Michael Briere is a Canadian convicted of rape and murder.
Originally from Montreal, in 2003 Briere lived in downtown Toronto, where he worked as a software developer. On May 12, 2003 he kidnapped Holly Maria Jones, a 10-year-old girl who happened to be walking past his house as she returned home from a friend's house that evening. He called her over to his house, kidnapped her, sexually assaulted and strangled her. After dismembering her body, he attempted to discard the remains by placing them in two bags and used weights to try to sink them in the Toronto Harbour; however, the bags were found the next morning on May 13, 2003.
Briere was initially suspected by police for refusing to provide a DNA sample when they conducted a wide-scale request for samples from all men in the area where Jones had gone missing. He was arrested and charged with her murder on June 20, 2003.[1]
Briere pleaded guilty to the crime, which he then described as "cruel, inhuman, and nightmarish," claiming he wished to spare his victim's family the pain of a trial. He received an automatic life sentence and will not be eligible to apply for parole for 25 years.[2]
In court, he attributed his actions to viewing child pornography, a claim which resulted in considerable public debate about pornography in Canada.