Bereaved Mothers

Life and the absence of the spirit of life suddenly removed is no negligible matter. It represents tragedy wherever it occurs and no matter whom it takes. Sudden deaths occur among the young for all manner of reasons, most of them unexpected, all of them tragic. But it is particularly tragic when two young, vibrant women barely removed from girlhood lose their lives. And their mothers lose their beloved daughters.

Both Jessica Godin 18, and Valerie Leblanc, also 18, lost their lives to gruesome misadventure. Jessica Godin happened to be walking alone along a rural road late at night, in the dark, along a road that saw steady traffic, but also was used as a walking route by residents taking the air of summer evenings. She was the victim of a hit-and-run, struck, her body tossed by the impact into a ditch, hidden and not discovered until the following day.

Valerie Leblanc was a young student attending the CEGEP de l'Outaouais Gabrielle-Roy campus. It was her ill fortune to be found on August 23 close to the campus in a wooded area, dead of severe head trauma, her body burned. A group of young people walking in the area had come across her body, at first believing it to be other than a human body. One of that group has come under suspicion of performing an indignity to a human body by setting her on fire.

He (or she) is not suspected of having been the individual (or several individuals) responsible for the beating death of the young woman. Valerie Leblanc's mother Julie Charron, has issued a public plea for anyone with any kind of knowledge, however remotely connected to the scene, to come forward to assist police in solving the mystery of her daughter's dreadful murder.

"Someone, somewhere, knows who he is, where he lives. If everyone helps us, we will find this person."

The person she would far prefer to find is her daughter, intact. And that is not to be. Perhaps she feels that her daughter may rest in peace and her own mind will find peace, if the one who murdered her in the blush of the spring of her life is brought to justice.

"The past weeks have been very difficult for Valerie's family and friends. The 23rd of August will be carved forever in our memory. That's the day when someone took the life of my daughter, my little Valerie, my ray of sunshine, for no reason."

Jessica Godin, whose life came to an end as she walked in the hamlet of Fournier on September 24, died much too soon, too early in life, an assault on the sensibilities of anyone who rails against the unfairness of Dame Fortune who looked the other way when someone carelessly drives his vehicle into the frail frame of a young woman out for an evening stroll.

Her mother, Nathalie Godin has appealed to anyone who might have some information to step forward.

"You know, we can only hope that whoever did this grows a conscience and comes forward. Somebody out there knows something. That's all I can hope for right now."

Jessica was hurled by the impact of a vehicle striking her from behind, into a deep ditch. This was a road where vehicles came by, perhaps every five minutes. A road where people normally walk alongside it for recreational purposes. It is also a road that does not lead to anywhere but the residential places along it. It is a road upon which people drive when they have a purpose; to reach their places of residence.

Someone who lives in the neighbourhood was driving too fast, too carelessly given the nature of the road and how it has been traditionally used, and hit a young woman. And left her there without making any attempt to ascertain the extent of her injuries, to offer help, to take responsibility for her well-being. Someone decided he/she would far prefer to remain anonymous and uninvolved rather than admit they had a human obligation.

Two mothers await answers to questions that no one but those involved can answer. Those two mothers know that nothing will ease their anguish. They simply would like the nightmare to end.