Nicholas Fontanelli “was a good father,” said Danny Giroux, the husband of the woman who looked after one of the children Fontanelli had with Samantha Higgins. Higgins’s dismembered body was found last week in Hinchinbrooke. Fontanelli was formally charged Tuesday afternoon in Montreal with first-degree murder and committing an indignity to a dead body. Fontanelli and Higgins first sent their oldest child to Giroux’s wife’s daycare two years ago, he said, and recently began sending them again. Giroux said his son knew Fontanelli when they were children, and played some street hockey, biked, and skateboarded together. While he said they’ve grown apart over the years, Giroux said that he still saw Fontanelli when he came by to pick up his daughter. “He always picked her up on time, and when he had some time off, he spent some time with her,” he said. Fontanelli had finished training as an electrician, he said, and was due to start work in a few months.
