Disappearance of Cédrika Provencher

Cédrika Provencher, born 29 August 1997, was a nine-year-old girl from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. On 31 July 2007 she disappeared, in what became one of the largest police searches in Quebec's history. It is believed she was asked by a man to help search for a lost dog and agreed to help, cycling around the area and knocking on doors to ask residents if they had seen it. She was seen emerging from a wooded area with a friend, closely followed by a man, and was later seen on her bicycle in a local park and on nearby streets. At around 8:30 pm, her bicycle was found leaning against a fire hydrant at the corner of Chabanel and Chapais streets.

She was declared missing on 31 July 2007, and municipal officers suggested on 2 August that she had been abducted. The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) took over the investigation from the Trois-Rivières police service. Neither force declared an Amber alert. Hundreds of citizens joined the search. By 13 August 2007, around 60 investigators were working full-time on the case, and a reward of CA$80,000 was offered for information, later raised to CA$170,000 in 2009. Despite extensive media coverage between August 2007 and July 2008, no concrete information emerged about her fate.

On 11 December 2015, three hunters found human remains in woods in Saint-Maurice, near Trois-Rivières, about 15 km from where Cédrika had last been seen. On 12 December 2015, police confirmed the remains were hers. On 16 December, Radio-Canada reported investigators were still seeking a person of interest seen near the site of her disappearance.

A man, Jonathan Bettez, has been considered a prime suspect by media reporting since early in the investigation, but has never been indicted, as the case against him has been described as strictly circumstantial. It centered on a red Acura TSX-model sedan reportedly seen near the scene, which was traced to a small number of registered owners in the province, of whom Bettez's alibi could not be corroborated. He was interviewed by investigators multiple times beginning 6 September 2007 and was subject to surveillance, including hidden cameras, wiretapping, and a year-long undercover operation in 2009. No search of his vehicle produced meaningful forensic evidence.

Bettez's status as the main suspect became publicly known after journalists reported it on 29 August 2016, following his arrest and charge on six counts of possessing and distributing child pornography. On 6 October 2018, Judge Jacques Lacoursière acquitted him prior to the start of hearings, ruling that the evidence against him — including IP address data obtained from Facebook without a warrant, and material later found via a general warrant not intended for detailed inspection — had been obtained illegitimately. As of the available reporting, no one has been charged in connection with Cédrika Provencher's death.