Mike on Crime

By Bruce Owen
Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg police have arrested one man in connection with last month’s slayings of Joël Labossière and his pregnant wife Magdalena in their St. Vital home.

Kelly John Clarke, 38, was arrested Wednesday evening in the Garden City area. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Sources say more arrests are anticipated.

The couple, married almost eight years ago, were shot to death in their Chokecherry Cove home sometime overnight April 19-20.

Their bodies were discovered after a concerned neighbour heard the unattended cries of the couple’s baby. The child is now living with Magdalena’s family.

Labossière’s grandparents Fernand and Rita and his uncle Rémi were shot to death at the family’s St. Leon farmhouse two years ago. The farmhouse was then set on fire to destroy evidence, RCMP have said.

Denis Jérôme Labossière, Joël’s uncle and Fernand and Rita’s son, was arrested by RCMP May 1 in Winnipeg. He and two other men were charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Days before he was killed Joël Labossière contacted the Free Press and left a message wanting to speak with a reporter about the St. Leon slayings. He reported having some “interesting” news to share, but gave no specifics. He was killed before a meeting could be arranged.

Police believe the killings centred on an ongoing court case involving Joël and other family members against Jérôme Labossière over the St. Leon farm estate, worth about $1.3 million.

At issue is which of two wills should be approved by the court. Joël, a local custom home builder, and other family members said the court should uphold a 2000 will by Rémi that directs proceeds from the estate to be divided equally among his nieces and nephews. Jérôme produced a more recent will allegedly signed by his brother Rémi that says the estate should be held in trust for Jérôme’s son.

Until his arrest Jérôme was on parole for a 2006 drug trafficking conviction. He had been identified in 2005 by police as an associate of the Hells Angels and was caught on two occasions hand-delivering kilogram packs of cocaine to a secret police agent.

He was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison, then won day parole just before Christmas.