Gatineau man charged in 2002 cold case death of his Calgary girlfriend

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A Gatineau man was scheduled to arrive in Alberta Monday to face a second-degree murder charge in a 16-year-old cold case — the death of his girlfriend.

Adrienne McColl, 21, was killed on Valentine’s Day in 2002, and her body was found in a rancher’s field outside Calgary.

On Saturday, Gatineau police arrested Stéphane Parent, 49, as he was going to work.

The arrest came a few days after RCMP in Alberta announced that improvements in forensic technology have allowed them to re-examine evidence from the 2002 case and gain new information.

The RCMP told reporters in Airdrie, near Calgary, Monday that they used 184 officers over the 16-year investigation.

From the beginning, Parent, then 33, had been the only “person of interest” in McColl’s death for police. And he immediately disappeared.

Parent had been McColl’s boyfriend for two years — a relationship that her family described as on-and-off. Both had worked at the same sports bar where Parent was the manager and McColl was a server.

Parent was fired from his job at the bar just days before McColl’s death. The bar owner reported that someone also stole $8,400 from the restaurant. Calgary police theorized that this crime could be related to the homicide.

Homicide investigations said Parent used the club owner’s car to get to the Calgary airport when he fled, and the keychain he used also had the keys to the nightclub on them.

Parent was already facing charges for an unrelated earlier crime, including uttering threats, fraud, theft over $5,000 and obstructing police. It was McColl who put up the $5,000 bail money in that case — and she lost her money after he breached bail conditions. She had to pawn her jewelry to get the money.

When Parent flew to Ottawa and disappeared, the McColl family believed he had not stopped in the Ottawa area. “I personally would be astonished if he was,” said a friend speaking on the family’s behalf. “We know that he had contacts in France, he had visited there and he has worked there. He speaks French fluently.”

Police, however, now believe he has lived in Quebec and Ontario ever since.


A missing poster for Stephane Raymond Parent, 33.


After he disappeared, Parent phoned Calgary homicide investigators at least five times from somewhere in Quebec but refused to meet them face-to-face.

He also spoke to a Calgary Sun reporter.

“I did not kill her and if the police seriously think I did, then tell them to press charges,” Parent said at the time.

“If I would have done it, (police) would have had prints or something.

“I would talk to them but I’m broke and I’m not gonna sit in a cop shop with no lawyer there.”

His mother, who wouldn’t give her full name to the Sun, was convinced he was dead.

“As a mother, I know my son is dead because he wouldn’t let Adrienne die alone,” the mother said.

“They wanted to start a family and Adrienne was pregnant, but she gave birth five days before her due date in October and the baby was stillborn.”

A miscarriage Adrienne suffered just a couple of months later only added to the couple’s misery, she said.

“My son loved Adrienne so much that she was the only girl he ever wanted to have children with,” she said.

Unable to locate her son, the mother filed a missing person report with police.

A year after McColl’s death, homicide investigators were more openly suggesting they believed Parent had something to hide.

“You try to remain as open-minded as you can, but we’re not looking at anyone else right now,” one said in an interview. “No other suspect has come to light and that’s after a year-long investigation.”

tspears@postmedia.com

twitter.com/TomSpears1


A family photo of Adrienne McColl, whose body was found in an Alberta ditch by a farmer in 2002.

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