Bruce Dumais, 22, was stabbed June 19th, 2011.
Dumais was Edmonton's twenty-sixth homicide victim of the year.
A 16-year-old male, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged with second-degree murder and possession of a weapon.
For residents living along Edmonton's Avenue of Nations it was an all-too-familiar story – yet another murder.
Shortly after midnight on June 19th, 2011 police were called to the front of the Windermere apartment building at 10625 107 Avenue.
A man on his way to buy cigarettes had been confronted by an individual.
Voices were raised and the man was stabbed. He was left for dead, lying in a pool of blood at the edge of the sidewalk.
The assailant fled into the night. Police arrived minutes later. The dying man was quickly transported to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
Windermere resident Marissa Dimla was among the first to call 911.
"I heard somebody crying and moaning," she said. "And he was just right in front of my window."
Dimla didn't recognise the man. She also didn't see anyone running away from the scene.
Another resident of the 12-suite walk-up said he heard two male voices yelling shortly after midnight – but given the neighbourhood, that wasn't unusual.
"I was working on the computer and I heard what sounded like an argument – a couple of screams," John Cherry said. Then he heard something a little bit different.
"But very quickly all I heard was one person kind of sounding like they were crying a bit."
However, Cherry wasn't curious enough to look outside until police arrived about seven minutes later.
"I heard the cops come and the sirens stop right here, so I did look out the window. The victim was laying on the street right out in front here and he wasn't moving.
"To me it looked like he was already deceased."
Cherry, too, didn't recognise the man but a person did who know the victim was 22-year-old Travis Lewis who related – based on what police told him – that his friend had been jumped by three men and was then stabbed to death – read more »
Lewis said he was at a downtown bar when he got a call telling him police were near where his son was staying. He was briefly detained after he arrived by cab.
"I just found out when I went up to the police officers," Lewis said.
"They asked do you know Bruce? I said yeah man.
"I was like, what about him? Sorry to say he passed away, apparently he got murdered last night," Lewis recounted.
"As far as I know my bro got stabbed. He got jumped by three guys, then he got stabbed once ... instant death right there," he added, basing his account on what he was told.
Police refused to comment on the statements, saying only that guns were not thought to be involved and that they didn't know how many individuals may have participated.
"It's considered suspicious at this time until we can confirm cause of death and determine if it was criminal," said Dean Parthenis, a spokesman said.
Lewis revealed his friend made a desperate cell call to a girlfriend with whom he was staying.
"He was like 'ugh' because he had a stab wound in his shoulder there but she thought he was like his arm hurting," Lewis said.
"I don't know but he died on the phone."
When Lewis was asked if his friend had enemies, he replied "I will tell you guys 'no' but that's confidential stuff."
Lewis said the victim was a man named Bruce, a father of two from Buffalo Lake, who had recently moved to town to find work. He added that his friend was "a cool guy."
The grieving man offered a salute as he left the area.
 |
107th Avenue was blocked in both directions as investigators did their work under a light drizzle – see images »
Detectives canvassed the neighbourhood looking for witnesses.
Police packed up the scene by about noon.
The incident once again brought to light the violence that has plagued 107th Avenue. If the day's death was ruled a murder, it would bring the strip's total to five in 2011 and 26 over the last two decades.
The mounting toll was a concern for area residents and the mayor – read more »
"This here street is nuts ... there's a lot of drug trafficking going here and prostitution," Art Yank said.
"There's a quite robust drug activity that happens in the area. And the police are very under-resourced to deal with it," John Cherry noted.
The man defended his building that has a condo board that strictly monitors its tenants.
"It's quite a peaceful, happy, safe home to live. But of course we can't control what goes on on the street and that makes me sad."
Ironically, the crime scene was immediately across the street from a community police station.
Despite being only open during the day, Cherry said police are in the area all the time and tenants in his building have good relationship with officers.
The manager of a Husky gas bar and convenience store situated next door to the community station said the area is "fairly rough" and that he may write a letter to the police chief.
