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By Canadian Press

Father of boy who was the subject of an Amber Alert in hospital

Sep 17, 2017 | 12:00 PM

MONTREAL — A man who was arrested after police found his six-year-old son, who had been the subject of an Amber Alert, remained in an Ontario hospital Sunday.

The boy vanished from St-Eustache, Que., on Thursday and his father was apprehended in Ontario nearly 24 hours later. By then, the body of the boy’s mother had also been discovered in the family home.

Ontario Provincial Police say the man suffered injuries that required medical assessment and he was sent to hospital Saturday.

The man appeared in court by videolink earlier in the day from a police station in Renfrew, Ont., where he had been held since his arrest on Friday night.

Quebec provincial police won’t comment on what charges he might face when he returns to his home province.

As of late Sunday, it was not clear when the man would be transferred to Quebec police.

“This man will be back in Quebec when his health conditions are better,” spokesman Claude Denis said Sunday.

Meanwhile, volunteers and police officers spent Sunday searching for a 71-year-old man who has been missing from Lachute, Que., west of Montreal, since Friday.

Yvon Lacasse had been using the car in which the six-year-old boy was found safe.

Denis says investigators have been contacted by a motorcyclist who could be a useful witness.

Police had images from a surveillance camera that showed a motorcyclist in Lachute who may have seen Lacasse’s car Thursday at about 6 p.m. — the time police say the car was stolen.

The spokesman says police are now looking for another witness, a man in his forties. They have posted a composite sketch of a bearded man on social media.  

Denis says the man was seen around Rouyn-Noranda, Que., Friday in the company of someone police believe is linked to the death of the boy’s mother.

Meanwhile, police have asked motorists, campers and others living in the area between Lachute and Rouyn-Noranda to check ditches, cabins and backyards as the search for Lacasse continues.

He is described as bald with brown eyes, 5 feet 5 inches tall, and weighs just under 100 pounds.

Police are asking anyone who thinks they may have seen him to call 911.

Peter Rakobowchuk, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press