Ontario Provincial Police have identified Carol Culleton, 66, of North Gower as the third victim in a killing rampage that began Tuesday morning in the village of Wilno, 180 kilometres west of Ottawa.
Culleton was apparently slain in a residence on Kamaniskeg Road, about 35 kilometres from Wilno.
Three women were slain in separate, but related, incidents across Eastern Ontario Tuesday, in a string of killings that triggered a manhunt that saw schools, a courthouse and an Ottawa law firm locked down.
Basil Joseph Borutski, 57, is in custody in connection with the killings, which occurred in three communities along the upper Ottawa River, about 180 kilometres west of the national capital. He is scheduled to appear in Pembroke court Wednesday afternoon.
The first two victims are Anastasia Kuzyk, 36, and Nathalie Warmerdam, 48. It appears each of the women knew the suspect and had been in a relationship with him in the past.
Anastasia Kuzyk, left, and Nathalie Warmerdam have been identified as two of three women killed at different sites around Wilno, Ontario Sept. 23 2015.
The OPP has confirmed that the three deaths are connected. Autopsies are scheduled for Ottawa beginning Wednesday.
The grisly events began early Tuesday, at about 9 a.m., when Ontario Provincial Police from the Killaloe detachment found the body of a woman, Anastasia Kuzyk, in a house on Szczipior Road in Wilno. She had been shot.
At that scene, police found what they described as “information” that led them to another residence on Foymount Road near the village of Cormac, some 26 kilometres southeast of Wilno. There the police found the body of Nathalie Warmerdam. She, too, had been shot to death.
The Eganville Leader reported that a young man escaped from the Warmerdam house, outside of Cormac, shortly before he heard a gunshot. He called 911 and emergency responders later brought him out through a wooded area at about 12:30 p.m.
OPP officer guards scene as police tape surrounds a home where police say one person was shot to death at 37 Szczipior Rd. in Wilno (Ontario), Tuesday, September 22, 2015. Police are on the manhunt for a person of interest.
Tactical officers who had been on training exercises in Algonquin Park augmented local detachment officers. A K-9 squad was also called in. Witnesses counted more than 30 police vehicles at the scene. A drone from Renfrew County Medical Service was flown over the area.
OPP officers found Culleton dead shortly after 11 a.m. at a home on Kamaniskeg Road on Bancroft. Police have not explained what led them to this third victim.
With the discovery of the second and third victims, police intensified their manhunt. More than 40 officers responded to the Cormac site. They advised area residents to lock their doors and remain inside.
The Eganville Leader reported that people who had had dealings with the suspect sought protection from the OPP after hearing of the shootings. One told police the suspect had allegedly posted a list a people against whom he was seeking revenge. Others said they had received phone calls in recent days from the suspect threatening them if they didn’t give him money.
Shortly before 3 p.m., the OPP announced they had a suspect in custody. Half-an-hour earlier, Ottawa police officers had arrested Basil Joseph Borutski, 57, near Kinburn, about 130 kilometres southeast of Wilno.
Documents in the Pembroke courthouse paint a disturbing picture of a man accused of repeatedly threatening and assaulting women despite court orders and probation conditions. Charges include:
• Choking Kuzyk last year. He was charged with assault causing bodily harm;
• Possessing a crossbow when he was prohibited from having one by a court order;
• Burning some of Kuzyk’s possessions including an antique rocking horse and a set of antique wooden hockey players;
• Stealing a car from another member of the Kuzyk family;
• breaking a probation order that required him to keep the peace.
He was charged in 2012 with threatening to kill a woman whose name is under a court publication ban.
And there is a list of 2012 charges relating to Warmerdam. He is alleged to have:
• Assaulted her;
• threatened to hurt a member of her family and kill an animal that belonged to the family;
• Told her that he was going to kill another woman.
He was charged with assaulting a Stanley Borutski in 2012, and then urinating on a prison wall and carpet.
Update – Wilno. 57-yr old Suspect arrested by @OttawaPolice. Residents free to leave homes.
— OPP East (@OPP_ER) September 22, 2015
Police found Basil Borutski hiding in a wooded area near Beck’s Road in Kinburn. Tactical officers from the OPP and Ottawa police, their weapons drawn and accompanied by K-9 officers, descended on the dead end road not far from Stonecrest Public School just after noon after receiving information that the suspect had been seen.
Ottawa Police Insp. John McGetrick described the suspect as armed and dangerous, saying he was “close enough to be a concern that the school had to be locked down.”
The officer would not say how police knew he was in the area, but sources say police tracked Borutski using the signal from his cell phone.
Police at the scene said a firearm was also recovered. Nevertheless, the suspect was taken into custody without incident and handed over to the OPP, McGetrick said.
One local resident, Andy McArdle, who lives on Kinburn Side Road near Beck’s Road, said that before the arrest a police helicopter passed back and forth over soybean fields and a wooded area across the street from his home.
