Deceased/Not Found Canada - Marie-Paule Rochette, 34, Prévost, QC, 18 Jan 1953

[TheArtfulDetective]

Marie-Paule Rochette



Case Classification: Endangered Missing/Homicide
Missing Since: January 18, 1953
Location Last Seen: Prévost, Québec, Canada

Description:​

• Date of Birth: August 12, 1918
• Age: 34
• Race: White/Caucasian
• Gender: Female
• Height: Unknown
• Weight: Unknown
• Hair Color: Dark Brown/Black
• Eye Color: Unknown
• Nickname/Alias: Lorraine Chénier
• Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
• Clothing & Personal Items: Wearing a nightgown and carrying a suitcase.
• Identifiers: DNA and dental x-rays available.

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Rochette went missing from the Prévost Sanatorium in Québec on January 18th, 1953. She was last seen at approximately 6:00 pm, wearing a nightgown and carrying a suitcase. She left with an unidentified man who came to pick her up a day before she was supposed to be discharged. She has never been heard from again.

On October 5th, 1953, the body of a woman who had been suffocated, tied up, and attached to a cement block, was found at the Hydro Québec Dam, in the Rivière-des-Prairies, 11 km east of the Sanatorium. Her teeth were identified as Rochette's by her dentist and employer, Dr. Paul Chaloult. Rochette's brother also positively identified her remains, even in its advanced state of putrefaction. The body however, was never officially identified by authorities.

In 2017, Rochette's family requested for the body to be exhumed for DNA testing, but the exact location of the body is unknown. The remains of the drowned woman pulled from the Rivière des Prairies were interred in Saint-François d'Assise, a mass grave in Montréal, and the cemetery no longer has the document that outlines where each body was buried.

Police at the time never opened a case file regarding Rochette's disappearance, so there was no murder investigation. The authorities currently estimate a 70% probability that Rochette was the body recovered from the Rivière des Prairies. Her case remains unsolved, and the murderer has never been identified.

Investigators:

• Service de police de la Ville de Montréal: 1-514-393-1133
  Reference Case#: N/A

• Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) or online at Canadian Crime Stoppers Association
  Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping

• Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

NCMPUR Case Number: Not listed
NamUs Case Number: Not listed

| Montréal | Marie-Paule Rochette Missing since January 18, 1953 - MDIQ
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/missing-quebec-woman-cold-case-1.4275214
Une coroner se joint à l’enquête sur une femme disparue il y a 65 ans
« Je n’abandonnerai pas », dit la nièce d'une femme disparue depuis 65 ans

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

Good write-up about about her case. (Had to use Google Translate, as it's in French).

"...Marie-Paule Rochette escaped from the sanatorium in January 1953, which corresponds to the estimate of the experts mentioned in Lebel's book, who affirmed in October that the body could have remained in the water for up to period of about eight months. But why did she "escape" from such a center to find herself tied up and weighted with at least one block of cement in the waters of a river? This obviously does not amount to suicide. This means that the beautiful Marie-Paule would not have escaped from the sanatorium to better take her own life. So what actually happened?"

Read here: La victime de 1953 était Marie-Paule Rochette

 

[SophiaPaulaMariaPatricia]

Marie-Paule Rochette

View attachment 347784View attachment 347783

Classification des cas : En voie de disparition Disparu/Homicide
Disparu depuis : 18 janvier 1953
Lieu vu pour la dernière fois : Prévost, Québec, Canada

La description:​

• Date de naissance : 12 août 1918
• Âge : 34
• Race : Blanc/Caucasien
• Sexe: Femme
• Taille : Inconnue
• Poids : Inconnu
• Couleur des cheveux : Châtain foncé/Noir
• Couleur des yeux : Inconnu
• Pseudonyme/Alias : Lorraine Chénier
• Marques/caractéristiques distinctives : Inconnu
• Vêtements et objets personnels : Porter une chemise de nuit et porter une valise.
• Identifiants : ADN et radiographies dentaires disponibles.

Circonstances de disparition :
Rochette a disparu du Sanatorium de Prévost à Québec le 18 janvier 1953. Elle a été vue pour la dernière fois vers 18 h, vêtue d'une chemise de nuit et portant une valise. Elle est partie avec un homme non identifié qui est venu la chercher un jour avant qu'elle ne soit censée être libérée. Elle n'a plus jamais été entendue.

