An Edmonton woman killed off her home at the end of last month and the accused man in her murder was a family.
Priscilla McGreer, instructor of Norquest College and the Edmonton Learning Center Literacy Association, was found dead in a SUV in the center of Edmonton on August 30, after shooting reports.
It was found Mora’s injury in a busy street in the center in the early hours of that Saturday morning. An autopsy confirmed that he died of bullet wounds.
Kyle laumen, 42, accused of first -degree murder, aggravated assault and rape of probation, has an extensive history with the courts, including a 2018 homicide charge that finally remained.
CBC News learned that McGreer, 39, and the defendants were cousins. In a statement, Edmonton’s police confirm that the two were related.
Two Alberta -based criminologists say that homicide in the Jasper Avenue and 119th Street area was an act of very public violence, which demonstrates a weakness in the Canadian courts to reduce the risks raised by repeat offenders.
The 2014 and 2015 probation documents show that Laumen has more than 25 convictions for “crimes of violence” and that their risk to the community was a concern among correctional officials.
Friends say that McGreer’s death becomes even more tragic due to the fact that the defendant was his relative.
Laumen remains in custody and is expected to appear in Edmonton’s court of justice on Tuesday.
‘She doesn’t judge’
Brandi Laperle said McGreer had been trying to help his cousin for years despite his “problematic” history.
McGreer knew about the criminal record of Laumen, but was firm in his support offer, even when others had moved away, Laperle said.
“She was going through a difficult time. She wanted her to have a good person, a friend,” Laperle said.
“That is part of who she is. She does not judge people of any walk of life.”
Laperle said she feels stolen from her closest friend.
The two gathered in their 20 years, working in the same non -profit organization. When Laperle felt with ostracism at work, McGreer offered kindness.
She said McGreer, a prolific writer and musician, always took care of strangers or despised society.
“She is the type of person who, if he sees someone sitting alone or a outcast in an environment, would come and sit and establish a conversation.”
The two became fast friends and finally moved to apartments, one above the other, and spent many nights joining their passion shared by the arts, Laperle said.
“She is such a compassionate person,” Laperle said. “And she always knew what to say to make me feel better and less alone.
“She was a sister in many ways.”
If you had a place in her life, she trusted you.– Mike Demeter, friend
Laperle said that McGreer’s death is a reminder of the risk of violence that women face and that services for survivors of domestic and family violence must be maintained.
Another friend, Mike Demeter, said he was disgusted when he learned of the criminal records of theume and the accusations surrounding the final moments of McGreer.
Demeter met McGreer for a few months and the couple quickly became friendly. He recalled that many nights passed in his apartment as he described the newspapers, worked in his stories and played songs on the piano.
McGreer was a passionate and deeply spiritual person who accepted everyone, regardless of his story, he said.
“She saw things in another light. He saw things in people that most people wouldn’t,” he said.
“She was a kind soul … if you had a place in her life, she trusted you.”
CBC News has sought comments from the immediate family of McGreer.
‘We ignore the victims’
The criminologist at Mount Royal Kelly Sindberg reviewed the criminal history of Laumen. Describe McGreer’s death as an atrocious failure of the justice system.
He points out the alleged breach of the probation of theume and its criminal record that dates back at least 16 years with a mixture of convictions, charges for permanence and withdrawal.
“We have a diluted criminal justice system that focuses more on putting excuses why people committed the bad things they did and how to reintegrate them quickly in society,” he said. “And in the same breath, we ignore the victims.”
The previous convictions of theume include aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in 2012.
In 2018, he was accused in a homicide case that finally collapsed. An arrest warrant was issued in the stabbed death of Marlon Jair Núñez after the 39 -year -old man was found in a basement suite in southern Edmonton.
Laumen was accused of second degree murder, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and interfering with human remains, but those charges were suspended in February 2020 due to what the prosecution of the Alberta crown described as “unsurpassed evidence.”
Laumen also fulfilled assault that caused body damage and police flight in 2023.
Sundberg argues that cases are maintained too frequently due to probative problems.
He said there must be more responsibility and transparency of the courts and the crown when the charges are suspended and the system must ensure that the repeat offenders in front of the “maximum weight of the law.”
The thresholds for community liberation for repeat offenders must also be tight, he said.
“We have to demonstrate, beyond a reasonable doubt, to condemn,” he said. “Once someone is convicted, that same burden should continue.
“I think in locking and throwing the key? No, but I believe in locking someone until we know beyond a reasonable doubt that they will not be offended again.”
A criminal profile
The documents obtained by CBC News of the Canadian probation Board offer information about the criminal record of theume.
The Document Center in a series of decisions made by federal probation officials after the condemnation of the aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon after an attack on August 5, 2012.
According to the documents, the assault occurred while theume was in the house of a well -known casual, a 65 -year -old man.
When theume was asked to leave the house, “he lost control” and attacked the man with a knife.
“They asked you to be a way that you thought it was disrespectful and your victim saw television again,” says the probation document.
“You enraged yourself instantly and suddenly you stabbed him on the back with a knife five times. Your victim suffered two fractured vertebrae.”
Initially, Laumen was denied probation at the end of 2014, since the Board determined that it still raised an “improper risk” for the community.
The denial was based on his extensive criminal history and the concern of the Board that his emotional problems and substance abuse still do not address.
“You minimize and rationalize your crimes, especially in the area of violence … you felt that you had to defend yourself or use violence to make your point,” says the decision.
“Taking advantage of the victim five times is a very distressing example of inability to control.”
In March 2015, Laumen received a legal release from its federal sentence, but special conditions were imposed to administer its continuous risk for the community.
He was demanded that he abstained drugs and alcohol, attend psychological advice and maintain employment or education.
Four months after he won his freedom, the liberation of the Federal Custody was revoked. He was put again in custody after admitting that assaulting his own father at home, surprising him unconscious.
The probation Board said that the behavior of theume was worrying, since it had immediately returned to a cycle of crimes.
The criminologist of the University of Alberta, Theitope Oriola, who also reviewed the criminal records, said the history of the accused, including his previous permanent homicide position, and the public nature of the murder will be considered aggravating factors by the courts.
He said that the Muman registration demonstrates a pattern of violent crimes and its “painting an image” of its risk of recidivism.
Oriole said that there are ways to better monitor the risks raised by repeat offenders by releasing, including ankle monitors and strictest restrictions on where they can live and work on probation.
“At some point, those people will come out,” said “everything we can do, and we must do, it is mitigating those gaps.”
Oriola points out that the crime fits into the broader pattern of femicide in Canada.
According to Statistics Canada, of the 1,125 homicides of women related to the genre reported throughout the country between 2011 and 2021, 66 percent were perpetrated by an intimate couple, 28 percent by a family member.
“Women run a greater risk in the hands of those in their lives than a random stranger,” Oriola said.