"At nighttime we need people around," Ismail Ahmed said.
For more about the legacy behind the stretch along 107th Avenue between 93rd and 116th Streets see Problems persist on the Avenue of Nations.
"It's frustrating for everybody," Mayor Stephen Mandel said in the wake of Edmonton's possible 26th homicide of the year.
"I'm going to try to get together with the chief and the city manager and the head of the commission to have a discussion to think about where we're going to do with this."
At city hall the next day, Mandel said it was time to look at ways to curb the city's murder streak.
"There is great concern, whether it's number one or 26," Mandel said.
"We need to meet – the new police chief, the head of city management and myself – and look at how we're going to move forward on this together."
Mandel said he didn't see any thread connecting the city's two-dozen-plus murders.
"They don't seem to have anything in common, there are no trends," he said. "In my opinion, this isn't a policing issue, this is a societal problem that needs to be addressed.
"There may be certain societal issues driving things – poverty, unemployment – but I think we need to put together a strategic package in order to analyze it in an effective way.
"There seems to be alcohol involved, there seems to be particular communities involved and there could be drugs but not drugs in the sense of dealers," he qualified.
Mandel said he was still holding out hope that 2011's high homicide rate was just an anomaly and not an indicator of the city's future.
"We'll see if we can get to the bottom of it," he said.
 |
On June 21st, 2011 Edmonton police confirmed that the death of 22-year-old Bruce Dumais was a homicide.
The medical examiner's office said that Edmonton's twenty-sixth murder victim of the year died as the result of a stab wound.
Police also revealed that they had reviewed surveillance video from the area and determined that there were a number of people along 107th Avenue between 106th and 107th Streets when an altercation took place between 11:30 p.m., June 18th, and 12:30 a.m. on June 19th.
Detectives said they would like to speak with those persons even though they may not have been aware that an altercation was taking place.
Police said Dumais was wearing a dark t-shirt, jean shorts, white socks and no shoes at the time.
"Investigators have not been able to pinpoint the motive as of yet," a spokesman said. "Information from the public is key at this point."
Within hours of his death, a R.I.P. BRUCE DUMAIS Facebook tribute page was created on the popular social networking site where friends and family posted pictures and shared their loss.
Bruce pictured here with his mother
Bruce and his daughter four days before his death
Dumais left behind a five-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter as well as two older sisters and a younger brother – read more »
Their mother, Chelsie Janvier, said from Lac La Biche that Bruce "loved his children a lot – he would always be doing things with them in the park."
Janvier confirmed that Dumais had been walking to a store when he was attacked. She remembered him as a happy man and a great father.
"He was a very upbeat person, very energetic and outgoing."
Though he and Chelsie had recently split, Bruce still stayed close to with his family, supporting them financially by working out of town.
Rose Dumais spoke of the irony of her brother's death and the impact it's having on his kids.
"They're just really sad right now. We all are. He was a loving father. He loved his kids very, very much.
"Just sad ... that this had to happen on such a day," she said, referring to the Father's Day tragedy.
"He was a loving father. He loved his kids very much. He always loved to make people laugh."
"You pray for those families that have gone through this and when it hits close to home you don't know what to think or what to do," Rose said.
"Right now we're just all praying that they find whoever did this and justice is served."
The last time Eileen Dumais saw her son Bruce was some time in April. They weren't on good terms at the time and had exchanged some harsh words. She learned of Bruce's death within hours of him dying in hospital.
"I hear it happening to other families. I never thought in a million years it would ever happen to me and my family, let alone my kids," Eileen said.
"I know my son loved me very much. He wrote a song about the past and dedicated it to me."
Eileen said Bruce didn't live a dangerous lifestyle. Despite becoming a young father at 17, he stuck by his responsibilities of trying to be the best father possible.
Bruce's mother took care of him until the age of five and then again when he turned 13. The news sent her into an emotional nightmare that has left her wondering why someone would do this to her son.
Others also spoke fondly of the young man.