Le 5 octobre 1953, le corps d'une femme asphyxiée, ligotée et attachée à un bloc de ciment, est retrouvé au barrage d'Hydro-Québec, dans la Rivière-des-Prairies, à 11 km à l'est du Sanatorium. Ses dents ont été identifiées comme celles de Rochette par son dentiste et employeur, le Dr Paul Chaloult. Le frère de Rochette a également identifié positivement sa dépouille, même dans son état avancé de putréfaction. Cependant, le corps n'a jamais été officiellement identifié par les autorités.

En 2017, la famille de Rochette a demandé que le corps soit exhumé pour des tests ADN, mais l'emplacement exact du corps est inconnu. La dépouille de la noyée tirée de la rivière des Prairies a été inhumée à Saint-François d'Assise, une fosse commune à Montréal, et le cimetière n'a plus le document indiquant où chaque corps a été enterré.

La police de l'époque n'a jamais ouvert de dossier concernant la disparition de Rochette, il n'y a donc pas eu d'enquête pour meurtre. Les autorités estiment actuellement à 70 % la probabilité que Rochette soit le corps repêché dans la rivière des Prairies. Son cas reste non résolu et le meurtrier n'a jamais été identifié.

Les enquêteurs:

• Service de police de la Ville de Montréal : 1-514-393-1133
  Numéro de cas de référence : N/A
• Échec au crime : 1-800-222-TIPS(8477) ou en ligne à l'Association canadienne Échec au crime Échec
  au crime fournit des dénonciations anonymes
• Envoyez un courriel au Centre national pour les personnes disparues et les restes non identifiés à : canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

Numéro de cas NCMPUR : Non répertorié
Numéro de dossier NamUs : Non répertorié

| Montréal | Marie-Paule Rochette Disparue depuis le 18 janvier 1953 - MDIQ
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/missing-quebec-woman-cold-case-1.4275214
Une coroner se joint à l'enquête sur une femme disparue il y a 65 ans
« Je n'abandonnerai pas », dit la nièce d'une femme disparue depuis 65 ans

From September 1942 to April 1944, Rochette was in the CWAC (Canadian Women's Army Corps) working as a dental assistant, in Qc City and also in Ottawa. Marie-Paule Lorraine Rochette, 27, (married name Marie Lorraine Chénier) married Hervé F. Chénier, 25 (DOB Feb 9, 1920) in Qc City, on Dec 15, 1945, at Saint-Dominique Church. She entered the Sanatorium Prévost (MONTRÉAL NORD) on Monday January 12, 1953, at the age of 34. The official date of her expected discharge, authorized by the psychiatrist Dr Lucien Panaccio and her family doctor, Dr René Leclerc (Leclair?) is Monday January 19, 1953 (date of the hospitalisation invoice issued to her husband Hervé Chénier). But Rochette (married Chénier) left the Sanatorium Prévost, dressed with her usual elegant daily clothes and carrying her suitcase, the night before, i.e. on Sunday January 18, 1953, at around 6 PM under the eyes of Nurse Bernadette Lépine. She was not alone, i.e. a man asked for her and she left with that ''unknown'' man. In May 1953, as soon as her brother Raymond Rochette, 31 years old (married, father of two young child and living in Quebec City) learned the disappearance of his sister, he immediatly drove to Montreal. First, to confront her husband, Hervé Ferdinand Chénier, a RCMP Officer. Chénier revealed incongruous things, mostly dates, about his wife's disappearance circumstances. Precisely, Chénier always kept saying to Rochette that his wife entered the Sanatorium in March 1953, and escaped from it in May 1953, a Sunday night, alone, leaving all her clothes and jewells in her room. Chénier kept pretending to her brother, Raymond, that she commited suicide by drowning in the Rivière des Prairies, which runs behind the Sanatorium Prévost, Montreal North (which flows from west to east). And that cries of distress (''Au Secours! - HELP!'') were heard from the middle of that river. And then, the screaming stopped... Second, in that same day of May 1953, before returning to Quebec City, Raymond Rochette immediatly drove to the Sanatorium Prévost to meet the doctors. Since they were absent, he confronted Nurse Bernadette Lépine. And it's Lépine who informed Rochette that his sister was in fact at the Sanatorium, but from January 12, 1953 and that she vanished on Sunday night January 18, 1953. To Raymond Rochette's question ''Who did she leave with?'', Lépine's strange answer was ''I do not know, I cannot tell you, because the man remained in the shadow, in the darkness...'' Soon after, Nurse Lépine called Chénier to inform him of Raymond's visit at the Sanatorium. Hervé Chénier, Marie Lorraine's husband, then gave intructions and orders to Lépine, concerning Raymond's questions regarding the disappearance of his sister...