Sobbing ex charged with murder plot

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This article was published 28/06/2012 (5106 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sobbing ex-boyfriend who held Kaila Tran’s hand as she lay dying has been charged with murder as part of what police say was a hired hit on the 27-year-old woman.

Tran’s former boyfriend, Drake David Moslenko, 27, and Treyvonne Anthony Warner Willis, 20, a friend of Moslenko and Tran, have both been charged with first-degree murder in the June 20 slaying.

Tran died from the injuries she suffered after being attacked and stabbed at about 7 a.m. while on her way to her vehicle, which was parked near her Clayton Drive apartment in St. Vital.

The young woman’s screams alerted neighbours, who witnessed the attack. Several ran out of their apartments in a bid to help Tran, and one chased her attacker on his bicycle until he disappeared near the Seine River.

Winnipeg police Const. Jason Michalyshen said Moslenko and Tran had been a couple for four years but split up recently.

“The two had recently agreed to split and as a result… a dispute did erupt,” he said.

Moslenko was at the scene following the attack on Tran, sobbing and holding her hand as she lay on the ground bleeding.

Michalyshen said a witness came forward to allege Moslenko approached Willis and offered to pay him cash if he agreed to kill Tran.

Michalyshen said Moslenko and Willis were not involved in the local gang community but were known to be involved in illicit drugs.

Moslenko is a former amateur baseball star and a budding rap artist who was involved in nightclub security.

Moslenko pleaded guilty in 2010 to his involvement in a robbery at the Travelodge on Alpine Avenue, where he also worked.

Court records show he helped engineer the plan in which another employee turned over more than $5,600 in cash from the hotel bar to another co-accused but claimed she’d been robbed. He was given a three-month conditional sentence and probation.

Court was told Moslenko came from a tight-knit family, had graduated from Glenlawn Collegiate, and had attended Minot State University.

Willis had no prior convictions but faced drug-related and breach-of-bail charges when it’s alleged he killed Tran.

Willis was charged Feb. 14 in The Pas with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, and was released on bail.

He was charged April 4 with breaching bail conditions by failing to report to his bail supervisor, and again released on bail.

He was charged a third time, June 12, with several more breaches of bail conditions and four Highway Traffic Act offences. Again, he was released on bail.

The police underwater search-and-recovery unit searched the Seine River near the attack scene and recovered the weapon investigators say was used in the attack.

Michalyshen said murder-for-hire plots are rare but police are convinced it’s what led to Tran’s death.

“The unique component of this (investigation) is just that,” Michalyshen said.

“It is unfortunate and incredibly tragic for Kaila and her family… as to how things escalated to the point where an individual would go to these lengths.”

Michalyshen said investigators do not believe other individuals were involved in the scheme but added the case remains under investigation.

 

— with files from Mike McIntyre

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca