A community has rallied behind André Racine and his three young children, after his fiancee, Emanuelle D'Amours, was found dead in a Kapuskasing home Feb. 18.
Police have already arrested 30-year-old Patrick Carignan, and charged him with second-degree murder.
But the OPP said the investigation into D'Amours' death is still ongoing.
Racine, who grew up in Sudbury, must now care for his three young children – Gabriel, 3, Maxim, 2, and nine-month-old daughter Ava – on his own.
When family friend Natasha David-Harper heard about D'Amours' tragic death, she knew she had to help Racine in some way.
“André is like a little brother to me,” said David-Harper, who grew up with Racine's older sister, Stéphanie Racine, in Sudbury.
Harper-David now lives in Newmarket, but decided to use social media to give André and his young family some financial support.
“All I could think about was André and his kids, because I knew how young they were,” she said.
Harper-David turned to GoFundMe, a popular crowdfunding website she had heard about in the news.
She contacted Stéphanie to get the family's blessing, and got in touch with their mutual friend, Joelle Martel-Lafleur, who helped set up the donation page.
They set an ambitious goal to raise $100,000 for André and his children.
“Honestly, neither one of us thought we would reach this number,” Harper-David said.
As of Wednesday afternoon nearly 500 people had donated, bringing the total to $30,725 so far.
David-Harper said the generosity from complete strangers has exceeded her expectations.
She has also received many messages of support through the campaign's homepage.
