Local man charged with manslaughter
Woman found dead in basement of home in Dream Centre organization
A Calgary man is charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of his girlfriend at his home in the northeast community of Whitehorn.
The victim has been identified by investigators as Janel Squirrel, a 26- year- old Calgary woman.
Squirrel’s boyfriend, Leo Harry Pantherbone, 45, of Calgary, is charged in her homicide.
Police and EMS were called to a home in the 0- 100 block of Whitmire Bay N. E. at about 3: 30 p. m. Tuesday for reports that someone inside was dead.
Responders found the body of a woman in her late 20s in the basement of the home, and considered her death suspicious.
A man who lives in the house said he is among three roommates who share the rental property, but he doesn’t know Squirrel or the man she was with very well. He said he attempted to return home Tuesday night but was met by police and taken in for questioning before he was released a couple hours later.
The roommate, who declined to be identified, said he works out of town and rarely comes home, but from what he has seen, Squirrel was in a long- term relationship he believed was mutually respectful with another man, whom he called Leo, who lived in the Whitehorn home.
The roommate said he hadn’t seen the couple fight.
“Nice people,” he said. “When I was home in the mornings, they would be making themselves breakfast and they’d sit down to eat.”
Police said there was no reported history of domestic violence between the pair.
On Wednesday afternoon, a police cruiser was parked outside the small, single- storey home. The house is one of the Calgary Dream Centre’s 187 units scattered throughout the city.
“Our hearts are hurting right now,” said Christopher Primeau, the development manager at the Calgary Dream Centre.
“Our goal every day is to help people and when tragedy strikes it definitely affects the entire organization, but mainly our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and the families of those that are involved.”
The Calgary Dream Centre is a faith- based organization that works to help vulnerable people escape the cycle of homelessness. The organization’s long- term affordable housing programs offers men who have struggled with addiction and homelessness a safe place to live.
Primeau said the organization is co- operating fully with police.
A woman who lives a few doors down from the home in question said the incident is out of place in what has otherwise been a quiet neighbourhood.
“It’s a little too close to home,” said the woman, Tammy, who declined to give her last name.
“I’ve been in this house six years and it’s usually really, really quiet here.”
“It makes me worry more, with everything that’s going on in the city now, a lot of things make me worry,” she added.
Mel Rayner, who lives next door, said there were never any disturbances at her neighbour’s house.
“It was roommates, it was single guys,” she said. “An ambulance actually came to take a man away a month ago and that was it. Never seen anything, never seen any fights or police.”
She said news of the homicide has left her shaken.
“I sleep with my patio door open,” Rayner said. “I guess I won’t be doing that anymore.”
Police say anyone experiencing abuse or violence in an intimate relationship should reach out for help.
Investigators say anyone with information about the Whitehorn case should contact them or Crime Stoppers.