Man charged in Jasper homicide

Kenzie Beaton was looking forward to April.

The 22-year-old hadn’t been home in almost a year, and he was excited about the prospect of going back to Cape Breton to spend time with his parents and friends, to go lobster fishing with his father on their boat, the Cruising Along.

Beaton died in an Edmonton hospital early Saturday morning, after being stabbed once during a fight at a Jasper hotel.

“All he wanted was for April to come so he could come back and fish with his dad,” Beaton’s friends in Cape Breton said in a statement. “His love for fishing and his family and friends were just indescribable. He was a huge part of everyone’s life.”

Beaton was on a weekend ski trip in Jasper when he was allegedly stabbed by an Edmonton man who was staying in the room next door at the Tonquin Inn. RCMP say the two men had never met before.

“The only relation they had is that they were in hotel rooms beside each other,” said Jasper RCMP Sgt. Dave Maludzinski, who described the altercation as being caused by “something to do with alcohol and being loud.”

Cody Kyle Jensen, 21, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with second-degree murder.

Like many young men from Canada’s small, struggling Maritime communities, Beaton left home and headed west after finishing school, lured by the promise of high-paying work in Saskatchewan and Alberta. He had lived with his sister in Saskatchewan for about two years, but longtime friend Josh Macneil said Beaton always planned to move back to Mabou one day, and live in a house across from his parents.

Macneil described Beaton — or “Bongo” as he was known to his friends — as a popular guy with a keen sense of humour.

“He was probably one of the greatest friends you could ask for,” MacNeil said. “And he deserved way better than this.”

News of Beaton’s death shocked residents of the tiny community as word spread over the weekend.

“It’s almost unbelievable that something so tragic could happen to this fine young man,” said Brian Macinnis, who coached Beaton in hockey and is a family friend.

Macinnis described Beaton as polite, respectful and well-liked by his teammates when he played midget hockey in Cape Breton. “The whole community is going to miss him, that’s for sure.”

The stabbing happened at about 4 a.m. Saturday. Beaton died that morning.

Some in Mabou say they’ve heard Beaton was trying to break up a domestic dispute when he was stabbed, but Maludzinski said that’s not the information homicide investigators received from witnesses at the scene. “It’s possible, but it’s nothing that we were advised of at the time,” he said. “We just know that there was a disturbance between the rooms.”

Jensen is to appear in Jasper Provincial Court on Feb. 9.

The homicide also shocked the resort community of Jasper, where police officers spend more time dealing with drunk tourists and lost passports than violent crime.

The last serious incident Maludzinski could recall was a stabbing more than five years ago. The victim in that case survived, despite being stabbed multiple times.