HALIFAX - Police in Halifax have accused a young man of killing his mother and attempting to bury her remains in the backyard of a house in the city's west end.
Homicide investigators say 26-year-old Ryan Richard Lamontagne has been charged with the second-degree murder and causing an indignity to human remains.
Lamontagne appeared briefly in Halifax provincial court on Wednesday and was remanded to the East Coast Forensic Hospital for a psychiatric assessment.
A team of sheriffs restrained the accused as he was brought into court, and a sheriff had to prompt Lamontagne to look at the judge as she addressed him.
Police say officers were dispatched to investigate “suspicious circumstances” at the home on Willow Street early on Tuesday morning.
When they arrived around 7:30 a.m., they found Lamontagne in the backyard with the body of his mother, 65-year-old Linda Lamontagne.
He was arrested without incident.
The province's medical examiner conducted an autopsy and determined the death was a homicide.
In court documents, police say the young man is charged with indecently interfering with human remains “by attempting to bury Linda Lamontagne.”
Lamontagne is due back in court Oct. 29.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2019.
