A 29-year-old Carman man is facing five counts of first-degree murder in connection with the weekend deaths of five members of his own family, Manitoba RCMP say.
Ryan Howard Manoakeesick has been charged with the deaths of his 30-year-old common-law partner, their three children — a six-year-old daughter, four-year-old son and two-and-a-half-month-old daughter — and his partner’s 17-year-old niece.
The five victims died Sunday at multiple crime scenes in and around the town of Carman, where Insp. Tim Arseneault said all five lived together.
The investigation began Sunday when police said a woman was found lying dead in a ditch in an area just outside Carman — about an hour southwest of Winnipeg.
Later that day, 70 kilometres to the north in the rural municipality of Cartier, officers were called to a burning vehicle, where the children’s remains were found. Initial reports had indicated that a witness had helped to pull the children from the burning vehicle, but police confirmed that they were removed by the accused.
Further investigation led officers to a home in Carman, where they found the body of the 17-year-old inside.
Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs called the news “heartbreaking” at a press conference Monday.
“We are heartbroken with the loss of our women and the loss of the young ones,” Merrick said. “It’s heartbreaking to speak to it. I’m a grandmother — I’m a kookum — I have grandchildren and I was thinking about them when I was sitting here. We have to prevent these things from happening to our families.”
“We have to respect life, we only have one chance at life. We have to be sure that our relatives respect life, so they don’t end up in the systems.”
Premier Wab Kinew called it a “dark time in Manitoba”, and said it’s impossible to imagine how this tragedy could have happened — and how the ‘sacred bonds’ of family could have been broken.
“This time is difficult for us right now, because these sacred bonds have been broken in our province …and there is no context, there is no explanation that can make this OK. This is pure darkness,” Kinew said.
“I want to say to the people of Manitoba that we are not helpless in the face of darkness. We can take action to protect the vulnerable, we can offer comfort, we can offer support.
“It’s been said that our province exists as a collective act of will, and today we are being summoned to call upon that will… to do something difficult, to be there for one another during this time of need.”
Kinew thanked the first responders, witnesses who called for help, and educators and community leaders in Carman who now have the task of trying to explain the tragedy.
Rebecca Clifton with the Paramedic Association of Manitoba said the first responders are reeling alongside the community.
“These are people who work in these communities, they live in these communities,” she said. “We really are just doing our best to support not only the paramedics but the dispatchers and even the police officers and other different people who were on those scenes,”
Clifton said it’s important for first responders to be honest with their support networks about how they are feeling.
The mayor of Carman, Man., said his community of 3,000 was devastated to learn about the deaths.
“(Carman is) pretty quiet,” Mayor Brent Owen told 680 CJOB’s The Start. “It’s tragic. We don’t expect anything like that to happen in our community. It’s just horrific.”
Owen said the tight-knit community will attempt to get through the tragedy together.
“We all come together as a community to do things for each other, to make our community better,” he said.
“My heart goes out to all the relatives, the families, the neighbours… if these children were in the school system, there has to be some counselling brought forward for everybody. (I) thank the first responders…. what they do is great, and it’s got to be just terrible to try to piece this together.”
Neighbour Randy McFarland said he was one of the first to notice the police presence at the house next door.
“After it got dark, everybody else started showing up, forensics trucks and everything else… by that time it’s like, what the heck is going on here?”
McFarland said the whole situation caught him by surprise and he never expected something like this to happen so close to home.
With files from The Canadian Press
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