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Edmonton 2005 Homicide Digest >permalink<

On January 16th, 2006 the Edmonton Police Service issued their latest issue of Homicide Digest.

At a press conference, EPS Superintendent Ed McFarlane cautioned, “We don’t want citizens of Edmonton to be fearful or panic about their personal safety living here. At the same time, we need to realise that we are living in a big city and that the problems Edmonton is experiencing are issues that are being felt throughout the country.”

McFarlane backed up his statement citing Statistics Canada reports that homicide rates increased in nearly every major city in 2005.

The EPS report indicated that 40% of 2005's homicides were gang-related, with young males killing other young males. 10 of the 15 gang cases in 2005 have been "cleared" by EPS, meaning a suspect has been charged or a warrant has been issued for arrest. In 2004, police only laid one charge in 11 gang-related homicides.

McFarlane credits citizens for getting more involved in reporting crime. “We are discovering that people close to those involved are not doing the cowardly thing: they are fed up with violence and are doing the right thing," McFarlane stated.

The report indicates that death by stabbing numbers are down, beatings are up and shootings remain the same compared to the previous year. 18 of the 38 victims cited in the report had criminal convictions, while 28 of the 38 offenders had previous criminal convictions. The five unsolved gang-related homicides account for nearly half of the outstanding cases in 2005.

RCMP Homicide Rates for 2005 >permalink<

On January 19th, 2006 the RCMP released their annual report on 49 homicides in their jurisdictions across Alberta. 34 of the homicides occured north of Red Deer, including the four mounties killed near Mayerthorpe by gunman James Roszko.

Domestic homicide rates doubled across the province, from 15 in 2004 to 31 in 2005. Two victims (Charlene Gauld and Ellie-May Meyer) were Edmonton area sex trade workers. Along with Sharene Oswald, whose body was discovered near Airdire, those cases are also being looked at by Project KARE.

Assault was cause of death in 45% of the cases, with guns and knives coming in second at 22%, other weapons accounting for 3% while strangulation was the cause in 2%.

RCMP claim a clearance rate of 80% in their investigation of 2005's murders. The figures do not included the Edmonton and Calgary cities or other municipalities not patrolled by the RCMP. The RCMP investigated 50 murders in 2004, 33 in 2003, 28 in 2002, 38 in 2001 and 27 in 2000.

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POLICE LINE: DO NOT CROSS

2005 - month by month

January 2005

Russell Curtis Adams

January 1, 2005. Age 28. Gunshot, gang related. 15212 Stony Plain Road [full details | latest update].

Updated April 2007

Tony Doyle

January 15, 2005. Age 23. Satbbing. 10045 109 Street [full details].

Updated March 2008

Chi Nghia (Jay) Ton >permalink<

January 23, 2005. Age 41. Gunshot. Gang related.

While standing outside his townhouse, Unit 26 at 345 Kirkness Road (near 144 Avenue and 36 Street), Ton received a shot to the head. His was the third homicide of a year that was just barely three weeks old. In 2003, Ton was given a 22-month conditional sentence and a $2,000 fine for production of marijuana (a grow operation). Neighbours noted the condo was one of two occupied by one extended Vietnamese family. The police gang unit is involved in the investigation.

Case status is open and active.

Samantha Tayleen Berg

January 25, 2005. Age 19. Cause withheld. Body found at 7829 127 Avenue [full details].

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February 2005

Aaron Richard Dahl >permalink<

February 1, 2005. Age 23. Stabbing.

The second month of the year started off with the fourth murder of the year. At the Keg 'n' Q Billiards, 8126 82 Avenue -- located in a Bonnie Doon area strip mall, Dahl was observed in conversation with two persons he seemed to know. Dahl was next seen in the stairwell of the billiards club with a fatal stab wound to the chest. Police said Dahl's death was not gang related but haven't ruled out a drug connection. Two assailants are sought.

Case status is open and active.

James Patrick Wilson

February 6, 2005. Age 21. Stabbing. Orlando's 2 Pub & Grill at 13509 127 Street [full details | latest update].

