Two sisters killed by father could have been saved if Quebec police acted sooner, coroner says

About 18 hours went by between the time two young sistersdisappeared along with their father and the moment an Amber Alertwas issued, according to a Quebec coroner's report.

The report, obtained by Radio-Canada, says the two girls could have been saved had Quebec provincial police acted more quickly.

The two girls, Norahand RomyCarpentier, aged 11 and 6, disappeared along with their father, Martin Carpentier, on July 8, 2020, after the vehicle they were in crashed intoseveral sign posts on Highway 20 in Saint-Apollinaire, Que., a municipality about 45 kilometres southwest of Quebec City.

According to coroner Sophie Rgnire, the father left the crash site with his daughters, and killed themin a wooded area a day later with a blunt object. He then took his own life.

Their disappearance triggered oneof the longest Amber Alerts in the province's history.

The reportnotedseveral issues thathinderedthe investigation that, if addressed, might have helped prevent the deaths of Norah, Romyand their father.

The coronerhighlighted the fact that, for several hours after the crash, investigators treated the case as a hit-and-run, and not a missing persons case.

The crash took place at around 9:20 p.m. on July, 8, 2020. The Amber Alert was issued by police at around 1:20 p.m. the following day.The girls, and their father, were still alive at that time.

The report also said that, once the Amber Alert was issued by the Sret du Qubec(SQ), it took more than anhour and a half for the media to receive this information.

The report explains that the delay is partly explained by the provincial police communications team needing time to gather details.

Although officials from the SQ have saidthat theyreviewed the investigation followingthe police operation, Rgnire said the police force should again examine what happened, in light of the recommendations in herreport.

The coronerrecommends that the SQ conduct an "exhaustiveexamination" of the investigation in order to improve its processes for cases involvingmissing children.

Rgnire also recommends that the Ministry of Public Security broaden the criteria for issuing anAmber Alert and create a co-ordination unit dedicated to disappearances.

Amlie Lemieux, Norah and Romy's mother, declined to comment on the recommendations, saying she prefers to wait for the report to be released officially next week.

Father intentionally crashed vehicle, coroner says

The coroner says she believes the father intentionally caused the crash in an unsuccessful attemptto kill himself and his daughters.

Rgniresaid it is likely the crash was deliberate, considering the text messagesCarpentier sent to his wife earlier, which read like goodbye messages.

The timing for when he received the divorce papers, the momenthe sent the text messagesand the content of those messages are "troubling," she wrote.

She also wrote that the fact he insisted on being alone with his daughters and that he fled the scene of the collisionalso pushed her to drawthis conclusion.

According to thereport, "this failed attempt at dying with his daughters represents a point of no return for Mr. Carpentier."

Carpentierfeared divorce, coroner says

According to the report,the fatherpanicked after receiving documents regarding his pending divorcefrom his daughters' mother, Amlie Lemieux and it was a turning point in the events that ultimately led to him killing himself and the two girls.

According to Rgnire,it had been five years since heand the girls' mother, Amlie Lemieux, had separated and he was worried the next step would be a divorce.

The report explains that Carpentier was worried Norah, who was not his biological child, would be taken away from him even though he had adopted her when she was born in 2008.

When the couple broke up in 2015, his concerns about losing his place as a father grew, "especially sinceNorah's mother took steps to put her in contact with her biological father," the report stated.

Notes from his family doctor indicateCarpentier met with a lawyer in June 2020, which helped reduce his stress, the report said. A doctor prescribed him medication to treat insomnia, and the expert considered the possibility of him being clinically depressed.

A few days before disappearing with his daughters, Carpentiermet with his lawyer to prepare the divorce petition.

The lawyeremailed him the document onJuly 8, 2020, for approval the same day he disappeared with his daughters. Receiving the document is what triggered him, the coroner said.

After spending part of thatday with his family and having dinner with them, Carpentier went to eat ice cream with his daughters. He insisted on going alone with them and said he would return by 9 p.m.

They never came back.

Police found the two girls'bodies inawooded areaon July 11, 2020, abouttwo kilometres from the crash site. The coroner wrote that several signs point to the father experiencing a psychotic episode when he killed his daughters.

According to the results of the psychological autopsy conducted at the request of the coroner, he allegedly displayed signs ofa "severe depressive episode with probable psychotic symptoms."

The Amber Alert turned into a manhunt that lasted nearly 10 days before the father's body was found a few kilometres down the road.

At the time,the SQsaid the events played out within a period of eight hours, and that investigators could not have done anything more.