An inquest begins Tuesday into the death and disappearance of Julie Surprenant, a teenager who went missing more than 12 years ago.

The hearings run by coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier are expected to last three days this week and will take place at the Laval courthouse.

Her mandate is to talk to witnesses, investigators and others involved in the case in order to clear up what happened to the 16-year-old girl and make recommendations for future cases.

Disappeared in 1999

Julie Surprenant was 16-years-old when she vanished on her way home from school.

She was last seen getting off a bus just metres from her home in Terrebonne, north of Montreal, on Nov. 16, 1999.

Police long suspected that her neighbour, Richard Bouillon, had abducted the girl, but could never prove anything. Widespread searches turned up no trace of the girl.

It was thought Julie's disappearance would never be solved, that was until last year when a nurse, Annik Prud'homme, came forward with new information.

In January 2011 the nurse told authorities that before his death in 2006, Bouillon admitted killing Julie and throwing her body in the Mille Iles river near a church.

"He twice told me that he killed Julie Surprenant, and said what he did with her body," Prud'homme told the coroner. "No, he just told me he was the killer. Oh, he also said he raped boys and girls."

Bouillon died at the age of 52, on June 22, 2006, at Laval's Cite de la Sante Hospital. He had been serving a six-and-a-half year sentence for rape, molestation, sexual assault and drug-trafficking.

When the nurse came forward in early 2011 there were reports that she waited five years to come forward with the information because she thought the crime had already been solved. Prud'homme also told the coroner that she expected Bouillon to confess to Claude Poirer, the host of LCN's Le Vrai Negociateur.

"This showed the importance of holding a coroner's inquest after a person goes missing," said Michel Surprenant, the girl's father.

Patient confidentiality laws also prevented her from disclosing all the details of the deathbed confession until she was legally ordered to do so by a coroner's inquest.

"Its very troubling to sit through this testimony and realize that a number of people had received confessions from Mr. Bouillon," said Pina Arcamone, director of the Missing Children's Network.

Last autumn, police spent several days searching the river but failed to turn up any sign of Julie.