last link on the left › deadmonton

WARNING

Alan Craig Cumming, 38, was stabbed to death April 12th, 2008.

Cumming was Edmonton's ninth homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

At about 3:28 a.m. on April 12th, 2008 police received a call about a man suffering stab wounds in the hallway of the Caprice Manor apartment building at 12130 82 Street.

"He was in the second floor area of the building, we responded to the area, found a man had been stabbed and was laying on the second floor landing," Insp. Terry Rocchio told media.

"It appears he just got home from work and he was approached somewhere outside the building and that's where the stabbing occurred."

The man was rushed to hospital but despite medical effort he died three hours later. It was later revealed police had a chance to speak to him before he died and were able to get a cursory description of his assailant.

Media outlets were first to identify the victim as 38-year-old Alan Craig Cumming.

Building tenant Trevor White, who lived on the top floor of the walk-up across the hall from Cumming, described him as quiet, friendly and someone who had no involvement in illegal activities.

White said Cumming had just come home after chauffering a late-night pub crawl and was stabbed after parking his yellow school bus on a nearby avenue south of the building.

He believed Cumming, who also drove a school route in St. Albert for the last ten years, was attacked for his tip money, possibly between $50 and $350.

Another man said there was blood in the alley behind the building and coins scattered on the ground by the bus. Cumming likely staggered into the apartment building, making it only as far as the second-floor landing.

According to White and neighbour Ryan Melton, Cumming held a cloth to two stab wounds below his heart as he waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Homicide Det. Pat McCormack updated media later in the day.

"Mr. Cumming was found in his apartment building but as to where the location of the assault or the attack took place is unclear to police at this time.

"It is suspected that robbery would be the motive but we are not clear at this point in time. We're looking at every angle and, again, appealing to the public."

McCormack said it was Cumming himself who had called 911 from his cell phone.

"He was able to provide some information for us, but unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries at the Royal Alex Hospital."

Police did not release a description of a suspect but they believed the attacker was male. Officers handed out flyers in the area while canvassing for witnesses.

Several blocks around the crime scene were closed to traffic and surrounded by yellow tape as forensic staff scoured the area in a quest for clues.

Those with information about the incident were asked to contact Edmonton police at 780-423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

Trevor White acknowledged the Eastwood area had problems but said that his apartment building was like a family.

"It's not a bad building. It's like a big show of friends. Everybody knows everybody," he said. "There is no crack heads. There is no drugs going in and out."

Willy McLeod, a tenant in a neighbouring building, disagreed with White about the area's reputation (see other homicides below).

"I just don't go out at night anymore," McLeod said. "It's getting bad again. It was cleaned up awhile, but it's dangerous again. Lots of riff-raff moving in, little gangs hanging around, fighting and arguing, dealing drugs."

Edmonton streetbox newspaper Metro interviewed Arvid L'Heureux, a basement suite tenant at Caprice Manor.

L'Heureux said he heard a loud argument in the hall a floor or two above him before Cumming was stabbed.

"They said it happened outside, but I don't think so," L'Heureux said.

The actual location of the stabbing had yet to be determined by investigators.

L'Heureux said he still considered his apartment to be a safe place to live but admitted when he heads out to grab his morning paper (presumably a Metro) he is scared.

"I always look to make sure no one is coming before I walk out of the apartment," said L'Heureux.

An autopsy confirmed Cumming died from blood loss due to a stab wound to the chest.

In the days after Cumming's murder, police made several appeals to the public for information. Homicide Det. Mark Anstey later said that tips were starting to come in.

"Some people phoned from the area and gave us information on other incidents that have happened that may be related, or they think may be related," Anstey said.

The detective revealed that Cumming wasn't able to provide much of a description of his assailant when he talked to police shortly before succumbing to his injuries.

"Unfortunately, very little," Anstey said. "It just wasn't on his mind at the time."

Police figured Cumming would have realised how badly he was hurt.

"We think so, because we think he may have passed out and then woke up again – and then actually dialled 911 himself," Anstey said. "He didn't dial it right away, for sure – someone saw him or heard a thump and saw him there.

"And then within five minutes later he actually phoned. My guess is he realised then that something wasn't going well."

In an interview with the Edmonton Sun, Anstey said it appeared Cumming's assailant failed in his bid to rob him. However, the detective didn't support the remark and didn't indicate if Cumming had his wallet or possible tip money stolen.

The officer did say that Cumming may have been targeted.

"That's a possibility – because of the area.

"A lot of, you know, crackheads in the area," he said. "And if you get wind of that stuff and you're a little desperate, then you may plan it – that's a definite possibility.

"Or another possibility is just a chance meeting.

"It wasn't a drug deal, it was a hard-working guy who drives kids to school during the day and makes extra money during the night," Anstey said of the assault.

Cumming had taken a busload of University of Alberta students to Redwater, Fort Saskatchewan and Sherwood Park as part of a pub-crawl before returning home.

With investigators anxious to receive help from the public, a police spokesman also told media about what little information Cumming gave during his brief cell phone call.

"The most we got was that the attacker was male. If we had something, we would have put it out on day one. That one key witness could really help."

All Cumming said was that someone tried to rob him as he walked home, that he had been stabbed and that he was lying on the floor in pain.

"Did not see suspect," the call evaluator's notes read, according to the spokesman.

Cumming's photo was posted in apartment buildings near where he lived. On the third day after the murder only a few tips proved to be of benefit.

"Right now it's wide open," the spokesman said. "He was an average, hard-working Edmontonian. There was nothing off about his background at all."

Friends and family of Alan Cumming described the man as friendly, decent and hardworking. His death left them all at a loss as to explain why it had happened.

Those who knew Cumming describe him as a quiet gentle man who didn't have any enemies.

Willy McLeod, a tenant in a neighbouring building, said he knew Cumming from visiting with him on an outside picnic table.

"He was just doing his job," McLeod said. "He was a quiet, decent guy.

"He didn't even drink, he didn't touch drugs or nothing. He just drove school bus and was always busy playing on his computers when he wasn't working."

Another picnic table friend was Emily Fibke.

"He always said hi, very friendly," Fibke said.

"He was such a nice gentleman. He lived alone ... a happy guy. Very friendly ... an extremely nice person."

The woman said she had always felt safe knowing those in her neighbourhood were good people, but her friend's murder had shaken her confidence.

"I am scared to go across the street to the IGA to go and buy my smokes," Fibke stated.

He was the "quiet, nicest guy you'd ever meet. Never causes any trouble," said Trevor White who lived on the top floor with Cumming.

Those who knew the man said he loved being a bus driver and that he had worked with Golden Arrow driving a school bus in St. Albert for almost ten years.

Neighbours said he normally would have parked closer to the back of his apartment building – closer to 122nd Avenue than 121st Avenue – but recent back-lane construction prevented him from sticking to his usual habit.

Alan's estranged wife, Donna Cumming, said he may have been deliberately targeted for the cash tips he would have just earned piloting the pub crawl.

Media captured the moment she met with her former husband's friends and neighbours.

Donna and Alan Cumming had been married for about four years before separating in November 2007. They were about to reconcile.

For three years they lived together in Caprice Manor with Donna's now 10-year-old son Jason. Grace McFarlane, Donna's mother, also lived in the building.

Donna and Alan both drove for for the same bus company, Cunningham Transport Ltd. in St. Albert. Donna too worked pub crawls to earn extra money.

"I can't believe it happened. I just don't know. He had no enemies. None whatsoever," she said.

"Alan was the type of guy that loved to do his pub crawls. He loved the tips, he got really good tips and he treated everyone with respect.

"He was an awesome person, easy to get along with," Donna said.

"He would never harm anybody ever and he probably fought for the money he was carrying here. He probably made tips last night and maybe somebody was after that, but a boy is going to fight for what he makes."

Donna said Alan's bus was completely locked up and there were no obvious signs of a struggle.

"It almost seems like maybe someone followed him from the bus up to here and maybe asked him for money and he said no," said Donna.

"He treated everybody with respect, was a hard-working guy and would give the shirt off his back to anybody."

Donna said she would be speaking with Alan's family, including his mother in Athabasca. One of the challenges she was also to face was when she took over his bus route.

"I have to tell 60 kids that their driver's not coming back," Donna said.

When Jason was told of his step-father's murder, he ran away from the home of his biological father and headed straight for Caprice Manor.

"He's taking it pretty hard," Donna said. "Mom to the rescue."

Also taking the news hard was Alan's mother-in-law, Grace McFarlane. The distraught woman said ambulance sirens had woken her up in the middle of the night.

"He's a nice guy," McFarlane said. "He treated me good and lent me money when I needed it."

McFarlane said she wanted to move out of the increasingly violent neighbourhood but she couldn't afford to.

An obituary for Alan Cumming appeared in the Edmonton Journal.

The city's ninth homicide of the year took place less than three blocks from the location of Edmonton's seventh murder of 2008 and next door to the twenty-third murder of 2005.

On March 21st, 2008 Daniel Raymond McKenzie, 23, was stabbed at the corner of 124th Avenue and 82nd Street.

Police interviewed two persons of interest in the case but released them without laying any charges.

On August 7th, 2005 Earl Gambler, 19, was stabbed to death in the lobby of an apartment building at 12025 82 Street.

While a 15-year-old young offender was charged with second-degree murder and a weapons offence at the time, the Crown prosecutor's office stayed the charges on February 8th, 2006 citing there was not a reasonable likelihood of conviction in the matter.

Despite the recent violence in the neighbourhood, some residents said they still feel safe.

"There have hardly been any problems here," Gail Nystrom, who has lived in the neighbourhood for six years, told streetbox newspaper Metro.

"This is the first time in a while that this has happened ... but any where that you go in Edmonton, you are going to have problems."

During its coverage of Cumming's murder, Global Edmonton assumed viewers were on a first name basis with members of the Edmonton Police Service homicide unit ...

... in this case, Det. Pat McCormack.

Outtakes

During the course of story coverage, many images are recorded but not all are published. Some are redundant, some are of less than optimal quality and some do not fit editorial context.

For the interest of readers, these "outtakes" can be viewed here. Note: not all images have been reduced in file size – page may be slow in loading.

deadmonton 2008 - alan craig cumming