Two suspicious deaths ruled homicides: police
Both men died from stab wounds in separate incidents earlier this week
The deaths of two men in separate acts of violence in north Edmonton — one on Monday and another on Wednesday — are both homicides, city police said Friday.
The Wednesday homicide is tied to a fight that police say broke out in a 7-Eleven parking lot near 167 Avenue and 76 Street in the Schonsee neighbourhood shortly after 6 p.m. Police said Curtis Michael Patko, 36, died from a stab wound.
EPS homicide detectives charged 23-year-old Jesse Isaiah Racher with second-degree murder in the case.
Police are still investigating the death of Caitlin Helle, a 26-yearold Edmonton man who was fatally injured during a disturbance near 101 Street and 118 Avenue on Monday. Police said Friday that he died of stab wounds.
Two other men were found dead in Edmonton this month in cases now in the hands of homicide detectives.
On May 15 at about 6:20 p.m. police were called to a home near 185 Street and 121 Avenue in the city’s northwest. Police discovered the body of a 48-year-old man in a nearby field. An autopsy the next day was inconclusive, and the cause and manner of the man’s death remain unknown. It is still listed as a suspicious death.
Meanwhile, no charges have been laid in the case of Baljit Singh. The 21-year-old was stabbed to death on May 7 and found in an apartment parking lot in the Royal Gardens neighbourhood near 122 Street and Whitemud Drive. He died shortly after medical crews arrived on scene and attempted to save his life.
There have been 15 homicides in Edmonton so far this year.