Family pleads for information in fatal 2016 attack
No arrests made in savage 2016 beating of Colombian walking home downtown
The family of a Colombian national beaten to death in downtown Edmonton two years ago is again pleading for people to come forward with any information to help bring the man’s killer to justice.
Leonardo Duran-Ibanez, 42, and his brother-in-law Elias Malkum were savagely attacked in the area of 97 Street and 119 Avenue in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2016, while on their way home from a Latin club.
Duran-Ibanez was struck and fell to the ground where he was repeatedly kicked in the head in an unprovoked mob attack involving four men and two women. He died in hospital from severe head trauma.
Malkum was also punched but suffered only bruising to his face before the attackers fled the area at around 3 a.m.
No arrests have been made in the callous and senseless attacks, although Det. Rick Thomas, the man leading the homicide investigation with the Edmonton Police Service, said they had identified and interviewed “persons of interest” but they are “not at the point where we are able to lay charges.”
“It’s certainly frustrating but it’s not uncommon in investigations by any means,” he said.
They should come forward because there is a God in the sky who judges ... they are going to have to pay for what they did.
Thomas described the attacks as a “tragic story of two men minding their own business on their way home” when they were attacked within a stone’s throw of their destination.
“Without co-operation from the six people who were there that evening we are not exactly sure who was responsible for what specifically,” he said.
A $40,000 reward is still on offer by the Edmonton Police Commission for concrete evidence leading to an arrest.
However, Thomas said the reward “hasn’t accomplished” what they had hoped. So far, limited credible information has been received.
Speaking with media on Tuesday, Malkum said he still has recurring nightmares of the attack and of trying to get the attackers to stop their assault.
“It’s very hard for my family,” he said.
Speaking via Skype from Colombia, Duran-Ibanez’s 20-yearold son Daniel said he missed his father greatly.
To the attackers he had a simple message: Confess to your sins.
“They should come forward and confess because there is a God in the sky who judges, and when those people die they are going to have to pay for what they did,” he said through a translator.
Duran-Ibanez’s death was the city’s 40th homicide of 2016.