The body found two days ago with marks of violence, in a field in Saint-Zotique, in Montérégie, is that of a 16-year-old teenager who has been missing for almost a month. Police, who are treating the case as murder, issued an appeal to the public on Wednesday, before confirming that they have finally identified the victim.
Isaiah Leopold Roach, 16 years old and from the Prévost region, was last seen on March 26, around 11:45 a.m., near the Côte-Vertu metro station in Montreal.
“His relatives had reason to fear for his health and safety,” said the search notice posted on the Sûreté du Québec website until yesterday, but since deleted.
The teenager was last seen wearing a black The North Face long coat, gray sweatpants, a black hoodie and blue and white Nike shoes. His body was found Monday around 3 p.m. near 287 69th Avenue, in an agricultural field in the municipality of Saint-Zotique, by a farmer in the region. The latter had been informed of the situation by a passerby.
The victim bore “signs of violence”, confirmed the Sûreté du Québec, without however specifying which weapon would have been used to commit this homicide.
Note that another young man from Prévost, Patrick Dubé, 17, has also been missing since April 17. He too was last seen near the Côte-Vertu metro station in Montreal on April 9. He would walk. However, the Sûreté du Québec does not confirm a link between the two teenagers.
On Wednesday, the police force had released photos of the body of Isaiah Leopold Roach, as well as a composite portrait to help identify him.
In a press release released in the evening, the police force then indicated that the identification of the body had finally been positively confirmed. As it is a young man of minor age, his identity was however not going to be broadcast, had argued the SQ.
On Tuesday, Le Journal de Montreal reported that the suspect or suspects behind the murder were “filmed by a surveillance camera, on Monday night, in the process of disposing of the victim’s body”. The camera reportedly caught a sports utility vehicle arriving at the scene of a large lot and then leaving it. However, this information has not been officially confirmed by the Sûreté du Québec.