A person with the last name Borutski is listed as living in a house near the corner of Beck’s Road and Kinburn Side Road. When reached by the Citizen Tuesday night, a man who answered the phone said he was not interested in speaking. He hung up the phone when asked if Basil Borutski was headed to his home.
The killings have stunned Wilno-area residents, many of whom knew the victims.
Shortly after news came of Borutski’s arrest, a few members of Kuzyk’s family emerged from the building, distraught and apologetically declining to make any detailed statements.
“We’re sorry,” said one female relative, through welling tears. “We lost a daughter today. A beautiful, precious daughter.”
Both Warmerdam and Kuzyk had been in relationships with the accused at one time or another, said Genevieve Way, who knew Warmerdam through community volunteering.
Kuzyk was a well-respected real-estate agent in the area with Century 21 Neville Realty in Pembroke. Former clients offered glowing testimonies to her professionalism, posting compliments on her website.
Anastasia Kuzyk was a realtor in the Wilno area.
One couple was “very, very pleased with Anastasia’s work ethic. She went above and beyond what any realtor would normally do.”
Another couple thanked her for “the outstanding job you did in selling our family home,” while a third client referred to her as “knowledgeable, honest and always prepared to go the extra mile.”
Those qualities undoubtedly served her well in a previous job at the Wilno Tavern, where Kuzyk once worked as a popular server for about a decade until leaving five years or so ago.
“Whenever we happened to be in the tavern and it was our birthday she would somehow find out,” said Hélenè Mandy of Golden Lake, who was at the tavern Tuesday evening. “She would bake a cake and have treats at Christmas. She was great baker. She was a good friend inside and outside tavern.”
Kuzyk’s brother-in-law, Jason Stow, described her as a “wonderful person.”
It appears police were not immediately sure where the suspect was headed and worried others could be in danger.
Just after noon, the Pembroke courthouse was locked down. A little later, as tactical officers fanned out across the region in their search, Ottawa police locked down a downtown law firm, Langevin, Morris and Smith LLP at 190 O’Connor Street, for a couple of hours, placing two armed officers at the front door. The suspect reportedly had had dealings with the law firm in the past.
Police were called to 190 O’Connor in Ottawa, September 22, 2015.
Several other officers and half-a-dozen police cruisers were stationed around 190 O’Connor. A staffed ambulance was parked nearby. People were allowed to enter and leave the building after being questioned by police. The operation was discontinued at about 2:30 p.m., after a suspect was taken into custody.
Borutski was well known to police in the area. Documents at the Pembroke courthouse show he was found guilty last September on a variety of charges, including assault, choking, auto theft, mischief under $5,000, operating a motor vehicle while disqualified and breach of probation. There was also a firearms-related offence. Borutski was sentenced on Sept. 12, 2014 to 575 days in jail, which included 350 days of time credited for pre-sentence custody.
Documents from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice show that Mary Ann Borutski was granted a divorce from Basil Joseph Borutski in late 2011. They had three daughters.
The court papers say, in part: “Mary Ann alleges a steady regimen of domestic violence … (She) states that Basil destroyed her spirit by relentless threats and abuse.”
“Basil vehemently denies having ever assaulted Mary Ann. He asserts that she is vindictive and manipulates the justice system by making false charges. He believes that she suffers from mental health issues disable her form effective parenting, from responsible financial management and that distort her reality.”
In his judgment on the case, Justice Rick Leroy refers to a pattern of assault allegations, true or not, and subsequent recantations emerged shortly after the couple began their relationship in 1982. “The pattern that repeated itself over the years is that after reporting an assault (true or not) they would patch things up and Mary Ann recanted, either before trial or at trial.”
The judge also noted that the testimony of two of the couple’s children supported their mother’s claims. “They verified their mother’s version of the dysfunction in the marriage and confirmed that Basil was violent, easily agitated and tyrannical toward his family members.”
At the end of the court proceedings, the judge ordered Basil Borutski to pay Mary Ann nearly $92,000 as part of the settlement. She was also granted “exclusive possession” of certain properties.
Late Tuesday, police investigators continued to piece together the day’s events. The crime scenes remained under guard, the violence hidden behind the mundane.
Police tape surrounds a home where police say one person was shot to death at 37 Szczipior Rd. in Wilno (Ontario), Tuesday, September 22, 2015. Police are on the manhunt for a person of interest.
There was still laundry on the line at the Warmerdam home near Cormac, where a garage is under construction and the roof is being reshingled.
Kuzyk’s two-storey home, a short distance from the Wilno tavern, was taped off with forensic investigators still on the scene. The shootings were main topic of conversation among the Tuesday night regulars at the tavern, some of whom remembered Kuzyk from when she’d worked there.
“She had lots of energy, always on the go,” said bartender Ambrose Mullin.
“She was very personable,” said one patron, Bill Reiche, who also said he knew Borutski. “I knew of Basil, knew to stay away from him.”
— With files from Tom Spears, Gary Dimmock, Andrew Duffy, Dave Dutton, Kelly Egan, Meghan Hurley, Mike Carroccetto, Andrew Seymour and the Pembroke Daily Observer