First-degree murder suspect turns herself in to police
A woman wanted for first-degree murder in the hotel homicide of Mohamad Mana has turned herself in to police, the Citizen has learned.
Crystal Bastien, 32, was wanted for what detectives believe was her role in the killing of Mana, who was bound and beaten to death Saturday night at the Residence Inn by Marriott hotel on Walkley Road. Bastien, an escort believed to have booked the room in which Mana was found dead, turned herself in to detectives at police headquarters on Elgin Street on Wednesday night.
Bastien’s lawyer, Joseph Addelman, told the Citizen that the police narrative about his client “so far has been incomplete.”
Addelman maintained that Bastien isn’t violent.
“She was lucky to escape with her life,” he said.
Investigators continue to seek additional suspects who are believed to have been in the room that night, and earlier Wednesday released a still photo and surveillance video from the hotel showing a blonde woman, carrying a GoodLife gym bag, who they want to speak to.
The hotel room had been booked for an extended stay and hotel employees reported lots of traffic to and from the room during the booking.
Ottawa police responded to reports of a man being beaten and held against his will in Room 310 of the hotel on Walkley Road around 11 p.m. on Saturday.
When officers entered the locked room, they found blood everywhere and Mana on his knees, his hands and feet bound. Police believe Bastien was in the room when Mana, 30, was killed.
They were told that Mana’s girlfriend had fled the hotel before they arrived.
The homicide investigation has been complicated by what appears to have been the inadvertent disclosure of the homicide police report by a front line staff sergeant.
An email containing the report as an attachment was sent to nearly 200 email addresses on the force’s media distribution list Sunday morning with the subject line “media release.” The report contained key witness statements, the names and phone numbers of civilian witnesses, the identity of the homicide victim, and the reports of involved patrol officers and even one homicide detective.
According to court records, Mana was due to be in court this Friday on charges of breaching bail conditions. He has a criminal record dating back to 2009, including convictions for assault, mischief, harassment, uttering threats and obstructing a peace officer.
Bastien’s former boyfriend was brutally killed in Vanier in 2017. Devon Labelle, known as “D -Loc,” was stabbed outside a Jean Coutu pharmacy on Montreal Road. His throat was slit in broad daylight.