Charges filed in rooming house killing

Inquiry continues into two slayings

A man arrested in Saskatoon has been charged with second-degree murder after a body was discovered inside a northwest Edmonton house last September, days after another man was shot dead at the same basement suite.

Edward Piche, 29, was arrested by Saskatoon police March 5 before he was taken back to Edmonton and charged with the killing of Blayne Joseph Burnstick, 25, whose body was discovered Sept. 18 in the rooming house near 111 Avenue and 94 Street, Edmonton police said in a Monday release.

Homicide detectives continue to investigate Burnstick’s killing, as well as the slaying of Nexhmi (Nick) Nuhi, 76, fatally shot Sept. 13 after a gunman opened fire through the suite’s exterior door.

Burnstick — who was also shot to death — was not a resident of the house, but Nuhi was.

Piche, now remanded, also faces a number of firearms-related charges, including use of firearm while committing offence, careless use of firearm, pointing firearm, unauthorized possession of firearm, possessing a loaded prohibited/restricted firearm, possessing a prohibited firearm and possessing a weapon of danger to public.

Five days after Burnstick’s body was found in the suite, police forensics teams were still scouring the scene.

Several neighbours at the time said the rental property — a foursquare-style house with grey siding — is known for drug activity.

The house was built in 1918, according to a property tax search. It is owned by a numbered company registered in Alberta, and last changed hands in September 2014.

Before Burnstick’s body was discovered, his family said he had gone missing and was last seen near Northlands Coliseum Sept. 12. Family had circulated a missing poster for Burnstick on social media.