Crime
Belanger Family Fights for Truth Two Years after Daughters Mysterious Death in Thailand
Audrey and Noémi Bélanger died mysteriously while on holiday in 2012
MONTREAL – More than two years after the Belanger sisters died in a Thailand hotel room, their parents Carl and Linda Belanger are still looking for answers.
Audrey, 20, and Noemie, 26, had been staying on the island of Koh Phi Phi in June 2012, when they both mysteriously died. Now, Carl Belanger is looking forward to the February release of a coroner’s report he hopes will shed light on what killed them.
The long wait for answers is indicative of just how thick the stack of reports on the case is, including the autopsy, toxicology report and investigations by both the Quebec and Thai police.
Carl and Linda Belanger still looking for answers.
The Belangers believes there have been several irregularities in the investigation. For instance, the bodies of the two girls couldn’t be identified in Thailand, due to their advanced state of decomposition.
“They were in their hotel room for three days before they were found,” he said, in spite of their reservation being for only one night.
The bodies were then sent to the Canadian embassy after another delay of four or five days.
Carl Belanger also said it was strange that his family received $20,000 from the Thai government as compensation for his daughters’ deaths.
“We spoke to the lady from Norway whose daughter died under similar circumstances, also in Thailand, and she didn’t get a penny,” he said. “We were the only ones to get a sum like this.”
He said the family’s devastation is especially strong around the holidays.
“These are lives destroyed,” said Belanger. “It’s Noemie’s birthday on Dec. 26. This is a very difficult time for us.”
