Funeral for Rejeanne Pelletier-Charette

My assignment on Saturday was to cover a memorial service that was held for Rejeanne Pelletier-Charette - an 82-year old Sherbrooke woman who was murdered mid-August allegedly by a 16-year old run-away boy.  Witnesses say the boy was going door-to-door asking people if he could use their phone.

There were over 400 attendants. She had quite a large extended family and was an active church and community member. Like the rest of the reporters there, I needed to get clips from mourners who knew Pelletier-Charette and wanted to comment on their loss. Of course no one really wanted to comment. It's one of those moments when people despise the media and think all journalists are cold-hearted gossips.

Fortunately I did find some people who were willing to give a few words after the service about their loved one. Many said she was a remarkable, young-at-heart, kind spirit. 
I've covered a few funerals in the past. The hardest was covering two babies that were allegedly murdered by their father one Winter; the man was apparently distraught over his divorce. Some mourners from that funeral swore at reporters and cameramen. I felt like scum.  You could see the heartbreak on people's faces, they were devastated and understandably so. But an assignment's an assignment.

This job can be desensitizing. It's usually at the end of the shift that the effect of the day's unravellings start to sink in...