Updated November 2006

Brandon Joseph Klein

February 19, 2005. Age 20. Blunt force trauma. 4505 137 Avenue [full details | latest update].

Updated November 2007

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March 2005

Alberta RCMP Deaths

March 3, 2005. Ambush.

It started out as a routine investigation of stolen property. It ended with the death of four Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers. Bill Sweeney, commanding officer of the RCMP in Alberta, Canada, said "You have to go back to about 1885 in RCMP history during the Northwest Rebellion to have a loss of this magnitude."

For the latest about this tragedy and the events that captured the attention of a country, visit the Last Link Alberta RCMP Deaths page.

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April 2005

Nina Louise Courtepatte

April 3, 2005. Age 13. Blunt force trauma. Edmonton Springs Golf Course Resort, 30 km west of Edmonton [full details | latest update].

Updated June 2007

Hassan Mohammed Yussuf

April 8, 2005. Age 41. Stabbing. Near Alberta Hospital on the Manning Freeway [full details | latest update].

Updated June 2007

Charlene Gauld

Discovered April 16, 2005. Age 20. Cause undetermined, body found burned near Camrose [full details].

Peter Van Eck

April 22, 2005. Age 39. Blunt force trauma. Railtown, near 102nd Avenue, between 110th and 111th Streets [full details | latest update].

Updated March 2006

Cole Lupaschuk

April 23, 2005. Age 22. Stabbing. 13847 25 Street [full details].

Updated January 2008

Philip Peter Fisher >permalink<

April 29, 2005. Age 29. Blunt force trauma.

Police became involved with the Fisher case after he died while in the care of his roommates. On April 26th at around 1:30 a.m., Fisher was attacked while using an automated teller machine at a service station near 132 Avenue and 66 Street. He was also carrying rent money for the apartment he shared with two others. Seen getting out of an older-model white GMC pickup just prior to the assault were two men, one brandishing a hockey stick. The suspects stole Fisher's wallet, ID, glasses and a dark-coloured baseball cap.

Fisher called for help and was taken to the Northeast Medical Centre, where he was treated and released. The family of Edmonton's 11th homicide victim had concerns about why he was allowed to leave the facility after being beaten with a hockey stick, but his friends said that he insisted that he didn't need hospital treatment and left the centre against the advice of staff. Fisher was found unconscious by his roommates two days later and died before he reached hospital.

Fisher suffered from muscular dystrophy and collected Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) payments. Neighbours in the three-storey walk-up where he lived at 12925 65 Street said Fisher made country music mix tapes for friends and supplemented his income by fixing old electronic goods. Rumours circulating within the building suggested that he could have been dead for up to 48 hours.

On August 10th police charged Shane Richard Lodjn, 21, and Curtis James Tooke, 19, a day later, with second-degree murder, robbery, aggravated assault and possession of an offensive weapon.

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May 2005

Krishneil Prakash Singh >permalink<

May 1, 2005. Age 19. Gunshot, gang related.

An early morning bike ride and a long-standing high school dispute ended the life of a Mill Woods area teen. The city's 12th officially declared homicide victim of the year was shot while riding a bicycle around 1:30 a.m. near 47 Street and 38 Avenue. Krishneil Prakash Singh was pronounced dead at the scene. The police gang unit was called in to assist homicide detectives with the investigation.

The shooting occurred in a neighbourhood plagued with recent violence. Two Molotov cocktails were lobbed at a home near 41 Avenue and Kaasa Road on April 16. On April 18 several shots hit a house at 38 Avenue and 44 Street; five days later a house at Kulawy Gate, near 44 Street and 37 Avenue, was struck by several bullets.

Witnesses stated hearing up to three shots possibly coming from a passing car, but police have not found anyone who might have seen the vehicle. Singh had one gunshot wound just below his rib cage and another to his stomach area.

Police said a rivalry between two groups of young people that has gone on for years made the murder not a gang-related shooting in the way they usually talk about gang shootings. A police spokesman said it appeared two different groups of young adults simply don't like each other, with their rivalry centred around ego and saving face. Police were investigating to determine if incidents earlier in the spring are linked to Singh's murder.

