Daniel Charles Hamer, 35, suffered blunt cranial trauma on October 8th, 2011.
Hamer was Edmonton's 40th homicide victim of the year.
Case status is open and active.
It was a place police had been to many times before and a house neighbours had often complained about. It had been condemned by the city and was well-known as a crack shack and prostitution den.
And on October 8th, 2011, something happened between acquaintances in the modest brown stucco bungalow at 8620 117 Avenue that led to a man's death. Some reports indicate an axe had been used.
Police received a call at about 3:30 a.m. concerning a break-and-enter and assault in progress. Other calls came in reporting gunshots and the squealing tires of a truck speeding away.
Within minutes, officers arrived at the Parkdale house and found a 35-year-old aboriginal male lying just inside the doorway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers figured the man's death to be suspicious, a pronouncement that immediately brought out homicide detectives.
"Homicide has been brought in to begin an investigation but they won't be able to confirm whether it's a homicide or not until after the autopsy," a police spokesman said later.
Two men, aged 52 and 34, were taken into custody as persons of interest. Yellow crime tape wrapped the area as forensics staff arrived to examine and document the scene.
Despite being condemned and without power, neighbours said a man in his 50s lived alone in the house which saw people coming and going at all hours.
As dawn broke, area residents saw police combing through the yard and paying particular attention to the house's front door which had months' worth of health board warning notices attached to it.
Neighbours watched as a forensics team worked the property, dusted for fingerprints and brought numerous brown paper bags out of the home – including one that looked like it contained a long object.
Blood spatter could be seen on the wall just inside the front entrance.
Animal control officers also removed two cats.
An extensive image gallery of police work can be seen here »
With the death occurring on a weekend, information from police was slow to dribble out.
"I believe [the men being interviewed] were known to each other. How well I can't say, but I believe they were at least acquaintances," a police spokesman said. "The victim and those in custody are all known to police."
And, apparently, so was the house.
"It was a location that police had responded to before, but I can't confirm the reasons for those visits," the spokesman said.
"I don't know if anyone resided at the home. It was boarded up, and with the signs, there isn't any indication that anyone was living there legally."
Four months earlier, inspectors from Alberta Health Services had declared the house a public health risk, ordering the owner to bring the house back up to code and to stop accommodating tenants. Renters were expected to vacate the premises by mid-August.
An inspection report (posted on the door) detailed 14 infractions, including leaking water, the presence of mould, a living-room floor made of unfinished plywood, and a basement piled with garbage and clothing two feet high.
In spite of the order, the owner continued to live there – much to the frustration of local residents. Many interviewed weren't surprised to see police activity at the house as they had called police to the home themselves on numerous occasions – read more »
"That house has been nothing but trouble since the last five–six years," Andrew Windjack said. "Lot of drug activity, lot of theft."
A man who lived across the street said he was woken at about 1:30 a.m. after hearing what sounded like gunshots, followed by screeching tires as a vehicle drove away.
"We heard a big bang and then a vehicle speed off," Corey Heft said. "The next thing I know there's thirteen to sixteen cruisers, two forensics units ... lit up the whole street."
About the house, Heft didn't mince words.
"It's a crack shack," he said.
Heft's wife, Tina, said she heard a couple of men arguing in or near the house earlier in the evening. She also described the people frequenting the house as drug users and sex workers who come and go at all hours.
"Well, they were dealing drugs – that's a guarantee," Royce Ziegler said.
"A car pulls up, runs into the house and they're in there two minutes and runs out. What do you think is going on?
"There were hookers using it. There were drugs, there was people coming and going all the time and that's not normal in your neighbourhood. And we all know that and we watched it and we phoned the police on it," Ziegler said.
The 33-year Parkdale resident noted the home wasn't an issue until a man took over ownership of the home following his parent's death.
"We started having problems with the house when his mom and dad passed away. And the thing is that we phoned the police many, many times on that house and they were doing their best and that was it," Ziegler said.
He described the homeowner as a nice guy who but kept to himself.
"I saw him a couple of days ago and I said hi, but he didn't even look at me ... he looked like he was [on something]."
Ziegler was concerned about the house as he didn't want his neighbourhood to get a bad rap.
"They're saying this is a bad neighbourhood. But it's a great neighbourhood," he said.
"Where else can you go, walk down the street and everyone knows your name? It's a good neighbourhood, it's not a scary neighbourhood."
Bill Montgomery recalled the days when no one in Parkdale locked their doors.
"It's astonishing to say that now," he said.
"It was kind of like a drug house," Daniel Fitzgerald said.
"Guys drop off prostitutes and then go in to pick up what I'm assuming are drugs. I mean, a murder is surprising. But the fact that there was trouble at that house doesn't surprise me."
A woman who didn't want to be identified also heard gun shots.
"Police have had that home under surveillance since May," she said. "Cops are usually seen going in and out of there every day."
The woman said the home's owner battled a drug addiction and that brought in a troublesome element.
An unidentified man familiar with the home said the owner "wasn't friendly."
"He would always yell at us for where we parked," he said, adding he was afraid after what had happened.
"There were drug deals going on there for four years, but it wasn't a problem until six months ago when they just got stupid about it.
"I feel so bad that it took this long, until someone got killed, when police started to do something about it," he said.
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At about 5:30 p.m. on October 8th, staff from the medical examiner's office removed the body – see images »
Forensics staff stayed behind for another two days gathering evidence.
On October 10th, police made it official and declared the man's death a homicide – the city's 40th of the year, and by some accounting methods, record-breaking.
Autopsy results indicated that 35-year-old Daniel Charles Hamer died from a severe blow to the head.
But whether Hamer's death was drug or gang-related, police did not say. The two men who had been taken into custody were released without being charged.
At a news conference, Acting Staff/Sergeant Bill Clarke outlined where the investigation stood.
"We have two suspects we have interviewed," Clarke said.
"There was an indication at the time our officers went there of a break and enter in progress and ultimately the two suspects inside basically were in a fight with Mr. Hamer.
"We have a self-defence angle here we're looking at, and as a result, these two suspects are not in our custody at this time although they have provided interviews," Clarke said.
"The autopsy was just completed. The cause of death was blunt cranial trauma. And, until we get a full report and our forensic information done, we'll make a decision on how we're proceeding with this investigation. We come to the point where we have to forward it to the Crown for a decision."
Clarke also revealed that Hamer did not live in the house he was found in and added that there was no need for the public at large to panic.
"They're all known to each other and again this is a high-risk lifestyle type group," he said. "To me the average Edmontonian is safe in this city if you're not involved in these types of activities."
While police had not gone on record that Hamer had died in a condemned drug house, Clark's comments certainly gave that impression.
The detective also said police were looking for an "important" female witness that could shed some light on the direction investigators could take in the case.
In addition, a full forensic report was still being waited on.
At last word, the matter of Hamer's death still rested with the Crown prosecutor's office and the case remains open.
In an interview with the Edmonton Sun, a woman who knew Daniel Hamer said he was a good person who had a problem with addiction – read more »
Trina Kootenay first met Hamer in 2005 at a drug house in Calgary. She was 22 and addicted to crack at the time.
When she asked Hamer why he had blood on his head, he said that somebody had hit him with a pipe.
A few months later, they ran into each other again on the streets of downtown Calgary.
Both were homeless and addicted to drugs, and they shared a similar upbringing as aboriginals who grew up in a city instead of a reserve. The pair quickly became friends.
"I remember one time me and him slept in the back of an abandoned van in an area called the crack cul-de-sac. I just remember being cold and that was me and my addiction," Kootenay said.
"He was just a very kind person. He's not one of those thugs that are raised in very bad situations where they don't have a conscience or a mind. When he did drugs, it weighed heavily on him. It made him feel very guilty."
In 2006, Kootenay ended up behind bars at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. It was there she cleaned up her act.
Hamer also wound up at the prison and the pair began writing letters to each other.
After her release, Kootenay shed her street persona and "dressed like a woman."
"He used to say I was an inspiration to him," Kootenay said after the two met again. "He wanted to have that life, to be part of society."
Hamer tried to get out of the life and eventually moved to Edmonton to seek treatment.
The last time Kootenay heard from Hamer was in December 2008, receiving a call made from a pay phone. He told her that he was coming back to Calgary and that he loved her.
Kootenay waited. Hamer never came and the pair lost touch.
On trips to Edmonton she would drive through downtown streets hoping to find him. She held out hope that he would "wake up" from his addiction and grow to be the man he was meant to be.
Then Kootenay heard her friend had been murdered. The news was heartbreaking.
"It really shocked me. I always believed I would know him again and that I would see him in a year or two. I believe [his family] did everything they could, but he made his own choices in the end," she said.
"He was a good person who came from a good family. He got caught up in addiction and with the wrong people. I wish he was able to escape this lifestyle."
Kootenay then shared an insight she once had.
"I honestly believed if I didn't leave [the lifestyle], I was either going to end up dead or go to the penitentiary for a very long time."
While Hamer's death was officially the city's 40th homicide of 2011, police chief Rod Knecht didn't see it that way – read more »
In past years, Edmonton police tallied murders in the year they took place. A change in the way Statistics Canada now handles the numbers meant that two deaths deemed homicides in 2011 – one case from 2009 and the other from 2010 – were "artificially added" to the current year's total.
"It depends on how you count the numbers. I count them different," Knecht said. "We exclude two because they happened in '09 and '10."
In the grand scheme of Edmonton's murder history, the chief's reasoning resembled a river in Egypt (Da Nile) as he tried to make the best of the numbers.
Knecht said more than 80 per cent of the people involved in 2011's homicides knew each other, with half of those homicides occurring inside private homes.
Three of the year's murders took place inside prison walls (Gyozo Victor Barasso, Barry Raymond Stewart, Mason Tex Montgrand). Two were the result of police shootings (Cyrus Green, Kinling Robin Fire). One death (Yusuf Abdirahim) was ruled non-culpable, meaning no criminal charges are contemplated. Another death (Anna Fedorio) was the result of another person's suicide.
Thus, using Knecht's new math, Edmonton's homicide count for the year should only read 31.
The city had set its previous record in 2005 with 39 murders. At this time in 2010, the death toll was only at 20.
Compared to other cities, Hamer's death put Edmonton at Canada's murder forefront.
Toronto's tally for 2011 so far stood at 35, with Winnipeg at 32, Montreal at 28, Vancouver at 11, and Calgary (Edmonton's most comparable city) clocking in with just six.
Numbers aside, Knecht admits the city's ongoing penchant for violence was concerning.
"It's important to note that all these victims have their own stories," he said.
"They have families, they have friends, they have loved ones. And they all died unnecessarily.
"We're trying to prevent homicides as best we can, we know that's an almost impossible task," Knecht said.
"That's why our focus is on violence reduction, that's why we focus on possible victims."
"We think if we can focus on those people that are victims, or potential victims, and those people that are committing violent acts, that we can drive down the homicide rate," he said.
Knecht's focus was also on adding as many as 100 new police officers. The chief was ramping up the rhetoric in the lead up to the city's budget process set to begin at the end of November.
"We are stretched to capacity," Knecht said. "We've taken a lot of resources from other areas in the police service and put them full-time into the homicide unit to help with the high numbers and to move forward."
At mid-year, officers from robbery, patrol, sexual assault, and traffic were seconded to homicide investigations. The added officers Knecht spoke of were key to Edmonton police's Violence Reduction Strategy.
"Crime doesn't stop just because we have a rising homicide rate," Knecht said. "We have to address those issues overall to ensure Edmontonians are as safe as we can possibly make them."
Those with information about Hamer's murder were asked to contact Edmonton police at 780-423-4567, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or online at www.tipsubmit.com. Tips can also be text messaged.
- In Edmonton: text TIP250 + message and send to CRIMES (274637)
- In Northern Alberta: text TIP205 + message and send to CRIMES (274637)
A confirmation message and unique code number will then be sent. Tipsters can respond by replying.
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