Court told of grisly tub crime
Man tried to dismember body after stabbing woman in neck
An Edmonton man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after he stabbed a woman and then attempted to hide his crime by dismembering her in a tub on New Year’s Eve.
Joshua James Houle, 28, claimed that he awoke violently and stabbed his victim, 27-year-old Misty Lynn Ward.
“It took the accused a few moments to fully awaken and then realize, and understand, the gravity of what he had done,” according to an agreed statement of facts presented to court.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 31, 2011, Houle and Ward had been drinking when they returned to his apartment near Jasper Avenue and 83rd Street.
Before the two eventually fell asleep, Houle warned Ward that “he had a history of waking up violently if he was startled awake,” said Crown prosecutor Robert Beck.
When Ward woke Houle hours later, he immediately stabbed her once in the neck with a nearby steak knife. The blade cut Ward’s jugular vein.
As Ward bled around the apartment, Houle tried to help her by wrapping a towel around her neck, court heard. He then brought her to his bathtub to clean the wound and control the bleeding. In the tub, Ward went into convulsions and Houle could no longer find her pulse.
In intense panic, Houle thought no one would believe his story of how Ward died, Beck said.
Houle decided to dismember Ward in the hopes that her body would then be easier to move from his apartment. He did not call 911.
With the same steak knife he used to stab her, Houle cut off Ward’s left leg at the knee and placed the limb by the front door of his suite.
Houle then tried to cut off her right leg, but felt sick, stopped and passed out drunk on his bed.
Blood and water from the overflowing tub soon leaked into a storage room beneath Houle’s second-floor suite and was reported to the building manager. When the manager opened Houle’s apartment door and saw the blood, he called police.
Court heard that Houle had another violent reaction when police woke him after entering his suite, but that he didn’t hurt anyone.
On Tuesday, Houle pleaded guilty to manslaughter and offering an indignity to a body.
Violet Ward, Misty’s mother, told court she was having a New Year’s Day coffee with a friend when there was a knock on her door. She believed it was her daughter arriving for dinner, but was instead officers with the grim news.
“I sat in my chair and nearly hyperventilated because I could not breathe,” she told court. “Since that day, my life has been an emotional rollercoaster.”
“My life will never be the same. My family has fallen apart.” VIOLET WARD, VICTIM’S MOTHER
Violet Ward said she is forced to realize daily that her daughter is dead each time she wakes up.
“My life will never be the same. My family has fallen apart.”
Kayle Ward, Misty’s niece, told court that family has lost the rock the rest of them leaned upon.
“I just had a baby and she will never get to see him or hold him. She would’ve been the best auntie for him.”
Beck recommended that Houle receive eight years in prison for manslaughter and another two for the dismemberment.
Defence lawyer Peter Royal told the court a proper sentence is six years for manslaughter and an additional two for the indignity to Ward’s body.
Houle, a large man who sat stoically with his arms crossed throughout the proceedings, apologized to Ward’s family.
“I’m greatly sorry for what I’ve done. I understand what I did impacted a lot of families. Hopefully everyone can go one with their lives.”
Houle is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 29, 2013.