The seniors at the centre of an Edmonton police homicide investigation were a loving couple whose past decade had been afflicted by the wife’s advancing dementia, their landlord says.
The 69-year-old woman was found dead in her suite at Parkside Manor at 115 Street near 102 Avenue Sunday morning.
The husband was taken to hospital with self-inflicted injuries, said Craig Stout, the apartment owner. Police said the injuries weren’t life-threatening. On Tuesday, police said the 70-year-old man remained in hospital in stable condition.
Stout said the building manager discovered the couple along with a note of apology on the door of the suite, and another inside.
He called the incident a tragedy.
He said one memory stands out about his tenant, from just a few months ago.
“He’d sent me cheques, new cheques, and he’d said, ‘You haven’t raised my rent in a number of years. I’m giving you a raise because you need to get more money from me.’ He gave me more money in the rent that we didn’t ask for. It’s a small glimmer into the kind of gentleman that this guy is.”
Stout said the wife’s dementia had progressed steadily in the past decade.
“I did not know her very well. She’s quiet and you know, she used to talk more before she got ill.”
The building manager lived next to the couple and would often watch the wife while the husband went out to get groceries or run errands, he added.
The police have been in contact with Stout repeatedly over the past two days regarding their investigation.
“The city has taken our garbage cans away, so they’re obviously going to go through them with a fine-tooth comb. Some stuff was taken out last night. We know his car has been towed away,” he said.
“They’re in the process of taking the CCTV system that we have.”
Watch below: A suspicious death investigation is underway after one person was found dead and another injured in an apartment in Edmonton’s Oliver area. Sarah Kraus explains. (Filed Sunday, Oct. 14, 2018).
Edmonton police are calling this a suspicious death. An autopsy was conducted on Monday and police said Tuesday that a determination of the cause and manner of the woman’s death is pending toxicology.
Police said there is no concern for the public and they are not looking for any suspects. As of Tuesday afternoon, no charges have been laid.