Search for father of girls found dead in Quebec enters sixth day

ST-APOLLINAIRE, Que. — The search continued Tuesday for the father of two girls whose bodies were found Saturday in a small town southwest of Quebec City.

Provincial police spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Mathieu says officers on the ground and in the air are concentrating on a 50-square-kilometre area around St-Apollinaire, Que., where the bodies of Norah and Romy Carpentier, aged 11 and 6, were located.

The girls had last been seen Wednesday and became the subject of an Amber Alert the next day.

Police have said they and their father, Martin Carpentier, are believed to have been in a serious crash on Highway 20 in St-Apollinaire on Wednesday at about 9:30 p.m.

But police say they did not find any occupants inside the car when they arrived on scene.

They say they have found “pertinent elements” in the area on Sunday that were sent to a laboratory for analysis to see if they are linked to Carpentier.

Police did not specify what the items were, but as the search entered its sixth day, police have raised the possibility Carpentier could be unconscious or dead.

Mathieu said it also cannot be ruled out that he remains alive.

“You know that someone who is healthy, someone who is mobile, can easily move by walking several kilometres a day,” she told reporters. “We also have to consider that he could have found a means of transport, something as simple as a bicycle.”

She said the area being searched was delineated based on reports from the public, and she urged people to remain on the lookout for Carpentier.

The Canadian Press