Number 8 for HRM
Police: Woman’s death a murder
The death of a woman attacked in the foyer of a Primrose Street apartment building in Dartmouth on Friday was ruled a homicide on Saturday.
"We’re interested in talking to anybody who can help us determine a motive," Halifax Regional Police spokesman Const. Brian Palmeter said after an autopsy confirmed the middle-aged woman was murdered.
Police were not revealing the victim’s identity or the cause of death, citing the need to contact the next of kin and protect the integrity of the investigation.
"The cause of death has been determined," Palmeter said. "We do not want to release details at this time."
Police confirmed the victim was a longtime resident of the Halifax-Dartmouth area and that she was found wounded in a common area of a building at 44 Primrose St. at about 8:21 p.m. Friday after police responded to a call. She was taken to hospital but died shortly after arriving there.
Some people living in the apartment complex and some neighbours said the victim lived in the building.
People in the neighbourhood said they heard that the woman was stabbed multiple times and that a knife was found inside the foyer of the apartment building where the attack occurred. Police would not talk about the retrieval of any weapon. The neighbourhood was unusually quiet for a bright sunny day. There were few children in the usual play areas near the apartment building, which appeared well maintained and surrounded by nicely manicured gardens.
"Everybody’s all gone hush, hush," said one passerby.
The man said he walks by the usually quiet four-level apartment building several times a day.
He said police sirens and flashing emergency lights were more common in the nearby Pinecrest Drive area.
"This is one of the better parts of the neighbourhood, but it is a violent part of the city," he said.
The man, who did not want his name published, indicated he lived just around the corner from the crime scene.
"There are a lot of prostitutes and a lot of people selling drugs around here at night," he said.
A woman who lives in an apartment building behind the murder scene said she heard nothing unusual before hearing police and ambulance sirens responding to the call.
Prior to police and emergency vehicles arriving at the scene, it had been a quiet and uneventful evening, said a young woman who lives in the building and knew the victim.
"I didn’t hear anything," she said before heading into the building with a friend and a small child.
Members of the Halifax Regional Police-RCMP major crime unit and a Halifax police forensic identification unit were at the murder scene throughout the day Saturday.
They appeared to be concentrating on the foyer area of the small apartment building where the victim was found.
Police urged anyone with information about the incident to contact them at 490-5016, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or at
www.crimestoppers.ns.ca.
(
bpower@herald.ca)