Mother of slain Gatineau teen Valérie Leblanc pleads for new information

The mother of a Gatineau student whose body was found beaten and burned five years ago today is pleading for new information that could lead to her daughter's killer.

The body of 18-year-old Valérie Leblanc was found by students in the woods behind Cégep de l'Outaouais on Aug. 23, 2011, a few days after she disappeared on her first day of school.

Leblanc's homicide has remain unsolved, despite the hundreds of tips that have been called in to police over the years.

"I just miss her ... and every year that goes on, it's like we're going [through] that again. It's bringing me down so much," Leblanc's mother Julie Charron told CBC News.

"I hope we have something … find something. We have to know what happened … so I can do my mourning."

Gatineau police issued a sketch of a male witness in the months following Leblanc's death, and investigators said they still want to speak with that person.

"We're still at the point where we would like to meet with the important witness in our case," said Jean-Paul Lemay of the Gatineau Police Service.

"One thing for sure is that we are convinced that there is someone out there that has crucial information in our investigation. And for some sort of reason there's something blocking this person to call police."

Anyone with information is asked to call the Gatineau Police Service's homicide line at 819 243-INFO (4636).