Rebecca Asuncion wants the world to know about her sister and niece, both killed in an apparent double murder suicide earlier this month in Richmond Hill.
“She has a name. She’s not just a 36-year-old woman and the baby. She died tragically. They should be named,” said Rebecca, Rommelia Asuncion’s older sister.
Rommelia and her five-month-old baby girl, Morgyn Rose Asuncion-Massicotte, were found in the basement apartment of the home they rented on Mackay Drive in Richmond Hill on Feb. 1, just after 4 p.m.
Also found dead in the apartment, Rommelia’s common-law husband and the father to her child, 41-year-old Joshuah Lawrence Massicotte. The coroner told them that Rommelia and Morgyn died from severe blunt deep stab wounds.
York Regional Police have told them that there are no outstanding suspects, and the family believes Rommelia and Morgyn were murdered before Massicotte took his own life. The coroner also inferred it was a case of intimate partner violence.
“In my heart and in my mind, I believe that they were murdered and then, after that he committed suicide. I believe that my sister fought for her life and the safety of her child,” said Rebecca, tears dripping from her eyes.
Rommelia, who worked at Magna International in Concord, Ont., on an assembly line, texted her mother, Divinia America, every day when she woke up.
On Jan. 31, Divinia said Rommelia sent her a video of the baby and later sent a text in Tagalog that said, “We argued again.” Her mother replied to Rommelia asking what it was about and then her daughter stopped responding. Divinia said she tried calling Rommelia but was unable to get an answer.
The next day, Divinia called Rebecca at work and told her she was worried. “She was crying. I think something happened to your sister because she’s not like this. She’s always responding to my messages, so we have to go to her house,” Rebecca recalled.
After Rebecca got off work, she picked up her mother and they went to the Mackay Drive home and looked for the couple’s landlord.
When the landlord arrived home, he suggested they call police to check on Rommelia. It was just after 4 p.m. when police entered the basement apartment, after the owner opened the door. “Suddenly paramedics, forensics and then they tape off the things and I said ‘Oh my God, someone has died,” Rebecca said. She got into her car and began to cry and was asked if she could drive to the police station.
The family said that during the pandemic, Rommelia, who had been dating Massicotte since 2016 after meeting in a pastry factory, moved out because he didn’t want to have children and she did. She blocked him on social media but then he began emailing her, and eventually she moved back in.
In late December 2022, Rommelia became pregnant with the couple’s first child. “When she showed me the pregnancy test, she was so happy. She said we waited for so long. Finally, it came,” Rebecca said.
The childbirth was difficult since Massicotte insisted on a home birth, but Morgyn was a healthy baby who was thriving.
Rebecca remembered one time, a couple of months back when her mother was concerned for the welfare of the child. “She accidentally sent you a video of the baby,” Rebecca reminded her mother, about a video sent by Rommelia. The video showed Massicotte holding the child and he appeared to be pushing the ear of a stuffed animal into the child’s mouth.
Divinia said she was crying when she saw the video and asked her daughter about it. When she went back to see the video again, it had been deleted. Her daughter told her that Massicotte “had already said he was sorry.”
The family has now started a GoFundMe to raise money for funeral expenses and is trying to reunite the rest of the family for a funeral in Toronto.
This is the second tragedy they’ve experienced. Divinia said in 1996, her oldest son was killed in a fire in Quezon City, Philippines. The 15-year-old saved his father, but sadly he perished. Divinia’s husband died the following year. Now they’re dealing with the murder of Rommelia and her baby.
“I’m so devastated, I’m so mad, because I treated the guy so well,” Divinia said through tears.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to remove a link to an online obituary for Joshuah Massicotte that no longer appears to be online, along with quotes taken from that obituary.
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