MONTREAL - A Quebec man has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of a 10-year-old girl in a northern Montreal suburb more than 31 years ago, bringing closure to the young victim's family.

Réal Courtemanche, 62, already in prison for other crimes, admitted on Friday that the evidence in the case proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he murdered Marie-Chantale Desjardins.

The 10-year-old disappeared on July 16, 1994, after she left a friend's house at the end of the day in Ste-Thérèse, Que., northwest of Montreal. Her body was found four days later in the woods behind a shopping centre in the neighbouring community of Rosemère.

Desjardins' killing was a cold case until Courtemanche's arrest in prison in 2023 thanks to advances in DNA analysis.

The victim's mother, Syl

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