Ottawa man charged with alleged murder of 54-year-old missing woman: police

Ottawa police have charged a 35-year-old man with the alleged murder of a missing woman whose body may have ended up in a local landfill. 

Police say the Ottawa man faces charges of second-degree murder and indignity to a dead body.

Investigators say 54-year-old Rachelle Desrochers has not been found but they have reason to believe she was killed and that her body may be in a landfill.

Police say the search is ongoing. 

They say Desrochers was last seen on March 14 on Elgin Street and had been known to frequent drop-in centres. 

Police say they are treating the case as a femicide, understood as the intentional killing of a woman because of their gender that can take several forms, from intimate partner violence to the killing of a woman because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2025.