Case status is open and active.

Douglas Milmine >permalink<

May 2, 2005. Age 57. Stabbing.

Updated December 2005

A condemned house in the downtown area was the scene of Edmonton's third murder investigation in five days. An ambulance crew arrived at the former rooming house located at 9338 107A Avenue after the building's landlady discovered the prone body of Douglas Milmine. Initially responding to a call of a person suffering heart attack, paramedics soon realised they were dealing with something far more sinister and homicide detectives were then called to the house.

Capital Health condemned the premises in October, 2004, but a court challenge postponed bringing the order into effect until April 15th. A health inspector had found 13 faults in the single-family dwelling that was being converted into 12 suites. Milmine was one of the tenants who had been forced out by the order. He had contacted the owner about returning to his suite to collect some of his belongings and it is believed his surprise return visit led to his demise.

Milmine used to make his living working as a bar bouncer, but about with cancer reduced him to getting around with the help of a walker. An autopsy concluded he was killed by a stab wound to the torso. Two days after the murder, a woman turned herself in to police on what would have been Milmine's 58th birthday.

Charged with with second-degree murder and possession of a weapon is Norma Jean McCallum, 38, an aquaintance of the deceased.

On December 21, 2005 McCallum's application for bail was turned down. McCallum is set to have a preliminary hearing March 27, 2006.

Ellie-May Meyer

Body discovered May 6, 2005. Age 33. Cause withheld. Found in a field east of Edmonton [full details].

Geoffrey Robert Sohaba >permalink<

May 12, 2005. Age 20. Gunshot.

An oilpatch worker was driving along Range Road 270 about two kilometres north of Township Road 564 when he spied a body in the ditch. Upon closer examination, the worker found a man's body that had blood coming from its eyes. RCMP from nearby Morinville detachment established that the body had not been there long. They determined that a firearm was used in what they termed a homicide, but specific information concerning the number of wounds and the type of firearm used were not released for investigative reasons.

After initial investigation yielded few leads, police released the name of the deceased as being Geoffrey Robert Sohaba in hope of bringing information forward. Police also revealed that Sohaba had South African connections, but refused to comment on suggestions that he had been the victim of a gang-style execution.

Sohaba was found near where the frozen body of notorious U.S. bank robber and jail breaker Ken Pendleton was found in January, 2001. Pendleton had a plastic bag over his head and had been viciously stabbed and beaten.

Case status is open and active.

Kenyon Joseph Gardiner

May 15, 2005. Age 20. Shot and stabbed. 9742 152 Street [full details | latest update].

Updated September 2006

Alexis Grant

May 18, 2005. Age 14 months. Blunt cranial trauma [full details | latest update].

Updated October 2006

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June 2005

Ronald Boucher >permalink<

June 5, 2005. Age 42. Stabbing.

It seems an outstanding debt ultimately cost an inner-city man his life in parking lot outside a downtown bar. Ronald Boucher was enjoying the hospitality of Rosie's Bar and Grill at 10604 101 Street when two men dragged him outside. Witnesses saw Boucher stomped on and beaten before a knife-blade found a way to his heart. Paramedics declared Boucher dead at the scene, and police picked up one of two suspects nearby as they rolled up to the once-respectable eatery.

In the days prior to his death, according to a downtown resident interviewed by a local newspaper, Boucher been assaulted by a pair of men on two separate occasions. In 1998, Boucher and another man were charged in connection with a home invasion near Lac La Biche, 225 kilometres northeast of Edmonton. A 50-year-old woman and her 24-year-old daughter suffered frostbite and other injuries while escaping barefoot from their rural home. While serving the three years he received on the resulting theft and burglary charges, Boucher escaped in 2000 from the minimum-security Pe Sakastew Centre in Hobbema, failing to return on an unescorted temporary absence.

With one man in custody, police checked the bar's surveillance tapes to identify the second suspect and soon issued a Canada-wide arrest warrant. Acting on a tip, police arrested the man two days after Boucher's death.

Arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder and robbery was Leonard Bellam, 34, of no fixed address. Peter Arnold Cardinal, 39, was charged with second-degree murder.

