MAN HID GIRLS’ BODIES: POLICE
Ashton Brian LeFleche, 29, stands accused of killing two children in a southeast Edmonton apartment and assaulting their mother
The bodies of two little girls found in a southeast Edmonton apartment Wednesday were only discovered under a pile of household items after a second search of the suite, Edmonton police said Friday.
Their bodies were concealed by the man accused in their deaths, acting Staff Sgt. Terrie Affolder said. Police have not yet released the ages of the children.
Publicly available court records identify the man as Ashton Brian Lafleche. The 29-year-old briefly appeared in court Friday morning via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Lafleche is the biological father of one of the girls, Affolder said, and did not live with them.
“The children were subsequently located, deceased, in a room in the suite that was being used as a storage room. Their bodies were found concealed under piles of various household items.”
Lafleche, who police refused to identify in the news conference because they said it “served no investigative purpose,” is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and aggravated assault.
Affolder said police did not want to release information that could identify a domestic violence complainant.
Court documents name the children as Mackenzie Petawaysin and Mary Lafleche Petawaysin. Their mother, Tamara Petawaysin, is the woman he is accused of assaulting.
Lafleche is also charged with breach of probation for contacting Petawaysin. Court records show he was recently released from jail after pleading guilty to breaching conditions of a recognizance.
Some of the disturbing details were released at Edmonton police headquarters during a Friday news conference.
Results of the children’s autopsies conducted Friday morning are expected from the medical examiner Monday.
Police were called to an apartment in the area of 79 Avenue and 71 Street in the King Edward Park neighbourhood Wednesday afternoon for a report that a woman had been assaulted.
“Information was that a female was being chased by a male outside and that she appeared to have been assaulted,” Affolder said.
That’s when police went to the Allen Manor apartment at 7920 71 St. for the first time and searched the unit without finding the children. The woman was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
About three hours later, police were called to a garage break-in a few blocks away, at 73 Street and 80 Avenue, and found an unclothed man who was reportedly acting erratically.
Officers determined that the man was a suspect in the earlier assault and arrested him. Further investigations led police back to an apartment where the children were found dead, concealed in what appeared to be a storage room in the unit.
“The location of the children was unknown at the time,” Affolder said. “In the early stages of the investigation we did not know where those children were.”
ACCUSED HAD CRIMINAL RECORD
Lafleche has a previous criminal record that includes charges of violence against Petawaysin.
On multiple occasions, he had been ordered by a court to stay away from her.
Lafleche was due in court in Morinville on Dec. 18 for a preliminary hearing on counts of robbery and breaching probation. He is accused of stealing $380 from Petawaysin on Dec. 26, 2017 and threatening violence.
On Nov. 30, 2018, he was sentenced to 20 days in jail after pleading guilty to breaching a recognizance. The records do not explain why he was already out, though it is possible he had accrued time while detained before sentencing.
On Oct. 31 he was handed a $100 fine and 12 months probation in Stony Plain provincial court after entering guilty pleas to assault and failing to comply with conditions. Charges of theft under $5,000 and two other counts of failing to comply with conditions were withdrawn.
In that case, he was accused of assaulting Petawaysin on Sept. 17, 2018 near Stony Plain. He had previously been ordered to have no contact with her, which led to the failing to comply charge.
On July 20, 2017, he was in court in Morinville, where he pleaded guilty to threatening another woman on the Alexander First Nation in October 2016. He was given 18 months probation and a $100 fine, the records show.
Cristian Tobar, who has lived at the address for about one year, said the woman and her daughter moved in a couple of months ago. The woman’s grandmother also lived there, he said.
The young girl was about five or six years old, he said.
The first Tobar knew of the deaths was when police knocked on his door and asked if he had heard anything.
He told them he had heard yelling coming from his downstairs neighbour’s apartment and from the hallway at around 2 a.m. but he thought nothing of it because it had happened so often.
“Everybody heard the yelling, people on the top floor would have heard the yelling,” Tobar said.
“It makes me sick because I have kids, too — sick to the stomach. I thought you only see this stuff in the movies. It’s just unreal.
“It’s pretty sad. When I heard there were kids involved … I just can’t stomach it.”
Police were still on scene at the beige, three-storey apartment building Friday morning. Crime scene tape, tied to trees and some scaffolding, surrounded the entire apartment.
Someone had placed stuffed animals at the foot of a tree out front.
Lafleche is due back in court on Dec. 21.