Furby Street house fire death a homicide, police say

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2023 (812 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man’s death following a fire early Saturday in a home on Furby Street that neighbours say was used by squatters has been declared a homicide.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews were called to a fire in the two-storey house at 686 Furby St., just south of Cumberland Avenue, at about 5 a.m. They found three people inside, two of whom were in stable condition and the other in critical.

The critical patient, since identified as 33-year-old Johnathen Joseph Tait, died in hospital.

On Wednesday, after an autopsy, Winnipeg police homicide detectives announced his death was being investigated as a slaying. Investigators have not yet made any arrests.

Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said there were few other details she could release about the death, including whether the man died in the fire or if he had been assaulted before it started. She added that determining the fire’s cause will form a significant part of the homicide investigation.

McKinnon said that police have spoken with the two other people, a man and a woman, who were hospitalized. She did not immediately have updated details on their conditions.

However, she said, investigations in which the victim is found after a fire are more complicated than typical homicide probes.

“Depending on the damage incurred on the victim from the fire, that can obviously pose significant challenges to the medical examiner and to the investigation itself,” McKinnon said, speaking generally.

“And not just the victim, but surrounding evidence that will have been damaged. You don’t have… DNA available and aspects of evidence that are potentially easier to obtain by our (identification unit). That can all be destroyed.”

Tait’s death is the third homicide linked to a fire in Winnipeg this year and the 15th overall.

Police have asked anyone with information on the incident or the events leading up to it to call investigators at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477. McKinnon added police are seeking information on the comings-and-goings of the victim as well as information about him and others who may have been in contact with him.

On Wednesday, police cruisers remained parked on Furby Street and the lane behind the house, which was blocked off with yellow caution tape, as two Winnipeg fire department investigators worked inside while wearing hard hats and respirators.

The window and door frames of the home were charred black and the air still smelled of smoke as piles of debris sat in the overgrown yard. The property next door had been previously torn down, turned into piles of rubble and garbage that sat behind construction fences.

A 19-year-old neighbour, who has lived down the street from the homicide scene with her parents and sibling for about a year, said the home had been used by squatters for the past few months after regular tenants moved out.

“People used to come and go from the house — lots of people breaking in,” she said, adding that another vacant house on the block had seen frequent break-ins before it was recently boarded up.

“I didn’t care for it that much. They used to come and go, there was different people all the time… sketchy people.”

The woman, who didn’t want her name published, said the family had reported break-ins at the other nearby house, but nothing was done about it by city authorities.

Another man, a 22 year old who lives across the street, also said the home no longer had regular tenants and seemed to have been abandoned.

“People coming and going — it was normal for that house,” said the man, who has lived on Furby Street with his parents and brother for about three years.

“It’s people going to get high, or take refuge in the house — it doesn’t feel like it was a gang or something.”

The neighbour, who also requested anonymity, said apart from the comings-and-goings at the now burned-out house, the street is typically calm.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera