|
Post by Sher on Jul 14, 2005 3:10:44 GMT -5
BANFF -- Warnings to females not to travel alone after dark have been posted in this Rocky Mountain tourist town after a 20-year-old woman was found badly beaten on the banks of the Bow River.
Signs suggesting a violent offender is on the loose and recommending women take cabs or public transit were posted in bar washrooms and other late-night establishments.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill Young said the fear may be justified.
The victim. a hotel worker, remains in a coma in a Calgary hospital.
Banff RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill Young said police are at a loss to explain the attack and don't even have details about events leading up to it. But the most important information investigators are missing is what could be gleaned from the victim.
"We are praying she will regain consciousness and tell us what happened," he said.
The woman, a seasonal worker at a local hotel, was found beaten, unconscious and partially clothed on Monday.
She had last been seen leaving a bar about 2 a.m.
She was discovered at about 7:30 a.m. by another woman who was out for a stroll and found the victim with a skull fracture and abrasions on her lower back and legs.
Young said there is no evidence she was sexually assaulted, but investigators have not yet ruled it out.
About 20 Mounties are on the case. Police recovered a pair of women's shoes, a bra and other articles of clothing at the scene, possible evidence that will soon be in an Edmonton lab for testing, Young said.
Police have interviewed about 30 people and are looking to talk to as many as 50 more in an attempt to trace the woman's last steps before she was attacked.
The town has not been so shaken since the slaying of cabbie Lucie Turmel in 1990. A young hotel worker, Ryan Jason Love, fatally stabbed the taxi driver for her cash.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Jul 28, 2005 16:19:15 GMT -5
Serial stalker Hugh Robert Stuart shot a wink at family members and friends in court yesterday - his last act of bravado before being sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison. Stuart, 34, was convicted July 4 of three counts of criminal harassment for making nearly 2,000 harassing calls to three ex-girlfriends in 2003 and 2004.
"I do not believe I was morally wrong in this matter ... I do regret my remarks," he said from the dock before being sentenced.
BLASTED FOR LACK OF REMORSE
Queen's Bench Justice D.W. Perras blasted Stuart for his lack of remorse, and dismissed a defence argument that he deserved a light sentence because he's a treaty native.
"The accused is totally responsible," he said. "Violence was used against all three complainants.
"There is no evidence (Stuart) suffered deprivation or abuse as a child because he is native."
His victims voiced relief at Stuart's stiff sentence and anger over refusal to admit what he did was wrong.
"How can anybody do this to someone for three years and not know it's morally wrong?" said Corina Keeler. "He knows no accountability," said Tracey Martens. "He's going where he belongs."
Character witnesses called by Stuart's lawyer, on the other hand, portrayed him as a loving father and generous friend.
"My concern is for my grandchildren, too," said Joyce Stuart, his adoptive mother, as her son openly wept in the dock. "He needs to be working to support them."
Transcripts of harassing calls made by Stuart to the three ex-girlfriends detail a vulgar litany of insults and attacks. One victim logged no fewer than 300 harassing calls.
"You're a sl-t all right. You got the smelliest body I have ever f--king kissed, 'cause you're dirty," Stuart said in one call. "I f--king hate you, I hate your f--king guts."
In one phone transcript, he calls one former lover a "f--king bow-legged, stretch-marked little sl-t." In another, he calls an ex-girlfriend a "snaggle-toothed, acne-faced little child sleeper."
Victim impact statements read out by Stuart's former girlfriends yesterday described him as a "monster" and a "Jekyll-and-Hyde" type.
"He's an animal," said Kandace Breault. "(He) clearly has no conscience or respect for women ..."
Breault testified during his trial that he claimed to be a chiropractor, and could use his training to break her neck without getting caught.
VICTIM LIVES IN FEAR
Keeler told court she can't leave her house without fearfully scanning the sidewalk for Stuart.
"I can't even date anymore," she said in her statement. "He is mentally sick and unstable."
Martens also said her experience with Stuart has blighted her relationships with others.
"I'm not the same girl who used to trust people," she said.
"How can I forget the fear ... the look on my mother's face when she was wiping off my boyfriend's spit?
"I know he will do all of this again. I believe he enjoys it."
Along with the three criminal harassment charges, Stuart was convicted of two breaches of no-contact orders.
Stuart, a twice-married former car salesman and rodeo rider, has two previous assault convictions: one for beating Breault and another for attacking a former wife.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Jul 28, 2005 16:19:59 GMT -5
A bleeding and unconscious man found in a downtown rooming house was in serious but stable condition in Royal Alexandra hospital last night.
A passerby spotted the beaten man in what police assume was his suite in a rooming house near 96 Street and Jasper Avenue around 9 p.m., said Staff Sgt. John Visscher.
The man suffered head injuries during the assault.
"We're still investigating," Visscher said. "We've got no witnesses. We've got no suspects. We've got no motive." Visscher also said police had not found any weapons.
Police were unable to identify the man last night.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 2, 2005 18:40:34 GMT -5
An Edmonton Remand Centre inmate is recovering in hospital after being stabbed and slammed over the head with a telephone, says a Solicitor General spokesman.
Two prisoners - and members of the same gang - got into a dispute that erupted into bloodshed around 8 p.m. Sunday in a common area of a unit at the downtown detention facility.
One was stabbed in the back, possibly with a pencil or pen, said Solicitor General spokesman Annette Bidniak.
"It was a small, round puncture wound," Bidniak said yesterday.
"They feel it was a pen or a pencil. He was also hit over the head with a phone receiver."
Staff escorted the injured man to hospital but his injuries weren't considered life-threatening. An ambulance wasn't called.
The victim was admitted to hospital for observation.
The Edmonton Police Service is now investigating. An internal investigation is also underway.
"One of the areas where fights occur at the Remand Centre is over the phone," said Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which represents guards who work at the centre.
"That's an area where there's always the potential for violence.
"With the amount of weapons they're finding at jails and the type of offender and the overcrowding at the remand centre, it always complicates everything there."
MacLennan said the remand centre was built for about 300 inmates, but now holds about 650.
And last month, police charged an inmate seven months after another inmate was almost beaten to death at the remand centre.
Officers who investigated later discovered the victim may have been beaten in a dispute over the use of a remand centre telephone.
The latest violence comes just days after police charged five remand centre guards in connection with an assault on an inmate, but "this has nothing to do with the charges" in that case, said Bidniak.
"Inmates fight amongst themselves all the time," she said, adding violence is the only way some inmates choose to deal with disagreements.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 3, 2005 13:21:37 GMT -5
Kitscoty RCMP are investigating the discoveries of two bodies within a week.
Police have identified the body found southwest of Lloydminster last week and have charged four men in relation to a homicide investigation.
The victim, identified as 25-year-old Darcey Wade Klassen of Lloydminster, Sask., was found near the intersection of Range Road 21 and Highway 619 by an area farmer on July 27.
Results of a post-mortem examination of the victim were inconclusive.
"We haven't had any updates from the chief medical examiner yet," said Cpl. Al Fraser of the RCMP. "The investigation is continuing."
RCMP from Lloydminster and Kitscoty, a village 224 km east of Edmonton, have arrested Bradley Edward Wright, 27, of Rivercourse, and Ernie Spicer, 40, of Lloydminster.
Wright is charged with first-degree murder and forcible confinement. Spicer is charged with forcible confinement.
Police have also issued arrest warrants for Matthew Dale McNeelands, 19, of no fixed address, and Jacques Joseph Sorin, 24, also of no fixed address.
Both men are charged with first-degree murder.
In a different matter, Kitscoty RCMP are also investigating human remains found at the intersection of Highway 897 and Lea Park Monday morning.
The remains have been transported to the chief medical examiner's office in Edmonton to determine the identity of the body and the cause of death.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2005 15:42:45 GMT -5
A city cop attempting to secure the sawed-off shotgun he seized from a Montrose home yesterday escaped serious injury when the weapon accidentally fired, spraying him and a bystander in a mixture of sand and grit.
It's believed the constable was struck in the forearms after the weapon was discharged outside the home, while a woman at that address was hit in the leg.
Both sustained minor injuries and were taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital. A second male officer, who was having trouble hearing from the gun's booming report, as well as the suspect from the original call, were also transported to hospital.
As the tattooed and shirtless suspect was loaded onto an ambulance, he shouted a message to reporters through the back doors: "The officer who got shot, he was warned it was loaded."
Police were initially called to the residence at 121 and 66 Street around 10:15 a.m. for complaints of a domestic dispute.
Insp. Allan Bohachyk of the Edmonton Police Service said that during the course of their investigation, they learned there was a shotgun on the premises.
"While in the process of attempting to make that weapon safe for transportation, the shotgun discharged," said Bohachyk. "The weapon was pointed at the ground as the round exited.
"The resulting spray ... injured both the officer holding the gun and a lady standing nearby."
The police service's homicide unit is investigating the incident, which is standard in cases where a police officer discharges a weapon.
A man, believed to be in his mid-40s, is in custody. Charges are pending.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2005 15:43:51 GMT -5
A man was stabbed with a screwdriver Tuesday during a struggle with a teenager.
The man, who sustained two small puncture wounds to his arms and a cut to his leg in the attack, claims he was trying to stop the teen from attempting to steal a car. He did not require medical attention.
Police were called to the scene at 121 Avenue and 58 Street around 6 a.m. Tuesday.
The teen is suspected of breaking into a garage in the same area earlier in the morning. The screwdriver came from another garage break-in.
A 17-year-old boy, who cannot be identified because he's underage, has been charged with two counts of break and enter, theft over $5,000, possession of break-in instruments, assault with a weapon, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of stolen property under $5,000 and two counts of break of recognizance.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 8, 2005 8:28:03 GMT -5
A quiet game of cards took a violent turn yesterday morning when a gunshot slammed through the front window of a downtown home before blasting through a back window.
"We were playing cards on the deck and all of a sudden 'boosh,' " said the home's owner, Darcy, too afraid to provide his last name. "I'm moving."
Darcy, 50, and his buddy had been playing Crazy Eights on the deck of his bungalow at 119 Avenue and 90 Street around 1:30 a.m. when the shot slammed through his living room window, whistled through the kitchen and out the back.
"I went and looked at the front window and then I go and look at the other window and I go, 'No one can throw a rock that straight and narrow' and then it sinks in," he said with a nervous laugh.
A police spokesman last night did not yet know if the shot came from a handgun or pellet gun.
The shot missed Darcy and his buddy only by inches, he said, as they were listening to blues music, playing cards and drinking beer.
"Thank god we were drinking. I don't know what to think. Anybody could have been standing there. I was getting up, changing music in the garage, tapes and such, every now and then. What if it would have happened at that very moment?"
He phoned police and picked up three dustpans of broken glass following the shooting. Then he settled in for an uneasy night on the couch in his living room.
"A piece of glass (from the window) fell down and it kind of scared me," he said.
Darcy was planning yesterday to board up the windows before they're replaced.
Having owned the home for 10 years, Darcy figures this isn't a random attack and believes a former tenant could be behind it.
"I hope the police solve it," he said.
City police Insp. Rick Bohachyk said the investigation is ongoing.
Hours after the attack, more violence broke out blocks from the scene when a man was stabbed five times.
Emergency medical services Supt. Craig O'Callaghan said the man sustained serious injuries in the 6 a.m. attack near 119 Avenue and 77 Street.
The victim was transported to the Royal Alexandra Hospital, but the wounds are not life-threatening, O'Callaghan said.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 8, 2005 8:29:32 GMT -5
The grieving mother of a 19-year-old man stabbed to death early yesterday says she warned her boy not to go out at night and is now entreating her other sons not to avenge his death.
"I told them right now we've lost a brother," his grief-stricken mom Sandra Cardinal told the Sun yesterday afternoon. "I told them not to think about stuff like that right now."
Cardinal's third-eldest son, Earl Gambler, just moved to Edmonton a month ago from Calling Lake, with visions of going to school and getting a job.
But after a verbal dispute with a group of men unknown to Gambler escalated near an apartment building at 120 Avenue and 82 Street about 1:15 a.m., he was stabbed once in the stomach. Gambler later died on the operating table at Royal Alexandra Hospital, becoming the city's 23rd homicide victim of the year.
"I kept telling all my boys it's dangerous, going outside or walking around at night or hanging around different bad people," said Cardinal, who has three other sons, Travis, 25, Vincent, 21, and Lambert, 18.
"They are angry and upset."
LATE-NIGHT DRIVE
Gambler also leaves behind a little sister, 15-year-old Faith. A sobbing Faith called her mom to tell her Earl had been stabbed. Cardinal immediately drove from her home in Calling Lake - 186 km north of Edmonton - to the hospital, arriving at 4 a.m., only to learn her boy had died.
The trouble began when Gambler and about three of his cousins, including Allison Cardinal, decided to walk to a nearby liquor store.
Allison said that's when they encountered the group of violent thugs.
"They turned around and they introduced themselves to us and this guy was making fun of my little cousin," she said. Another cousin intervened and the argument broke out.
'WOULDN'T LISTEN'
"They were arguing back and forth ... and I was trying to calm him down but he wouldn't listen to me," she said.
The groups finally appeared to make peace but then one man from the other group suddenly smashed a pipe over the cousin's head.
Allison, Earl and the other cousins then ran towards her aunt and uncle's apartment at 120 Avenue and 82 Street.
"We came around this way, through the alley and all of a sudden they were behind us with a lot more people," she said.
"I didn't know Earl was still standing by the door. We were inside and we were like, 'Where's Earl, where's Earl?' "
Frantic, she ran into the hallway looking for him.
"All of a sudden he came up the stairs holding his wound ... and I could see blood all over him and he said, 'Allison, I need an ambulance,' " she said, overcome by tears. "I was like, 'Oh my god,' and I freaked out and I held his wound."
Homicide Det. Bill Clark said officers are now investigating what they call a senseless death and have promising leads. And Det. Ron Johnson, like Gambler's mother, is calling for calm.
"Our victim is going to have friends who are going to be upset about what has happened to their friend, and we're just asking them, don't take things into your own hands," said Johnson. "If they've got any information they can call us and we'll certainly look into it."
Police hadn't recovered a weapon yesterday.
Sandra Cardinal will have her son transported to a funeral home in Athabasca after an autopsy expected today.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 8, 2005 8:30:16 GMT -5
The grieving mother of a 19-year-old man stabbed to death early yesterday says she warned her boy not to go out at night and is now entreating her other sons not to avenge his death. "I told them right now we've lost a brother," his grief-stricken mom Sandra Cardinal told the Sun yesterday afternoon. "I told them not to think about stuff like that right now." Cardinal's third-eldest son, Earl Gambler, just moved to Edmonton a month ago from Calling Lake, with visions of going to school and getting a job. But after a verbal dispute with a group of men unknown to Gambler escalated near an apartment building at 120 Avenue and 82 Street about 1:15 a.m., he was stabbed once in the stomach. Gambler later died on the operating table at Royal Alexandra Hospital, becoming the city's 23rd homicide victim of the year. "I kept telling all my boys it's dangerous, going outside or walking around at night or hanging around different bad people," said Cardinal, who has three other sons, Travis, 25, Vincent, 21, and Lambert, 18. "They are angry and upset." LATE-NIGHT DRIVE Gambler also leaves behind a little sister, 15-year-old Faith. A sobbing Faith called her mom to tell her Earl had been stabbed. Cardinal immediately drove from her home in Calling Lake - 186 km north of Edmonton - to the hospital, arriving at 4 a.m., only to learn her boy had died. The trouble began when Gambler and about three of his cousins, including Allison Cardinal, decided to walk to a nearby liquor store. Allison said that's when they encountered the group of violent thugs. "They turned around and they introduced themselves to us and this guy was making fun of my little cousin," she said. Another cousin intervened and the argument broke out. 'WOULDN'T LISTEN' "They were arguing back and forth ... and I was trying to calm him down but he wouldn't listen to me," she said. The groups finally appeared to make peace but then one man from the other group suddenly smashed a pipe over the cousin's head. Allison, Earl and the other cousins then ran towards her aunt and uncle's apartment at 120 Avenue and 82 Street. "We came around this way, through the alley and all of a sudden they were behind us with a lot more people," she said. "I didn't know Earl was still standing by the door. We were inside and we were like, 'Where's Earl, where's Earl?' " Frantic, she ran into the hallway looking for him. "All of a sudden he came up the stairs holding his wound ... and I could see blood all over him and he said, 'Allison, I need an ambulance,' " she said, overcome by tears. "I was like, 'Oh my god,' and I freaked out and I held his wound." Homicide Det. Bill Clark said officers are now investigating what they call a senseless death and have promising leads. And Det. Ron Johnson, like Gambler's mother, is calling for calm. "Our victim is going to have friends who are going to be upset about what has happened to their friend, and we're just asking them, don't take things into your own hands," said Johnson. "If they've got any information they can call us and we'll certainly look into it." Police hadn't recovered a weapon yesterday. Sandra Cardinal will have her son transported to a funeral home in Athabasca after an autopsy expected today. The manager of a north-side apartment building held a dying Earl Gambler in her arms yesterday, about an hour after shooing him and another group away from the complex. "I had his head in my lap" as he lay just outside her apartment, she said, adding Gambler was muttering incoherently. She had called 911. Allison Cardinal, Gambler's cousin, raced out of a nearby suite and applied pressure to her cousin's wound. "He wasn't breathing for a little bit and I kept trying to keep him awake," Cardinal said. Said the manager: "I think he took his last little breaths here. He did have a shallow pulse when he left here but they didn't think he'd make it." The violence has left the woman, who's managed the building for almost three months, rattled. "It's just pretty nerve-racking," she said. "I've got small kids and I don't need them to see stuff like that." She plans to bring in "decent" tenants and improve the locks in the building. She figures the assailants got into the building because of a faulty lock on the security door.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 9, 2005 17:02:52 GMT -5
A 45-year-old man holed up in a north-side home gave himself up to police after an eight-hour standoff that ended early yesterday.
Police were called to the home at Kirkness Road at 4:45 p.m. Sunday, said spokesman Dean Parthenis. Officers tried contacting the man, described as suicidal, on several occasions but failed, he said. Officers from the tactical team were called to back up patrol cars.
He finally surrendered peacefully to officers at 1:15 a.m. He was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act, Parthenis said, and taken to hospital.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 9, 2005 17:04:02 GMT -5
BANFF -- The man charged in connection with a brutal beating that nearly killed a 20-year-old woman made a brief appearance in provincial court yesterday.
Albert Muckle, 25, is charged with attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault in connection with the July 11 attack on a 20-year-old local woman, who remains in a coma.
Muckle's lawyer, Rebecca Snukal, requested his bail hearing be adjourned until Aug. 29. The postponement was requested in order to receive full disclosure of the Crown's case from prosecutor Pat Yelle, court heard.
The victim - whose name is being withheld to protect her identity - has been transferred to a hospital in her hometown, Ottawa, and was last listed in serious but stable condition.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 10, 2005 12:59:48 GMT -5
A 21-year-old man is facing charges and police have issued warrants for three others after drugs and cash were discovered at a north-end home Monday.
