Husband accused of killing wife a month after divorce

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Oregon officials have arrested a man they say murdered his wife weeks after she filed for divorce.

Michel Fournier, 71, of Brightwood, was charged in connection with the death of his wife, Susan Lane-Fournier, 61, who went missing Nov. 22 along with the couple’s two dogs. She didn’t show up at her place of work.

The couple had been together for 12 years. A resident found the woman’s body this week near East Highway 26 and East Miller Road in Clackamas County near Werden, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Her manner of death was ruled a homicide.

This concluded a four-day search for Lane-Fournier. Her truck had previously been found in the Mount Hood National Forest area. The two dogs remain missing.

Fournier was charged with second-degree murder. He is currently being held in the Clackamas County Jail without bail.

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Officials did not release any further information about the woman’s death but are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

According to the Portland TribuneThe woman had expressed fear for her and her dogs in the days before the disappearance.

A group called “Team Phoenix” that worked to find Lane-Fournier issued a statement on Facebook after her body was found. Lane-Fournier’s nickname was “Phoenix.”

“The mission for justice has begun,” the group wrote. “We were all quiet, we were all processing our grief. This is not the outcome we were hoping for, but we were under no illusions that this might not be the outcome.”

A candlelight vigil is planned for Monday, December 2, at 6 p.m. at Hoodland Bazaar in Viels.

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“Ultimately, we want the light of Phoenix not to go out, but to shine brighter,” Cari Gesch, a friend of the woman, told the newspaper.

“We don’t want her death to be meaningless. Our community is all suffering and we all need to come together and grieve and cry together. We want to turn this senseless tragedy into something positive. I think that’s what Phoenix would have wanted. Maybe it can spark a positive change.”

Anyone with information about the missing dogs is asked to call the sheriff’s office.