Mom charged with murder of daughter, 7

CHELSEA, QUE. - The mother of seven-year-old Sophie Fitzpatrick has been charged with murder in the strangulation death of her daughter.

The adopted girl from China was found inside the family home Saturday by her father, Murray Fitzpatrick, who had just returned from a business trip.

His wife, Katherine, 53, had tried to kill herself, police sources told QMI Agency, and remains in hospital.

But police sources told QMI Agency a letter was allegedly found, in which the horrific act is explained.

Sue Marchand and her husband Claude have known the Fitzpatricks for almost 20 years.

"Horrible," Sue Marchand said about her feelings Sunday before police confirmed the mother had been charged. "It's beyond belief.

"She was a fantastic girl."

They were the best kind of parents, Claude Marchand said.

Earlier Sunday, three sunflowers lay at the top of the Fitzpatrick laneway at 80 Barnes Rd., perhaps one for each of the lives shattered in the apparent murder-attempted suicide.

Little Sophie was the light of everyone's lives, according to her neighbour.

Sophie had been in Canada for five-and-a-half years, adopted from China by the Fitzpatricks, who were described as loving and caring parents.

"Kathy is a very good friend of mine and so is Murray," said Sue Marchand, who went to the movies with Katherine Fitzpatrick every Tuesday.

But somehow, the unthinkable happened Saturday inside the family home.

Away on a business trip, investment adviser and financial planner Murray Fitzpatrick returned home to find seven-year-old Sophie strangled and his wife, who had tried to kill herself, Quebec police sources told QMI Agency.

The pair was rushed to hospital, where the girl was pronounced dead.

Police had remain tight-lipped about the probe, calling the girl's death suspicious.

Murray Fitzpatrick's grief manifested in anger when he answered the door of the family home Sunday morning and demanded reporters leave the property.

"Please, give us privacy," he said.

"You think you know someone," Sue Marchand said. "To hear that something's happened to the family, it's beyond belief. When you're a parent and you have a child, you just can't imagine."

Sue Marchand had seen Sophie on Thursday as the girl made her way home from school with her mother. Nothing seemed awry with Katherine Fitzpatrick, her friend said.

"She was just like she always is; bubbly, outgoing, friendly, funny. She asked me if I wanted to pay her bills cause we were at the mailbox and I said, 'No, I've got enough thanks'."

Sophie had just started a new school year -- Grade 2 -- at the Montessori school.

"For Murray, Sophie was the highlight of his life, the child he always wanted and he got one," Sue Marchand said. "And Kathy, the love of his life, and I don't know how he's going to cope with all of this. I don't know how anybody copes with it."

-- With files from Kelly Roche and QMI Agency