said.

A special mass, followed by an outdoor candlelight procession, will be held Thursday evening at the nearby Notre-Dame-du-Cap Basilica, a popular pilgrimage shrine for Catholics.

Martin Provencher says he stays motivated by the encouragement he gets from the local residents he meets in stores who tell him not to give up.

He is also kept going by the several thousand emails and calls he has received at an old bank building which serves as his search headquarters.

"We easily get about 20 emails every day," he said. "They have come from France, Africa, Mexico and Australia."

Provencher says sometimes information comes in which is passed on to Quebec provincial police.

Posters with the missing girl's picture also continue to appear along roads all the way down to Florida.

"A lot of truckers are still asking us for two-by-two foot posters they can put on their trailers," he said.

"I said from the beginning that we're working to find her and that's what we're going to do."

The slender, ever-polite man has not been working since Cedrika's disappearance and has only taken a few weeks off from the search to relax.

"I went camping and spent time in a chalet to rest up after what has been a tough year," he said in a lengthy interview.

A $100,000 reward for information to help track down the freckled-faced girl expired in May and despite thousands of tips, police say there have been no new developments since last fall.

In September 2007, provincial police released a description of a French-speaking man and a four-door red Acura car believed to be involved in the girl's disappearance.

The man in his 30s had approached several girls about needing help to look for a lost dog in the two days before Cedrika vanished.

Provincial police say the car is still an important part of the investigation.

During the past year, police also have verified several reported sightings in neighbouring New Brunswick and in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region north of Quebec City.

RCMP Cpl. Marie-France Olivera, who works with the force's National Missing Children Services, says there were 60,582 reports of missing children in 2007 but 75 per cent of them involved kids running away from home.

"Most of the runaway cases usually come back within the next 24 hours," said Olivera, whose unit acts as a clearing house for information and provides support for police forces.

But 56 cases - less than .1 per cent - were reported as kidnappings or stranger abductions of children under 18.

"Kidnapping in Canada is considered (as) anyone other than the parents or legal guardian," she said.

"But that could be a grandmother, it could be a friend, it could be somebody known the family."

Alberta and Ontario each had 17 stranger abductions last year, the highest among all the provinces and territories in Canada.

But Olivera pointed out that the two provinces also have large populations.

B.C., Saskatchewan and Quebec, followed with five kidnappings each.

Olivera said the statistics indicated that, in most cases, more females than males were targeted.

"It appears females seem to be more of a target simply because, if it's a total stranger, the motivation for taking a child, especially a female child, will be for sexual gratification," she added.

Olivera said U.S. statistics reveal the females who are kidnapped are usually between 10 and 12 years of age.

Pina Arcamone, who runs Quebec's Missing Children's Network, insists Cedrika has not been forgotten and the case will remain active until she is found.

"People are still extremely, extremely troubled by the fact that this little girl has disappeared without leaving a trace," she said in an interview.

Arcamone also said Provencher was in the final stages of putting together the paperwork to set up a foundation in Cedrika's name.

She has been in touch with Cedrika's father and the family, sending them emails "a couple of times a month."

"They're very, very tired at this point, emotionally exhausted from this experience and all the dead-ends that have come up," she said.

"But they're not ready to give up."



© The Canadian Press, 2008
 
I wonder how I previously missed reading about Cedrika?? I'll have to read back and see if there are more Websleuth posts about her!
 
I wonder how I previously missed reading about Cedrika?? I'll have to read back and see if there are more Websleuth posts about her!

If there are Violet.. Please let me know because I would love to sleuth with you guys. I've been sleuthing on my own for two years, and I know two heads are better than one.. )
 
I would love to join you too. I'm from Quebec and this case really touched me. I often think of Cedrika.
 
I remember following this case really closely back when it first broke. I'm glad to see it's in the media once again.

Have there been ANY recent updates?
 
I remember following this case really closely back when it first broke. I'm glad to see it's in the media once again.

Have there been ANY recent updates?


Here is an update:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1126473.html


There is a new reward of $170,000. for any information on Cedrika. The lawyer who set it up will take anonymous information, and will not disclose the identity of the person to the police who provides the information.
 

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