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Winnipeg teen charged with killing dad
Last Updated: Friday, July 24, 2009 | 3:46 PM CT
CBC News
A 17-year-old has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his 49-year-old father, whose dismembered body was dumped about 250 kilometres north of Winnipeg, according to police.
The homicide occurred June 25, but Winnipeg police were only notified about it Thursday. Investigators are attempting to locate the body but believe, based on other information, that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds.
Sources have told CBC News the youth got into a fight with his dad and allegedly knocked him down with a hammer and stabbed him. The pair lived alone in a house in the Winnipeg's Charleswood neighbourhood.
Neighbours said the man and his wife were separated, and she lived elsewhere in the city with two of the family's other children. Neighbours also said they have not seen the man for weeks and had begun wondering where he was.
Youth lived with corpse: sources
In the days or perhaps even weeks that followed, the boy lived in the home with the corpse, sources told CBC News. The youth deflected calls from other family members inquiring where the father was. At some point he decided to get rid of the body.
The youth then used a saw to sever various parts of his father's body and packaged them in bags, sources said. He then drove to a rural location where he dumped the parts to hide the evidence, police allege.
A disposal site has been located and attempts to recover the father's remains are ongoing, police said. The site is in a secluded wooded area along Highway 6, about a three-hour drive north of Winnipeg, sources said.
Police spokesperson Jacqueline Chaput said the boy's demeanour is a feature of the case that investigators find bizarre.
"It is unusual for someone to be involved in this type of crime and then proceed with their normal life," she said.
Investigators searched property in Winnipeg
Police and forensic identification officers spent several hours at the house Thursday and Friday, going inside the residence and combing through the yard.
The teen — who can't be named and is just months from his 18th birthday, according to court documents — made his first court appearance Friday afternoon. He sat nervously with his arms folded as the Crown attorney requested he undergo a psychiatric assessment.
The youth's next court appearance is July 31.
The victim's name is not being released in order to protect the identity of the suspect, in accordance with the Youth Criminal Justice Act, police said.
Police did not say how they learned about the crime but said the youth has co-operated fully with them.
It is the city's 16th homicide of 2009.
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