Officers executing a search warrant at the home near 88 Street and Yellowhead Trail uncovered ecstasy worth approximately $10,000, cocaine valued at $700 and more than $2,000 in cash.
Roman Janicek has been charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of stolen property under $5,000.
Warrants are out for three other men, including two 21-year-olds and a 22-year-old, who were absent at the time of the search. There names were not released.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 10, 2005 13:01:09 GMT -5
RCMP have charged a fifth person in connection with a body found near Lloydminster.
On Sunday, cops nabbed a man in St. Albert wanted in connection with the death.
On July 25 the body of 25-year-old Darcey Wade Klassen of Lloydminster, Sask., was found by a local farmer near the intersection of Range Road 21 and Highway 619.
A medical examiner ordered further tests on Klassen's body after an autopsy failed to determine how he died. On July 28 investigators arrested Bradley Edward Wright, 27, of Rivercourse, and Ernie Spicer, 40, of Lloydminster. Wright is charged with first-degree murder and forcible confinement. Spicer is charged with forcible confinement.
Charges of first-degree murder and forcible confinement were also laid against Matthew Dale McNeelands, 18, and Jacques Joseph Sorin, 24, both of no fixed address.
On Sunday Shaun Michael O'Neill, 18, was arrested in St. Albert. He was charged with first-degree murder and forcible confinement. O'Neill is in custody and will appear in Vermilion court on Aug. 15.
|
|
|
Post by Sher on Aug 15, 2005 10:51:53 GMT -5
Three guests at a north Edmonton wedding reception are recovering from serious stab wounds after a brawl with party-crashers early yesterday.
A Barrhead couple were celebrating their wedding at Delwood Community League Hall, 7515 Delwood Rd., when a fight erupted on the lawn outside at about midnight.
Two men were in hospital in serious but stable condition, and a third man was in stable condition, said Det. Bill Clark.
The three wedding guests had various injuries, including stab wounds.
They underwent surgery yesterday.
"It's a wedding," said Dwayne Brown, uncle of the groom.
"It's not supposed to happen."
He identified one victim as his nephew, Bradley Serafin, and another victim as Chris Anderson, his roommate's son. He said he didn't know who the third man was.
The wedding celebration turned bloody when several uninvited guests arrived at the hall.
Clark said the attackers didn't come to the hall to crash the wedding, but because they were looking for someone. "I think they might have been looking for one of (the victims). I still don't know how the other two became involved," he said.
A black SUV hit one man, knocking him to the ground. He was then jumped and stabbed, Clark said.
He said he didn't know the circumstances of the other stabbings.
Police are linking the melee to drug trafficking and possible gang activity.
Johnny Sakulich, who lives across the street from the hall, said he's never seen a fight like this one.
"I've seen a lot of nasty fights with a lot of people, but there must have been 75 to 80 people out there," Sakulich said.
He said it looked like one or more people were in the centre of a circle of onlookers.
He said women were screaming and one woman was hitting someone with her shoe. "I came out here and yelled, '5-0, the cops are on the way,' " Sakulich said.
About 30 young men then took off west from the hall. Others fled in the same direction in an SUV, he said.
Sakulich said this has happened in the neighbourhood before.
"That's too much for the neighbourhood. It's no good."
Police found an abandoned SUV near 128 Avenue and 94 Street last night.
They also detained two men, a juvenile and an adult who are "very well-known to police," who were cruising through the area after the attack, Clark said.
The men, who Clark described as prime suspects and unco-operative, were questioned and released pending further investigation.
He said police are looking for several other people.
Clark said some witnesses have told police they know who was responsible for the attack, but are refusing to give names.
Around 1 p.m. yesterday, three visibly shaken women were waiting to get back into the hall to clean up.
A red car, possibly a four-door Honda Civic, drove by the hall.
"That's the car," screamed one woman, who declined an interview.
Neighbours followed the car, and police were called.
Police were also looking into reports of a link between the wedding brawl and a house-party down the street.
|
|