Suspect arrested in three Ajax slayings
A 39-year-old woman and her son, 15, found dead in home; daughter, 13, died in hospital
Police have charged a man with seconddegree murder after finding a 39-yearold woman and her15-year-old son dead in an Ajax home.
A 13-year-old daughter was also found seriously injured inside the home and rushed to a local hospital before being later transferred to a Toronto trauma centre where she died late last night.
“It’s an isolated incident — it’s not a random attack,” Const. George Tudos told reporters.
The 15-year-old has been identified as Roy Pejcinovski, a star goalie with the Don Mills Flyers minor midget hockey team.
Team president Peter MacInnis said Pejcinovski’s death is a “tremendous loss” for the Flyers, which are in the city finals to represent the Greater Toronto Area for the provincial championship.
“It’s tough for the players on the team, the parents, the staff — he was a great kid,” MacInnis told The Canadian Press. “And his buddies on the team are14 or15, how do you deal with that?”
Durham Region police were called to the area around 11 a.m. Wednesday after a woman went to a house on Hilling Dr., near Westney Rd. S. and Lake Driveway W., to check on her friend.
She was instead met at the door by a man who refused to let her inside, police said.
After barring her from entering, he fled the area in a vehicle.
The man is believed to have been in a relationship with the deceased woman, police said, but he’s not the father of the children.
He also didn’t live at the home with the family.
Police said there was a third child in the family who was not in the house at the time of the attack.
“She was located by police safe and sound at another location,” Tudos said. Numerous comments expressing sadness have been posted to the 15-year-old’s Instagram in the hours following the news by friends and wellwishers.
MacInnis said the teen was a top player, who had promising prospects in next year’s Ontario Hockey League draft.
“He was an elite athlete, he was absolutely the team’s No. 1 goalie and he has been for several years,” he said, adding that grief counsellors were brought in at Wednesday night’s practice to break the news to Pejcinovski’s teammates.
MacInnis said the Flyers were scheduled to play Friday, but the team has asked the league to postpone the game as players cope with the loss of their goalie.
Police found the vehicle the suspect fled in abandoned in the Brock Rd. and Highway 401 area in Pickering a couple hours later.
Later Wednesday evening, police arrested the man without incident at a residence in Oshawa.
The 29-year-old Ajax man — who has not been named by police — has been charged with second-degree murder.
He is set to appear in court Thursday morning.
The exact cause of death is still unknown, but post-mortems have been scheduled.