Man dies after his arrest for death of Montreal woman during work video call

Posted November 5, 2026 11:33 am

1 min read

1:43 Concerns over Quebec’s 18th possible femicide this year after woman killed while on Zoom call

A 33-year-old man accused of fatally attacking a 45-year-old Montreal woman while she was on a work video conference call has died.

Quebec’s coroner office told Global News Thursday it was notified on Nov. 2 that Youcef Moussaoui was dead. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of death.

Moussaoui was arrested last month in the Ville-Marie borough and charged with first-degree murder in the death of Leila Ben Salem, an employee of the Canada Revenue Agency.

Emergency crews were called on Sept. 22 to an apartment building on René-Lévesque Boulevard East near St-Christophe Street after receiving a request to check on a resident. When officers arrived, they found the woman unresponsive inside the apartment.

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Police initially classified the death as suspicious before the case was transferred to the homicide unit. Sources later confirmed to Global News that the woman was on a work-related call when she was attacked.

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0:36 Quebec woman killed while on a Zoom call

Investigators remained at the scene the following day, examining the apartment building, processing the crime scene and reviewing surveillance footage as they worked to determine the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.

Police said the killing was not related to intimate partner violence. They said evidence gathered during the investigation, including the alleged motive, will be made public during the court process.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.