MORRISSEAU KILLED OVER CRACK COCAINE - INFORMANT

The lead came in almost overnight, and the intimate details of the
crime, yet to be revealed in the press, had homicide detectives on the
hunt early on for a suspect they still can't find.

Detectives working the Gatineau parking-lot slaying of 27-year-old
Kelly Morrisseau got the remarkable tip early on in the probe: The
young mother, pregnant with another child, was killed over a handful
of crack cocaine.

The tip came from an informant in a Vanier neighbourhood known for its
street prostitution and crack houses. It was Ms. Morrisseau's
neighbourhood, and on its streets she occasionally sold her body for
sex along Deschamps and Lafontaine streets.

It's a tightknit neighbourhood often trolled by police for information
on the criminal underworld, from details on the latest drug dealer to
what the Hells Angels are up to.

It was from this street network that a longtime police contact came
forward to Ontario authorities with details about the crime. They
passed it to the Quebec detectives trying to solve Ms. Morrisseau's
killing. She had been found Dec. 10 by a man walking a dog early in
the morning. She was barely alive, bleeding to death after someone had
stabbed her a dozen times.

The tip included details about the crime -- including the name of the
victim and how she was killed, before they were known to the public --
which led detectives to take it seriously. The tipster told police
drugs were involved. The tip included a detailed description of a man
seen with Ms. Morrisseau before she died. It also included the man's
street name.

Police are uncomfortable with revealing detailed information about the
tip for fear the man will discover he's a suspect, or at least someone
the police want to question, and go into hiding.

The man has not been seen in Vanier since.

The woman's family told the Citizen in December that they had no idea
why someone would want Ms. Morrisseau dead.

Police said early in the investigation that they had collected
valuable evidence that could lead them to the killer, including blood
samples collected in a Tim Hortons washroom. Quebec detectives are now
waiting for the final results of DNA tests.

The security cameras at the Tim Hortons captures video images from
both entrances, and would track anyone heading into the bathroom. The
restaurant is about a kilometre west of the parking lot where Ms.
Morrisseau was found.

Police also seized at least 12 items from the bathroom, including a
garbage bag.

Police also got videotape from surveillance cameras from a nearby
coffee shop on St-Raymond Boulevard.

Early reports from a pathologist showed that Ms. Morrisseau had
defensive wounds, indicating that she fought against her killer.

She was too weak to say anything when she was found. She could only
summon enough strength to blink.

Her blinks, if they were a call for help, still go unanswered.