OTTAWA, Ont. — “I knew from day one.”

Nicole Nayel, the mother of murder victim Fouad Nayel, said she’d suspected the man accused in her son’s death long before Fouad’s body was discovered near Calabogie, four months after his disappearance.

Adam Picard, 29, of Orleans, made his first court appearance on a charge of first-degree murder Thursday morning, following his arrest Wednesday in the death of the 28-year-old Barrhaven construction worker.

Fouad had been reported missing on June 18.  The day before, he told his family he was going to Petawawa for a few hours but would be back with Chinese food to celebrate Father’s Day. His badly decomposed body was discovered on November 11 in a remote wooded area off Norton Road.

His mother said after her son vanished, she checked his phone records.

“Who was the first person I talked to?  Mr. Picard,” Nayel told reporters outside the courthouse. “He talked to my son five times the same day that he disappeared.  I had to hold myself together.  I was furious, I was fuming, to see the guy that my son trusted.”

Picard’s lawyer, Sean May, said his client, a former member of the Canadian Forces currently studying at Le Cordon Bleu, is still coming to terms with his arrest.

“He hasn’t said very much.  He’s still in shock,” May said. “He’s anxious to know what the evidence is, what he’s being accused of.  He’s presumed innocent and he’s eager to see what the evidence brings.”

Picard will make his next court appearance via video on December 20.