Quebec provincial police issue Amber Alert for missing six-year-old boy

SAINT-EUSTACHE, Que. — Quebec provincial police confirmed early Friday that a woman found dead in a home in Saint-Eustache, Que., is the mother of a six-year-old boy who remains the subject of an Amber Alert.

Police said Louka Fredette went missing at about 5:35 p.m. Thursday and believe he is with his father, 41-year-old Ugo Fredette. They said he may have been driving a white Ford F250 pickup truck with the word “Axon” on the side in red.

Sgt. Ann Mathieu said a truck matching that description was found by the side of a road in Lachute, about 40 kilometres northwest of Saint-Eustache, but there was no sign of the boy or his father.

Police said the boy’s mother, 41-year-old Veronique Barbe, was married to Fredette. They said Barbe was a mother of four children, three of whom were born before the marriage.

Police also said early Friday that the man and boy were reportedly seen at a Walmart in Saint-Eustache at about 7 p.m. and published a photo of the pair on Twitter that appeared to be taken from a surveillance camera.

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Ugo Fredette, meanwhile, worked on a documentary about the abduction of Cedrika Provencher, a nine-year-old girl from Trois Rivieres, Que., who disappeared from her home 10 years ago. Her remains were found in a wooded area in December 2015.

Her grandfather, Henri Provencher, who runs the Cedrika Provencher Foundation, has posted an appeal on Facebook appealing to Fredette to hand over his child to police “without further delay.”

“I think I know him a little bit, and I know he’s a good-hearted man,” said Provencher.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911.

The Canadian Press