Kevin Edward Kozicki >permalink<

June 13, 2005. Age 28. Stabbing.

The popular southside Edmonton area of Whyte Avenue was the scene of the seventeenth homicide of the year. Kevin Kozicki, a welder from the nearby hamlet of Sherwood Park and a newlywed of just three weeks, somehow found himself in an alley near 105 Street and 82 Avenue where was he set upon by several persons. Police figure a "street-type" dispute occurred, ending with Kozicki receiving multiple stab wounds. During the race to the University Hospital, Kozicki went into cardiac arrest and later died at the hospital.

In the melee surrounding the event, Whyte Avenue beat cops were quickly able to glean information from witnesses and soon found two suspects nearby, hauling the pair into custody at the downtown station.

Ronald James Harrison, 20, was charged with second-degree murder, possession of a weapon and obstruction in connection with Kozicki's death.

Betty May Kozak >permalink<

June 14, 2005. Age 50. Gunshot.

On the evening of June 14th, a woman dialed 911 frantically calling for help. The phone line went dead before police could determine the address of the call and authorities had to enlist the help of Telus, the Edmonton area's primary telco utility, to trace the call to 4415 33 Street. When police arrived at the Mill Woods home, they found the body of Edmonton's eighteenth homicide victim, Betty May Kozak, lying dead on the main floor.

Kozak's home was the scene of several prior domestic calls. As recently as June 11 an incident at the home resulted in charges of uttering threats laid against Kozak's estranged boyfriend.

Neighbours told police about a man and a vehicle that left the scene the night of the murder. Surveillance by the tactical squad was then set up on a home in the Forrest Heights district, and a suspect soon showed up. The suspect bolted and was arrested during a high risk takedown at a gas station near Capilano Mall without incident.

Police arrested Clarence Caron, 63, charging him with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm used in the commission of an offence, and charges of uttering death threats stemming from the earlier incident.

Dilbag Singh Sandhu >permalink<

June 17, 2005. Age 29. Gunshot.

Updated December 2005

A robbery at a Mill Woods Mac's convenience store resulted in one man being fatally shot and a second man collapsing from a stress-induced stroke.

Just before 1 a.m., two disguised men entered the store at 4412 36 Avenue, one of them brandishing a sawed-off shotgun. The duo then proceeded to rob the store of about $500 worth of cash and cigarettes. As they were leaving, the man with the gun fired a blast into the stomach of Dilbag Singh Sandhu.

Sandhu was one of two employees in the store at the time. A casual hire who hadn't worked at the store long, Sandhu was in to help the on-duty clerk clean the place. During the robbery, one of the two employees managed to set off a silent panic alarm to alert police. As the suspects were heading for the door, Sandhu got into a scuffle with one of the men, most likely precipatating the gunshot. The other employee, a 63-year-old man named in media reports only as "Joshi" then collapsed. There were no customers in the store at the time.

Police soon arrived and attended to Sandhu while waiting for paramedics to arrive. Sandhu went into cardiac arrest on the way to hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival. The older man arrived at hospital in critical condition.

On September 21st, the Edmonton Police Commission announced a $40,000 reward for information that would help solve this case.

Sandhu homicide On December 20th, 2005 police released security video of two hooded men they are seeking in Sandhu's murder. The footage shows two figures, faces concealed by baseball caps and hoods, robbing the store at gunpoint. One suspect is carrying what appears to be a sawed-off shotgun and another is carrying a bag. The footage ends before any shots are fired.

Police also revealed other details concerning the case. Three unopened packages of Number 7 cigarettes with Mac's price tags were found two blocks away from the store. A similar robbery at a Petro-Canada station a week earlier is being looked at to determine if it was committed by the same two men.

At the news conference announcing the release of the video, police were questioned about staffing levels serving the 90,000 residents of the Mill Woods community. Police said units arrived at the Mac's store within two minutes of the robbery and shooting.

Case status of Edmonton's nineteenth homcide remains open and active.

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July 2005

Terry Durocher >permalink<

July 1, 2005. Age 31. Stabbing.

