edward bone › deadmonton 2007 › deadmonton › edmonton

WARNING

Edward Bone, 20, was stabbed to death July 31st, 2007.

Bone was Edmonton's nineteenth homicide victim of the year.

Case status is open and active.

The pace picked up for homicide detectives as the city recorded its second murder in two days and the third in a week.

When emergency services first arrived in front of the Coast Edmonton Plaza Hotel, at 10155 105 Street, at about 1:30 on the morning of July 31st, 2007 a twenty-year-old man man was found unconscious on the sidewalk and thought to be passed out.

Witnesses said he had come from the nearby Beaver Hills Park and rolled up to the hotel's doors on a 10-speed bicycle before collapsing.

The man was rushed to Royal Alexandra Hospital suffering from serious stab wounds. Medical efforts were not enough to save his life and he died taking the identity of his assailant with him.

Police found little to go on apart from the bleeding victim, leaving officers with equally little to offer about a possible suspect.

The victim was known to police and possibly faced several attackers in the park.

Clarence Bishop, who was staying at the hotel, told the Edmonton Journal he had come out for a smoke and saw a man who appeared to be intoxicated.

"You couldn't even make sense of him," said Bishop. "I think it's just crazy. I came out this morning and his bike was still there. Wow."

"It's a bit of a shock to come to work and you have a crime scene on your doorstep," said Plaza general manager Bill Lewis.

Lewis said three of his staff were working when the wounded man appeared outside the lobby doors.

"The gentleman arrived here on a bicycle. He got off his bike and lay down on the ground. They found him lying against one of the planters. He appeared to be stabbed. They called 911 immediately."

Disruption to the hotel's business was minor with guest having to use a parkade entrance.

A group of delegates attending the national convention of the Royal Canadian College of Organists made up the majority of the quests that day.

"We had to explain to these visitors to Edmonton that we had a murder on the street last night," said Lewis.

Forensic officers secured the park, a well-known nighttime centre of drug activity, and tediously worked through an off-and-on drizzle collecting blood samples and other evidence.

Morning commuters arrived to see officers protecting the scene. No weapon was recovered.

Results of an autopsy determined that Edward Bone, 20, died of a stab wound to the chest.

Moments after the police were called at 1:30 a.m. stabbing, a pedestrian accident took place about a block west from the park, near 106th Street and Jasper Avenue.

A 35-year-old woman was struck by a car and suffered serious but non-life-threatening head injuries. There was no description of the vehicle.

"There might be some association with the homicide, but again, that's still being looked at," a police spokesman said. Police appealed for witnesses to either incident to come forward.

On August 16th, 2007 police released an image of an individual they termed "a person of interest."

Homicide detectives believe the man pictured was at or near the scene of Bone's death in Beaver Hills Park on July 31st and may be able to shed light on what took place.

"Officers are wanting to identify and speak to him to find out exactly what his role was," a police spokesman said.

It was not indicated where or when the surveillance camera photograph was taken.

Detective appealed to the public and asked those with information to contact Edmonton police at 423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.tipsubmit.com - a secure tip submission web site.

The Beaver Hills park was erected in the early 1980s and instantly developed an unsavory reputation as a place to avoid at night.

The park saw its first murder on July 24th, 1990 when the body of 20-year-old Eugenia Charmaine Desa was found by a security guard working for the nearby hotel, then known as the Ramada Renaissance.

Desa's body showed signs of a severe assault, with the medical examier testifying she had received anywhere from 20 to 100 blows from either a foot or a fist to her head, throat, upper chest and breasts.

An acquaintance of Desa's, 21-year-old Jason Scott Atkinson, was charged with and found guilty of second-degree murder.

Much like Bone, Atkinson was a foster child at age 11, and started living independently on the street when he was 14.

Atkinson's conviction was the first in Edmonton where DNA evidence played a major role. At the time, only 15 trials in Canada had heard evidence based on DNA analysis.

A near half-million dollar re-landscaping of the park in 1993 improved sightlines from the street and classical music was introduced over loudspeakers in an effort to deter crime in the area.

While the park is closed between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., there are no fences or signs of an active security program.

In late 2006 the worst incident of murder in the city's history took place one block south of the park.

