Neighbours surprised ‘Frenchie’ accused of killing teenager

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Early last week, Raymond Cormier asked his neighbour to keep an eye on his Winnipeg apartment for a couple of days, telling her he "had to go out of town," the woman said.

He had asked for favours before – could he borrow her laundry key, could he access her balcony to climb onto his after a friend had locked him out?

But this time was different, the woman said. Mr. Cormier showed up at her fifth-floor door clean-shaven and "almost bald." Gone were his greying beard and chin-length hair.

The next time she saw Mr. Cormier's face was Dec. 11, on the news.

That day, Winnipeg police revealed they had arrested Mr. Cormier in B.C. on Dec. 9 in connection with the killing of Tina Fontaine, the teen from the Sagkeeng First Nation whose body was pulled from Winnipeg's Red River on Aug. 17, 2014.

Police allege Tina and the 53-year-old accused, who has an extensive criminal record, had frequented the same east-side Winnipeg residence and believe Mr. Cormier killed her around Aug. 10 of last year. His lawyer, Pamela Smith, has said her client will contest the second-degree murder charge. The case is due back in court on Jan. 8.

The Globe and Mail has interviewed several people who knew Mr. Cormier – or "Frenchie," as he is widely known – including a former fellow prison inmate, neighbours at his Manitoba Housing apartment building, and former friends and acquaintances.

They spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing safety and privacy concerns. None of them said they saw the accused with Tina. Their accounts reveal Mr. Cormier to be a quirky man with a drug habit, and while some knew of his criminal past, all said they were surprised to learn he is accused of something so grave, so high-profile.

Mr. Cormier, originally from New Brunswick, is said to have kept the company of young women. He was described as a hoarder, bottle-picker and "scrapper," scavenging back lanes and dumpsters for recyclables he could trade for cash and TVs he could disassemble for copper to sell. He got around the Prairie capital on bikes he refurbished at his downtown-area apartment.

During his time at Stony Mountain institution, one former inmate said, Mr. Cormier worked as the cleaner on the "ghetto range" – a part of the prison that earned its nickname, he believes, because "the sun doesn't shine in."

And while Mr. Cormier's apartment was the source of noise complaints, he was also said to let women on and off the elevator first, and he came across, to some, as "nice" and "polite." The neighbour who watched his place said he once complimented a painting of a unicorn hanging on her wall and offered her a beer. She also said he was not one to make eye contact, casting his eyes to the floor in conversation.

"People were in and out [of his apartment] all the time," she said in an interview at the subsidized-housing building, which has dimly lit hallways and thin, off-white walls. "The only thing you could hear over there was a bunch of banging and clanging and yelling. … I thought those pictures [on the wall] were going to come down on my [fish] tank."

One homeless man, who described Mr. Cormier as a former close friend, said the accused used to spend time with him at his makeshift shelters by the river and elsewhere. "I trusted him more than anybody around here," he said, adding that he last saw Mr. Cormier early last week, and was shocked at the arrest in Whistler, B.C. "I just about dropped to my knees." He said they drifted apart after Mr. Cormier, 53, "started going downhill."

Mr. Cormier has more than 90 convictions, ranging from drug possession and theft to aggravated assault and forcible confinement. The Parole Board of Canada in 2012 deemed him a high risk of committing violent crimes. One prosecutor told a Manitoba judge earlier this year Mr. Cormier was doing "life on the instalment plan."

Mr. Cormier told the court during those proceedings that he was removed from his home when he was 13 years old and went to a reform school. He also says he was molested. "There's more to me than that file over there," he said of his record. "I'm not a bad guy." It is prison, he asserted, that "caused all the problems."

The former inmate said he and Mr. Cormier played poker regularly in Stony Mountain over the course of about two years, beginning in 2010. Mr. Cormier, whom the former inmate described as a quiet man with a "raspy" voice, otherwise spent most of his time in his cell. "He was the kind of guy that would go unnoticed," he said.

Ms. Smith said Mr. Cormier was employed after he was released in August, 2013, but was injured on the job. She told the court her client attempted to live at the downtown Salvation Army shelter, but found it "too rowdy" and ended up on the streets, collecting bottles to feed his "meth habit."

On July 5, 2014, police found Mr. Cormier in possession of a half-gram of crystal meth, the court heard. Soon after, he was released on bail and ordered to reside at the Salvation Army. Authorities learned in the fall that he had not stayed at the shelter since March of that year, the court heard.

This past spring, Mr. Cormier pleaded guilty to breaching his release conditions and to assault with a weapon after brandishing a screwdriver at a Safeway grocery store on Aug. 23, 2014. Mr. Cormier was sentenced to 10 months in jail, less about five months already served.

His neighbours and fellow tenants said he moved into the building about six months ago.

The neighbour who was asked to watch his place said several police officers, whom she believed were from the vice unit, were there a couple of weeks back demanding that he open the door. Mr. Cormier did not surface, and they left, she said.

Police were also at his apartment this week, she and another tenant said, adding that Manitoba Housing hauled out any remaining boxes and furniture on Wednesday.

The unit is now empty.