As the first month of the second half of 2005 appeared on the calender, Edmonton's record-setting murder rate of nearly a victim a week showed no signs of letting up. Toronto, a city nearly three times the population of Edmonton, had just recorded its 30th homicide while Calgary, a three-hour drive south of Alberta's capital, had seen only 11 murders as of July 1st -- the day Edmonton recorded its twentieth.

The Durocher family was just getting over the death of their mother when a Canada Day celebration at 15133 108 Street saw the death of youngest sibling Terry. Neighbours in the newly-gentrified development on the former Griesbach military base heard a noisy dispute break out among a half dozen people in the early morning hours. When police arrived, Durocher was found on the home's floor, bleeding from a single stab wound to the chest. Attending ambulance crews tried desperately to revive Durocher but he was pronounced dead at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Flora Durocher, Terry's mother, succumbed to cancer in June at age 55 after having beaten breast cancer two years before. A family member said Terry turned to drinking to cope, and his two-year relationship with a girlfriend was characterised as "stormy."

Elisa Petrie, 25, was charged with second-degree murder and possession of a weapon.

Brandon Fern

July 7, 2005. Age 18. Gunshot and stabbing. 3210 119 Avenue [full details | latest update].

Updated May 2006

Liana White

July 12, 2005. Age 29. Stabbing. 227 Warwick Crescent [full details | latest update].

July 12, 2007. Public trustee sues Michael White [full details | latest update].

Updated July 2007

Charles Jacob Wula

July 18, 2005. Age 38. Presumed drowned while escaping police custody [full details].

Dan

July 24, 2005. Late 20s or early 30s. Found burned to death in a home [full details].

Robert James Larkin >permalink<

July 27, 2005. Age 54. Blunt force trauma.

Robert James Larkin Police responded to a suite at the Lodge Hotel, located at 9662 Jasper Avenue, to investigate reports of an injured man. Police found a badly-beaten Robert Larkin who was taken to hospital where he remained in a coma until he died September 19th. The city's medical examiner then determined his death was a homicide. He was believed to have died from repeated blows caused by a blunt instrument.

Larkin once studied at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He served in the armed forces and did about two years with the Edmonton Police Service in the late 1970s. Larkin spent several years as a government employee and later became a casual labourer.

Larkin's death, nearly two months after his attack, was the 29th homicide of 2005. In mid-November city police put up the posters as a different way to reach out to people who may not be aware Larkin died of injuries from the beating and who may have information about the assault.

Case status is open and active.

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August 2005

Earl Gambler

August 7, 2005. Age 19. Stabbing, gang related. 12025 82 Street [full details].

Updated February 2007

Denis Beaudoin

August 14, 2005. Age 54. Blunt force trauma. 95 Street and 105 Avenue [full details].

David Longhurst

August 18, 2005. Age 26. Gunshot. 1028 45 Street [full details | latest update].

Updated May 2007

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September 2005

Christopher Koppang

September 1, 2005. Age 25. Stabbing. Rosewood Drive, Sherwood Park [full details | latest update].

Updated April 2006

Todd Stevenson

September 10, 2005. Age 40. Head trauma. Edmonton Remand Centre [full details].

Adrian Vern Jacobs

September 20, 2005. Age 33. Stabbing. 115th Avenue and Fort Road [full details | latest update].

Updated July 2006

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October 2005

Rose Brenda Decoteau

October 5, 2005. Age 43. Strangulation. Royal Western Motel, 15335 111 Avenue [full details | latest update].

Updated January 2006

Homeless man found dead

In the late afternoon of October 13th, 2005, police were called to investigate the suspicious death of a homeless man [full details].

Sara Easton

October 22, 2005. Age 18. Gunshot. At the intersection of 124th Street and 134th Avenue [full details | latest update].

Updated June 2007

Ronald Edward Funk

October 30, 2005. Age 40. Stabbing. 306-11143 124 Street [full details | latest update].

Updated March 2006

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November 2005

Dave Mullen

On November 11th, Dave Mullen told his co-workers at the Shell gas station where he worked that he had to pop over to his apartment to let someone in. He never returned. [full details].