A quadruple homicide in Calgary earlier this year has brought together the families of three of the victims.
Yu Chieh (Diana) Liao and Tewodros Kebede are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Hanock Afowerk.
The pair is also charged with accessory after the fact in the deaths of Cody Pfeiffer and sisters Glynnis Fox and Tiffany Ear.
READ MORE: Calgary police say quadruple murder victims were ‘brutally’ killed
The case was in court Wednesday, but was put over to Jan. 31 to give defence lawyers time to go over a large volume of evidence, including 70,000 electronic files.
Troy Pfeiffer, Cody’s father, says he felt it was important to approach the sisters of Fox and Ear, who were also in court.
During a break, he and the two women embraced in the hallway outside the courtroom.
“It was like a magnetic pull — the eye contact, and just seeing in their eyes and I do believe that they’d seen it in mine — that we needed to make this connection,” he said outside court.
Pfeiffer said he and the women spoke for about five minutes and he’s glad he reached out.
“Their feelings, their hearts and everything are totally 100 per cent like ours right now, just feeling lost.”
Pfeiffer has said he will attend every court appearance for Liao and Kebede, even though it means driving two hours each way from the village of Barons in southern Alberta. On Wednesday, he was accompanied by his son’s mother, brother and grandmother and he expects the group will grow as the case gets closer to trial.
Liao was excused from court Wednesday and had a lawyer appear on her behalf, while Kebede appeared by video and did not speak.
Pfeiffer, who was 25, 36-year-old Fox and 39-year-old Ear were found dead in a burned-out car at a suburban Calgary construction site July 10.
Fox and Ear were sisters from the Stoney Nakoda First Nation, who relatives have described as loving mothers who left behind 16 children between them.
READ MORE: Sisters found burned in car in Calgary remembered as ‘beautiful mothers’
Afowerk, the owner of the burned car, was found two days later in a rural area west of the city.
Police have said the four victims and two accused all knew each other and that “loose criminal networks” were involved in killings they have described as brutal and ruthless.
Even though charges have been laid, police have said the investigation is ongoing and they are still looking for more people who may have been involved.
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