last link on the left › deadmonton

Kristopher Ryan Kratchmer, 30, was stabbed to death July 16th, 2008.

Kratchmer was the Edmonton metro area's sixth homicide victim of the year.

Robbie Allen Harrish, 19, and a 16-year-old young offender who can't be named under provision of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were each charged with first-degree murder. Harrish also faced three additional counts of breach of undertaking.

Leduc RCMP first received a 911 call from a passing motorist at 4:45 a.m. on July 16th, 2008 reporting a "suspicious occurrence." It was later revealed the call was about what appeared to be a single vehicle crash.

Officers went to an area along Glen Park Road between Range Roads 261 and 262, west of the Queen Elizabeth II Highway. They found the car that was reported to have been in an accident ... and they also found a male at the scene, deceased.

As the death was believed by investigators to be suspicious, the resources of the RCMP Serious Crimes Unit, Police Dog Services, General Investigation and Forensic Identification Sections were brought in.

The area was sealed off and the RCMP asked anyone who may have been travelling along Glen Park Road between the QE II Hwy and Secondary Highway 795 at the time and who may have had information regarding the incident to contact the Leduc detachment at 780-980-7267.

RCMP were later seen at a second location, a kilometre east of where the man's body was found.

A police tarp covered a white Ford Econoline van in the front yard of a mobile home. Neighbours told media the victim may have been a man in his late-20s who was living in the trailer. Police searched the property.

The next day, RCMP confirmed the identity of the deceased as 30-year-old Kristopher Ryan Kratchmer from the Leduc/Beaumont area. His cause of death was pending the completion of an autopsy that was still underway at the time of the notification.

RCMP also announced that charges of murder in connection with Kratchmer's death would be laid against two teens from Leduc, a 19-year-old and a 16-year-old.

At a news conference RCMP said that Kratchmer and the two teens knew each other and that all three were known to police.

However, investigators wouldn't elaborate on the nature of the relationship, nor did they say what connection the car or the property searched had with Kratchmer's death.

An RCMP spokesman said more would be revealed, including the degree of the murder charge, once the autopsy was complete.

"The offence they were arrested for is murder. We are awaiting results from the autopsy as far as the post-mortem examination by the medical examiners office before we are able to confirm that this is homicide," Const. Deanna Fontaine said.

The spokesman also said there was nothing to indicate the death was gang-related. Police continued their appeal to the public for information regarding the incident.

Later that day police announced Robbie Allen Harrish and the 16 year old young offender were charged with first-degree murder. Harrish also faced 3 additional counts of breach of undertaking.

Harrish was scheduled to appear in Leduc Provincial Court on July 24th, 2008. The youth was scheduled to appear in Leduc Provincial Court the following day. Both accused did not speak to bail and remain in custody.

On July 18th Leduc RCMP revealed that Kristopher Kratchmer died as a result of multiple stab wounds. Const. Deanna Fontaine said police were not searching for any other suspects in the killing.

On the July 24th and July 25th hearing dates, both accused had lawyers represent them in court. No further details were given.

With little information coming from police, reporters sought out those who knew the victim – read more »

"When they said there was a body found in the ditch, I was shocked, actually," Glen Park Road resident Ryan Woolley told the Edmonton Sun.

Woolley told CTV Edmonton's David Ewasuk that one person had lived in the trailer for less than a year.

"Around my age as far as I know. Mid-twenties – I would assume. I don't actually know."

"Male, female?" the reporter asked.

"I know there was a male living there."

Woolley offered much the same when speaking with Global Edmonton.

"I don't really know them very well. I've just talked to them a few times in the past," Wooley said.

A slightly clearer picture emerged of the man and one of his accused assailants in other interviews.

"He desperately needed a place to stay," said Bernard Lemire, who owns the property on Glen Park Road where the 30-year-old died.

Lemire told the Edmonton Sun Kratchmer had asked to move into the trailer but he turned him down. However, Lemire's brother Eric, who actually rents the trailer, had let him stay there anyway.

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, Kratchmer and Eric were in the trailer watching TV. Two people showed up who didn't get along with Kratchmer, according to Eric. He later found out Kristopher had been murdered.

"Apparently, there had been a fight outside, right along the white van that had the tarp on it," Eric said.

"I thought the murder happened inside the van but apparently it happened against the van because there were blood marks on it."

Lemire said he no idea what kind of trouble Kratchmer was in or why he was so desperate to find a place to stay.

"He seemed like a nice enough guy," he said.

The Edmonton Journal spoke with the uncle of Robbie Allen Harrish, one of the two teens charged with first-degree murder.

Zane Harrish said his nephew had recently drifted away from his relatives. "He really distanced himself from the family," he told the Journal.

"It's almost as if when he turned 18 he just kind of went away on his own. He was gone. He didn't want anything to do with anybody. He is rather quiet, actually, but he would talk to anybody, he would help you do anything. He was a good kid. He was an average kid."

Harrish's former boss at a Subway restaurant in Leduc said Robbie was fired about two weeks before the stabbing.

"He was late for shift, he didn't show up, he would leave early," said the boss who didn't want to be identified.

"He would spaz out on the people he worked with, too."

Initially, Kratchmer's immediate family declined requests from media for comment, asking they be left alone to come to terms with their loss.

In the days that followed, a picture emerged of Kristopher that showed him to be a vulnerable young boy making his way through life in an adult body – read more »

Kristopher's father, Tim Kratchmer, first made a short statement to the Edmonton Journal.

"It hasn't sunk in yet. I'm not dealing with it very well," he said. "It was not the best of relationships," adding he hadn't seen his son in three years.

On July 24th, 2008 CTV Edmonton's David Ewasuk snagged an exclusive interview with Tim Kratchmer, Kristopher's father.

The elder Kratchmer said he hadn't seen Kristopher in many years and revealed something about his son that may have led to his death.

"What's a thirty-year-old doing with teenagers?" Tim asked.

"What you have to understand is my son does have a mental disability. He has been diagnosed and we have documentation that he operates at an 8-year-old level."

Kratchmer said his son loved socialising but didn't judge people's character well. He felt his son required permanent supervision.

"I feared this day, my wife and I feared this day, and I accept it," Tim said. "He was either going to get killed or he was going to kill somebody."

The CTV Edmonton report also indicated that the car found on Glen Park Road belonged to Kristopher.

Sabrina Kratchmer, Kristopher's younger half-sister, wrote to The Last Link and offered additional information.

Kris was Tim's only child with first wife, Kelly. Tim re-married and had two other children with his second wife, Lois.

"My brother had a mental disability, and my family did the best they could to help him and make sure that he was doing alright," Sabrina wrote.

"But it wasn't enough, he needed 24-hour supervision, and that was not an option. We couldn't provide it – as best we tried – and he didn't want it. After all, he was an adult. What adult wants their parents monitoring them 24 hours a day?

"The thing is, even though he was legally an adult, he was mentally a little boy, and little boys need to be taken care of."

Sabrina also felt it important that people know exactly how Kristopher died, adding detail to the official cause of death issued by the medical examiner.

"And by 'multiple stab wounds,' this includes a fair size slashing of the throat. I suppose multiple stab wounds is some kind of euphemism," she wrote.

Additional material

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 - kristopher ryan kratchmer