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ST-JEROME, Que. — Friends and family of a teenage girl whose body was found by the side of a road in Quebec’s Laurentians regions sat in disbelief on Friday as a family friend of over two decades was charged with first-degree murder in her death.

Francois Senecal was charged Friday in a courtroom in St-Jerome with the murder of 13-year-old Oceane Boyer.

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The handcuffed 51-year-old stared at the ground as he appeared in front of a packed courtroom, where loved ones of the victim wiped away tears.

At one point, Quebec Court Judge Maria Albanese told Senecal to lift his head to be sure he understood her words.

Quebec provincial police arrested Senecal on Thursday, a day after Boyer’s body was found by a public road in Brownsburg-Chatham, northwest of Montreal.

The girl’s mother, Caroline Sarrazin, appeared overcome with emotion and needed help leaving the courtroom.

“I have to get outside,” she could be heard saying at the end of the hearing.