On October 29th, Thomas Tipo Orak, 18, Jacey Sydney Pinnock, 27, and Dave Persaud, 18, died from gunshot wounds received in the Red Light Lounge Triple Murder.

Dwayne Anthony Nelson, 22, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of assault causing bodily harm.

On the evening of August 1st, a memorial drew about forty people to Beaver Hills Park to honour the memory of Edward Bone, known as "Eddie" to those close to him.

Percy Potts, Eddie's uncle, said the young man made of the best of the opportunities presented him.

“Edward had a pretty hard life, but he was a survivor.”

"He went from family to family after his mom passed away about ten years ago."

“He had an understanding of the life he was in on the streets, and he was looking for a way to get out of it.”

"That's how he became a people person – he was a survivor."

"If you're asking one of these people here, the first thing that you got from him was a smile. A smile that made me feel like it was good to be alive in this world."

"Eddie was not an animal. I believe the people that did this ... I think they fit that bill."

Cheyenne Workman also shared her memories in the park where her close friend liked to hang out.

"I guess it's in a way kinda of suitable that it happened here 'cuz it has that much more meaning to it now."

"Even when he was down on the streets and he had nothing but his backpack and his blanket, like, he'd always had a smile on his face and a hug for you."

"He had an in-your-face attitude. What I mean by that is that Eddie was a very proud person, a person who would talk back to you, but with a smile on his face."

"He stayed at my house a lot. I fed him – I didn't have food in my fridge very often but when I do, you know, Eddie was there eating it."

"Yeah, he was like my brother, we just took care of each other."

A wake was held August 2nd on the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation, 80 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, followed by Bone's funeral the next day.

Life on the streets of Edmonton is tough, especially for a young man without a fixed address. Bone stayed with relatives or friends – anywhere he could find a place.

Bone had his run-ins, sometimes with other people, sometimes with police. Occasionally he would show up at Workman's home, beat up, bloody, drunk but always smiling.

"He got stabbed 3 1/2 weeks ago," Workman told the Journal. "He got three stab wounds in the chest, but they weren't serious."

Knives are a fact of life in the inner city, she added.

"I live on 107th Street, two blocks from Urban Stylez where that guy got murdered a little while ago. All these young kids have knives – the speed freaks and the crack heads. They'll knife you for a cigarette."

Violence dogged Bone's family as well.

In 2006 his cousin was found dead in the Saxon Manor apartment building at 10211 156 Street.

On September 9th 28-year-old Cody Aaron Bull was stabbed to death. His common-law wife, 29-year-old Jolie Amy Panegyuk, was charged with second-degree murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

Cody Bull was Percy Potts' son. "Our family has been riddled with a lot of traumatic deaths over the years," Eddie's uncle said.

But Bone suffered his greatest loss when, at the age of eight, he lost his mother to the ultimate form of domestic violence.

On July 16th, 1995 Louise Bone Potts died in her home in Hobbema near the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation. Richard Crier, her common-law husband, was charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault in connection with her death.

While results of Crier's trial could not be determined by this site, the effect of the woman's death resulted in young Eddie Bone charting a course through Alberta's foster care system.

The nomadic life of a child in that system set a pattern for the young man who recently saw education as his way off Edmonton streets.

Earlier in 2007 Bone earned his high-school diploma at the Boyle Street Co-op after completing a three-year program.

“We just seen him here at the pow-wow in Alexis and he was very upbeat, very proud of his accomplishments finishing school and looking to take the next step,” his uncle said.

That next step was joining the army, according to one of his teachers.

"He had his dignity and he had his pride and he never bothered anybody. He should have failed in so many ways, but he didn't," said Eddie's cousin Misty Potts-Sanderson.

Police haven't made comment on whether the young man's death was gang- or drug-related. Percy Potts said he didn't know whether his nephew was involved in gangs or drugs or not.

Meanwhile, Eddie's cousins are dealing with police, trying to get back one of his few wordly possessions: his green backpack.

Unfortunately, what little the man left behind was now marked as an exhibit, taken at the crime scene to be held for a possible trial should detectives someday apprehend his killer.

deadmonton 2007 - edward bone