Six charged after body found in back lane

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This article was published 16/04/2025 (185 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two people are charged with second-degree murder and four are charged as accessories after a man was found slain in a lane behind Wellington Avenue late last month.

Two area residents previously told the Free Press a man’s body was found in a garbage bin in the back lane on the north side of Wellington Avenue, between Arlington and Home streets, shortly before 10 a.m. on March 28.

Days later, the Winnipeg Police Service publicly identified the slain man as Bronson Emery Dale Kequahtooway.

Kequahtooway, 30, was originally from Zagime Anishinabek First Nation in Saskatchewan.

Police spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer said Wednesday the victim and suspects knew each other. He described them as “acquaintances.”

The WPS did not disclose the suspected motive nor specific details about how Kequahtooway was killed.

Police said officers obtained a search warrant and arrested three people at a home on the 700 block of Simcoe Street on March 29.

Richard Allen Penonzek, 43, Jeromy Daniel Smith, 20, and Rochelle Hannah Bella Little, 28, have been charged with accessory after the fact to murder.

On April 3, homicide investigators went to a home on the 500 block of Agnes Street and arrested a woman.

Alana Katherine Edith Anderson, 28, has been charged with accessory after the fact to murder. She was also wanted on a warrant for three counts of failing to comply with a probation order.

All four people were detained in custody.

On April 9, officers went to the 400 block of McDermot Avenue, arrested a man and seized 14 grams of methamphetamine worth about $700 on the street, the WPS said.

Eric Matthew Morrissette, 39, has been charged with second-degree murder, two weapons offences, a drug offence and possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime under $5,000.

On Tuesday, police went to Milner Ridge Correctional Centre and arrested Frederick Francis Mathias Baker, who was in custody on an unrelated matter. Baker, 28, has been charged with second-degree murder and a weapons offence.

Court records showed Kequahtooway was in and out of custody in Manitoba over the last decade, with convictions of violent offences, gun and drug possession, and failing to comply with release conditions.

An obituary said Kequahtooway, the youngest of seven children, grew up in Moose Jaw, Sask., until his family moved to Swan River, Man., in 2002. He moved to Winnipeg as an adult.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca