Boy, 8, found dead; mom faces charge

Canadian Press, (various newspapers across Canada, including the Toronto Star ) Aug. 16, 2006.

ISLE LA MOTTE, Vt. A Montreal mother recovering from alleged self-inflicted wounds will be charged in the coming days with murdering her 8-year-old son, whose body was found in Lake Champlain, a Vermont state attorney said today.

I am going to prepare a charge of first-degree murder, Grand Isle States Attorney David Miller said in a telephone interview.

But when she is well enough is something I have no control over. . . Im hoping, at the latest, it will be Friday but, again, it could be next week too.

The body of Nicholas Desnoyers-Langlois was found last night in about a metre of water just offshore near the Vermont town of Isle La Motte.

The five-kilometre-wide island is located near the Canadian border.

Louise Desnoyers, 48, was found by police lying in a fetal position inside a lakeside shed on the other side of the island from where her sons body was recovered.

The woman, whom police said was despondent over recent marital problems, was taken to hospital for what authorities first described as life-threatening, self-inflicted injuries. Her condition later improved.

Richard Hill called police after he found an SUV with Quebec licence plates on his 20-hectare property.

I approached the vehicle and there was blood on the exterior of the door and there was blood splatter on the inside of the drivers window and on the inside of the windshield, he said.

On the passenger seat was sand and a bloody jug of half-consumed anti-freeze, the contractor said.

After briefly looking near trees and long grass in the remote area, Hill called police. They located the woman with the help of a canine unit.

Hill said Desnoyers apparently knew the area from having visited friends a couple of years ago.

My guess is . . . that she looked for a place nearby that was secluded so she could do away with herself.

The event has upset the entire community of the small island, which was the scene a double murder involving local residents three years ago, he said.

Weve had some bad experiences in the past but certainly nothing as bad as this.

The boy and his mother entered the United States at Rouses Point, N.Y., Monday evening.

Montreal police say the woman and the child were reported missing Monday by her husband, Real Langlois.

He travelled to Vermont last night to identify his son, Miller said.

The case against Desnoyers shouldnt be complicated by the involvement of two countries, Miller added.

Most everything that happened, happened on this side of the border.