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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Young father becomes city's second homicide victim

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Posted: 02/5/2012 1:00 AM | Last Modified: 02/6/2012 2:58 PM | Updates

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Police officers probe the stabbing of Ian John Folster (above) on Bannerman Avenue in late January. Folster died Thursday.

WINNIPEG'S second homicide victim of the year jokingly got engaged on Facebook the day before he was fatally stabbed in the North End.

Ian John Folster, 29, succumbed to his injuries Thursday, eight days after he was repeatedly stabbed following an early morning argument.

The crime took place on Jan. 25 in the 400 block of Bannerman Avenue shortly after 4 a.m. Folster and the suspects were at a home on Bannerman when an argument erupted between Folster and two men.

The two men left but police said the men returned shortly after, armed with knives.

Folster was stabbed numerous times. A 29-year-old friend tried to protect him and was attacked and stabbed in the upper body. She survived.

According to his Facebook page, Folster was the father of a young daughter from a previous relationship and got engaged to his current girlfriend the day before the stabbing, though his cousin later said the engagement was just a joke Folster and his girlfriend were playing on friends using Facebook.

Folster’s cousin said he has a total of four children.

Much of Folster's family lives in Norway House First Nation and said Folster had been raised by his grandmother. Reached at the Quest Inn Saturday, other family members said they were in shock and did not want to comment.

Charges have been upgraded to second-degree murder against two men and a youth in connection to the stabbing.

Adam Kent Monias, 18, Stephan Charles Monias, 21, and a 17-year-old youth face second-degree murder charges. All are from Winnipeg.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 5, 2012 A3