A Cape Breton man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his mother, who was reported missing last May.
“The man charged is Merlin Kennedy and he’s been charged with second-degree murder on the victim, who is, the relationship is that it’s his mother,” confirms Crown attorney Dan MacRury.
The 30-year-old Framboise man was arrested at his home on Tuesday following a seven-month police investigation.
His home was the subject of a police search last spring after his mother, Michelle Demers-Kennedy, disappeared.
Demers-Kennedy, 58, was reported missing from her home on Three Rivers Road in Framboise on May 12, 2013.
RCMP and search crews conducted extensive searches near Demers-Kennedy’s home but failed to locate her. Her body has never been found.
“Certainly there has been cases before where a person can be convicted when a person’s body has not been found,” says MacRury.
“Basically, police have to have reasonable, probably grounds that they committed the offence, and elements of the offence have to be there.”
Police aren’t saying how Demers-Kennedy died, but they believe she was killed at her home sometime between May 2 and 15.
Neighbours say she was a kind woman with a passion for the hobby farm she kept on her property.
“She was beautiful. She was fantastic. She loved animals. She loved everybody,” says neighbour Roger Shaw.
He also says he is relieved a charge has finally been laid in the case.
“I just wish they’d find the body, you know, for closure, for the rest of the family,” says Shaw.
Kennedy made his first court appearance Wednesday morning in Sydney. He appeared disheveled and asked to be placed in a cell by himself, although he didn’t say why.
He is due back in court in Port Hawkesbury on Thursday.
Police say they are still pursuing a number of leads and Demers-Kennedy’s death remains under investigation.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