"He had two little girls and he loved them a lot and they really loved him, too," Bruce's aunt, Evelyn Dumais, said.
"He was a caring, respectable person. If he had a dark side, I never saw it."
Another aunt, Janet Blyan, said Bruce had a knack when it came to children.
"He made them laugh, he loved them, and all kids trusted him," she said.
"It's hard. It's devastating. Twenty-two years old."
Bruce had lived with several family members after his mother was unable to take care of him. His brother Richard, went to stay with a grandmother.
"He was like my brother," Tiaraa Monais said from Lac La Biche. "I grew up with him. My dad partly raised him."
Frieda Noskey, who cared for Bruce from the time he was five, said enough was enough.
"It's sad because it's our people against each other. That's what makes it so sad," she said, suggesting the family knew something that police hadn't released.
"His friends can retaliate, but when will it stop? You can go hurt these people that hurt my son, but what is it going to prove? It's not going to bring him back.
"What really hurts is that he laid there all by himself. I just can't understand how people can just do that," she wondered.
"Do they even think? Is there any remorse? They don't know what they've put this family through."
The Buffalo Lake woman said Bruce often stayed with her sons, Jesse and Jeff, who lived in Edmonton. During their frequent phone calls she would encourage him to be cautious if he went out at night.
"He's a young guy, he's going to want to go out and have a beer. But in Edmonton, you can't do that," she said. "It's so sad that it's turned so violent.
"He had another family that loved him very much," she said. "He was like my son. And I'll always be grateful that his mother asked me to take care of her son."
Noskey revealed that Bruce had recently told her own sons that he was going to be a father again, this time with his new relationship.
"He was such a great father," she said. "He was always there for his kids.
Family said Bruce graduated from Portage College in Lac La Biche and was a first-year welder. He had moved to Edmonton about a year before his death to find work. The young man also wrote poetry and loved to draw.
 |
 |
A memorial was erected at the scene. Family later gathered at the spot to hold a vigil – read more »
With drums playing and candles held, those who knew Bruce said their goodbyes.
"All he ever wanted was to be a good dad and be a good husband. That's all he ever wanted," Dumais' aunt Janet Blyan said.
"My family doesn't deserve this. I see my sister in pain and it's so hard ... it's so hard. And whoever knows, there's someone out there who knows what happened. We just need their help."
On July 1st, 2011 – two weeks after his murder – the family of Bruce Dumais issued an appeal.
"Somewhere, someone knows what happened and we pray they come forward to see the pain they caused and put our hearts at ease," they said in a written statement.
"Throughout his young life, he has provided happiness to all he encountered. Bruce was a loving father and provided for his children the way a father should."
Police said the case was still being actively investigated.
On August 15th, 2011 police revealed they had made an arrest in the Dumais case.
A 16-year-old male, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, had been charged with second-degree murder and possession of a weapon.
RCMP arrested the youth on the Saddle Lake Reserve near St. Paul, Alberta on August 12th.
The news brought with it both relief and dread for the family of the slain man – read more »
Eileen Dumais, Bruce's mother, said she had been praying for answers since his death and said the family was now focusing on helping his two young children.
"They're still like too young to understand," she said.
"They just know that daddy's in heaven with angels. And they were number one. His kids were number one. They came first, before anything else in the world.
"The past couple of (months) have been rough for me and my children, it's been pure torture. But I'm relieved they have somebody in custody," she said.
"We'll have some closure, and a lot of questions answered as to why this happened to my son."
Eileen said Bruce's brother and sister haven't handled the death well and have sought help with their loss.
"They're not handling it well. Neither am I, but I'm hanging in there. I have my family to help me."
But now the family must endure a trial and hear details of Bruce's death.
"We're going to have to relive it all. But it's helping us now that we know this person is off the streets," Bruce's aunt Sonia said.
All the information presented on this page has been compiled primarily from published media reports and should not be interpreted as having legal bearing or other prejudice against the individuals named on this web site.
The Last Link on the Left practices fair presentation and the disclosure of relevant interests.
Mouseover for image credits.
