National Post (National Edition)
Murder charges laid in triple homicide
Accused on suicide watch in hospital
CALGARY • A 25-year-old Calgary man is on suicide watch after being charged with the murders of his girlfriend and his parents.
Calgary police were called at 11 a.m. Tuesday to an apartment in the city’s southeast, where they discovered the body of a young woman. Police believe she was killed on July 25. Later on Tuesday the police found the bodies of a couple at a residence in a northwest Calgary neighbourhood. Police say they were killed that day.
Sources confirmed the victims to be Dustin Duthie’s mother Shawn Boshuck, stepfather Alan Pennylegion and his girlfriend, Taylor Toller.
Duthie is charged with three counts of second-degree murder.
A neighbour at the Applewood apartment complex where Toller’s body was found said he watched the arrest from his second-floor window.
“I heard screeching tires so of course I looked outside and I saw the first cruiser pull up and a bunch after him and unmarked vehicles as well,” said the man who asked not to be identified.
The officers approached a man sitting on a retaining wall in front of the entrance to the building, drinking out of a bottle.
“I heard them say ‘Sir! Drop the bottle now!’ And he said ‘F— you’ or ‘F— off ’ and then he drank again.”
He said another officer said something and the man dropped the bottle and stood up.
“It was like he was waiting for them.”
Duthie was taken into custody and is being held under suicide watch at the Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary.
His case was called before a justice of the peace Wednesday morning, but he was unable to appear.
Both Crown prosecutor Brandy O’ferrall and duty defence counsel Ben Leung said he was under psychiatric care at the Rockyview hospital. Leung asked that Duthie’s case be adjourned to next Wednesday, so the accused can seek a court psychiatrist to determine if he needs a 30-day mental health assessment.
Friends of the slain couple say Pennylegion was wellrespected football coach and Boshuck was a nurse.
Pennylegion was most recently a coach with the Calgary Hilltoppers football organization, says team president Pat Labrash.
“I can’t say enough about the man, he definitely was a man of integrity,” Labrash said of Pennylegion, whom he brought on as an offensive co-ordinator two years ago for the peewee team.
“He was a mentor to me, a mentor to my friends and to his players. I’m just lost for words. It’s not only a loss for football Alberta and football Calgary, but football Canada. He made a big influence on many kids.”
Just last week, Pennylegion informed Labrash he had accepted a position with the Calgary Colts of the Canadian Junior Football league, not long after he helped lead the peewee Hilltoppers to a Division Three championship.
“He always had positive criticisms of everybody, he was easy to get along with on and off the field and kids looked up to him,” Labrash said.
“Players reached out to get his help out of season (and) coaches from afar reached out to him for his ability to break down film and break down plays. He was one of the most tremendous coaches in community football I had met so far.”
Labrash said that Boshuck was often seen with a smile on her face.
“I met her a few times, she was very laid back, quiet person but always had a smile on her face,” he said.
“We would go over for coaches meetings and she’d ... welcome you into the home.”
Friend Tara Ramsay said Boshuck worked as a holistic nurse in Calgary.
She had recently changed jobs. “She is very well-respected — when her first clinic closed she had several job offers by end of day,” said Ramsay.
Boshuck was the daughter of famed Canadian speed skater Walter “Wally” Boshuck.
PLAYERS REACHED OUT TO GET HIS HELP OUT OF SEASON.