First-degree murder charge laid in death at Stanley Park

VANCOUVER — Police allege the stabbing death of a man on Vancouver’s Stanley Park seawall last February was premeditated.

VPD Supt. Mike Porteous spoke at a news conference in Vancouver on Wednesday to address why the suspect in the death of 61-year-old dog walker Lubomir Kunik has been charged with first-degree murder.

Porteous said investigators know a specific motive for the killing, but are withholding the information because the case is before the courts.

“I cannot speak specifically to what was in the suspect’s mind, and I hesitate to hypothesize about what ifs, but what I can say was this was premeditated in nature and you can draw your own conclusions,” Porteous said.

Investigators determined there are no links between this case and other attacks that have happened in Stanley Park, Porteous said.

Police said the investigation was complex and took nearly a year. A break in the case came when the police department’s forensic team found a link between evidence collected on the seawall and the suspect.

Porteous would not provide details of that link, but said it was difficult to collect evidence on the seawall in the winter.

“But they were able to glean the tiniest bit of evidence that led them to the suspect, which they then had to investigate to get further evidence to support charges,” he said.

Police said that Kunik and the suspect, Tyler Anthony Lagimodiere, did not know each other. Lagimodiere, 29, was charged with first-degree murder on Monday. His next appearance will be on Jan. 17.