Missing Edmonton woman found dead, former partner facing 2nd-degree murder charge

A suspect in the killing of an Edmonton woman has been arrested following a police search.

Collin Boucher-Gionet, 34, will be charged with second-degree murder and indignity to a body in the death of 32-year-old Aylissa Rovere, the Edmonton Police Service said Wednesday.

The two were in an intimate relationship, according to police.

EPS said Boucher-Gionet was found Tuesday night. The police service issued warrants for his arrest earlier that day, saying he was allegedly driving a stolen truck. The truck has been recovered, police said.

Rovere's disappearance was being investigated as a missing person case as of last Friday.

Homicide investigators took over the case and police found her body while executing a search warrant at an address in Parkland County over the weekend.

An autopsy completed Monday confirmed the deceased was Rovere, and the manner of death was determined as homicide, police said.

Police have not released the cause of death.

'We miss her' 

Rovere's family is reeling from the death, said Aylissa's brother Christopher Rovere.

She was a mother of two teenage children, and the youngest of seven siblings, he said. 

She suffered from high anxiety after the death of their father and a previous partner in her teens, which she managed through singing, Christopher Rovere said.

"Even from a little girl, she used to sing Annie. We would record her before phones even were a thing. We had a camcorder," he said.

"Singing a lot was really what kept her going, was singing online or doing things like that," he said. 

"We loved her and supported her. We miss her."

Christopher Rovere said his sister was in a "complicated relationship" with Boucher-Gionet.

The family filed a missing person report after she hadn't contacted her son for a few days, he said. 

"She's always in contact with her son. So when her son didn't hear from her for a few days, we knew that something was wrong or something was up."

Christopher Rovere said the family gathered at his mom's house on Sunday, where they saw a beautiful rainbow.

"Her son had just arrived before me and when he arrived, a beautiful rainbow appeared. A double rainbow," Christopher said. 

"And I'll just say that I feel like that was a sign from her with her last tears, that was a rainbow for us to show that she was alright in heaven, and with my father that's gone before us."

The family has started a GoFundMe campaign to help with funeral costs and to support Rovere's children.