How Many Victims Still A Mystery in Ottawa
OTTAWA – The hunt for human remains resumed Wednesday in a south-Ottawa neighbourhood as cops investigating accused serial killer Camille Cleroux began digging at a new location.
Police taped off an expansive wooded area bordering a playground on the same street where a construction crew discovered human remains on Oct. 31 in the backyard of a home Cleroux once lived in.
Police said the investigation into that grisly discovery led them to the new site across the road.
No human remains had been found so far, police said, but the dig is expected to continue at least until Friday.
Cleroux was charged with first-degree murder after the body of Paula Leclair, 64, was found in a wooded area in May 2010. Cleroux had moved into Leclair’s apartment and told her son that she had won the lottery and travelled to Mexico.
The following month he was also charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two other women: Jean Rock, 32; and Lise Roy, 27.
Roy, who was married to Cleroux, disappeared two decades ago; Rock, his common-law spouse, disappeared 13 years ago. Neither body has been found.
Area residents are shocked and worried another body could potentially be unearthed in their otherwise quiet neighbourhood, which is home to many families.
Jocelyne Mudenge was headed to work when she saw the heavy police presence at the park, and heard human remains may have been discovered.
“It’s scary to know that kind of thing could be happening in your backyard,” said Mudenge. “Murder? Serial killer? You see it on TV but you don’t think it could happen in real life.”
Esther Madzingo just moved into the area.
“It just makes me feel like I have to leave the neighbourhood,” she said. “I’m not safe here.”
An excavator was digging a large patch of grass among trees on Wednesday where investigators stopped to flag areas of interest.
“When we’re dealing with investigations like this, it’s one of the last opportunities for the truth to be told,” said Insp. Mike Callaghan. ” It’s very necessary for us to ensure that we’re doing everything that we can.”
Police again brought in archaeological experts to help with the dig. Any remains found will be forwarded to a forensic science centre in Toronto.
Police said this case has been flagged a top priority. Any identification could take weeks, or even months.
One of the odd things about this case is that Cleroux killed people that he knew pretty well. Most serial killers don’t.
Real Life Monsters 
The Ottawa Police Major Crime Section completed a search for human remains at Heatherington Park on Thursday afternoon.
Police call the search is another “productive” step in the investigation into three killings connected to 57-year-old accused serial-killer Camille Cléroux.
He was charged on June 24, 2010, with two counts of firstdegree murder in the deaths of Lise Roy and Jean Rock, his former wives.
He was also charged on June 2, 2010, with first-degree murder in the death of 64-year-old Paula Leclair, whose body was discovered in the Walkley Road train yards area.
Police say they are not releasing any more information with respect to the Heatherington Park search to avoid jeopardizing their investigation.
On Wednesday, The Citizen learned that Cléroux himself had led police to Heatherington Park.
Police believe the site may contain the remains of Jean Rock.
She was last seen in 2003.
Until a few years ago, Heatherington Park was heavily wooded, people in the area said.
New condos now line the back of the field and the Albion-Heatherington Recreation Centre, which opened in 2009, is on the site.
Police arrived at the park around 9 a.m. Wednesday and erected two blue tents near the fence that divides the park from the condo development.
A command post was set up in the middle of the park and several police cars guarded the scene.
The Ottawa police forensic identification and major crime sections began their archaeological dig almost immediately.
Duty Insp. Mike Callahan told the media that “I think that it’s important to remember here when we’re dealing with investigations like this, this is one of the last opportunities for the truth to be told.”
Ottawa police said Wednesday morning this dig is connected to the discovery of human remains found on Oct. 31 in Cléroux’s former backyard at 1535 Heatherington Rd. which prompted the suspension of the preliminary murder hearing involving Cléroux.
The bones were found by a construction crew working at the townhouse where Cléroux once lived with Lise Roy. She was last seen in 1990.
Cléroux was charged with the deaths of Rock and Roy about three weeks after Leclair’s body was recovered.
Cléroux’s preliminary hearing was adjourned on Nov. 4.
This is the very reason I don’t like digging in my backyard 😦
Didn’t you do a story a little while back about someone finding a skull in the garden or yard?
Yes, yes you did!
http://frigginloon.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/skull-of-murder-victim-found-in-sir-attenboroughs-backyard/
I see what you mean.
Creepy