Ex-Winnipegger charged in 2007 slaying has history of sexual violence, court records reveal

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This article was published 31/01/2024 (605 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Winnipeg man charged this week with killing a woman and dumping her body in the Interlake in 2007 has a history of physical and sexual violence against women, court records and interviews with the Free Press reveal.

Kevin Queau, 42, was sentenced to five years in prison in Vancouver, where he lives, for choking two women — one of whom was also sexually assaulted — about six years after the slaying in Manitoba.

A former intimate partner in Winnipeg told the Free Press he once grabbed her neck during sex prior to 2007, while a friend in Vancouver said Queau allegedly choked a partner in the B.C. city following his release from prison.

The Winnipeg woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Queau removed his hand when she told him “absolutely not.”

“I wasn’t into that and said no, and nothing happened,” she said. “I just thought it was kind of a kinky thing he was into.”

The woman said she feels sickened and “freaked out” about the act, after learning about Queau’s recent arrest and his convictions in B.C.

After their intimate relationship ended, the pair stayed in touch and occasionally chatted on social media. They last exchanged messages days before he was arrested.

The woman was shocked when Manitoba RCMP announced Monday that Queau is charged with second-degree murder in the cold-case death of Crystal Saunders.

“That has totally thrown me for a loop,” she said Wednesday.

Saunders, 24, was last seen alive by an on-duty Winnipeg police officer late on April 18, 2007, getting into a vehicle at Sargent Avenue and Sherbrook Street in the West End.

An off-duty RCMP officer was checking his trapline when he found her body in a ditch near St. Ambroise, about 75 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, the next morning.

Without going into greater detail, RCMP said Queau, who was born in Winnipeg, and Saunders were in contact the night she was last seen.

In a 2007 interview, Saunders’ mother, Sandra, told the Free Press her vulnerable daughter struggled with drug addiction and was forced into the sex trade.

“That has totally thrown me for a loop”–Former partner

Saunders, who identified as Métis, got caught up with the wrong people and feared for her life, her mother said.

Police said technological advancements allowed previously insufficient DNA found on Saunders’ remains to be entered into the National DNA Data Bank in 2014.

That year, a DNA match was linked to Queau through crimes he was involved in outside Manitoba, according to RCMP.

The case required further evidence gathering before a murder charge could be laid.

RCMP said Queau, who was arrested in Vancouver Saturday, is not a suspect in any other unsolved crimes, but officers are investigating further.

He remained in custody amid efforts to bring him to Winnipeg for a court appearance.

Multiple friends said Queau graduated from St. Paul’s High School in or around 1999, briefly attended the University of Manitoba and worked in a restaurant kitchen before moving into self-employed construction.

They said he recently got married and has a daughter from a previous relationship.

A neighbour recalled Queau living with his parents on Morley Avenue in Riverview many years ago.

In 2012, a woman was granted a protection order that ordered Queau to stay at least one city block away from her home and workplace, Manitoba court records show.

A woman of the same name was a victim in a case that culminated with Queau pleading guilty in 2012 to five counts of forgery and two counts of theft under $5,000.

He was given a suspended sentence and probation. He was also ordered to pay $3,800 in restitution.

Court heard Queau forged three cheques belonging to his then-fiancée. She became aware of his forgery after their engagement ended, and alerted Winnipeg police.

Queau, already living in B.C. at that time, was arrested when he arrived on a flight at Winnipeg’s airport in 2011.

Prior to his current home in Vancouver, he spent time in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta, where friends said he worked on oil rigs.

Social media posts made it seem like he was living the good life before his arrest. Photos show him rafting in the sun, sitting in a convertible, hanging out at a waterfront condominium in a pricey neighbourhood, and relaxing on a palm tree-lined beach.

“I thought everything was really good for him out there. I was like, ‘Wow, he’s living the life,’” said the Winnipeg woman.

Queau’s B.C. convictions came to light this week, after the RCMP announced his arrest in Saunders’ slaying.

Vancouver provincial court documents show he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman in 2013 and to the aggravated assault of a woman in 2014.

In 2015, he was given a five-year sentence and ordered to provide a DNA sample for a national databank. He was put on the sex offender registry for life.

“I was disturbed at how I was not surprised”

Judge Gregory Rideout told court Queau required a federal penitentiary sentence to undergo counselling and treatment for sexual offending.

Some of Queau’s newer friends in Vancouver found out about the convictions before his recent arrest.

One of those people, who asked to remain anonymous, said he allegedly choked an ex-partner after his release from prison.

“I was disturbed at how I was not surprised,” the person said of the murder charge against Queau.

They said Queau didn’t reveal much about his time in Winnipeg or other provinces.

“He acts cocky and chauvinistic, but it’s clear that he is insecure and uses women and money to prop himself up,” the former friend said. “He was not a good guy and acted like he was above everything and everyone.”

Queau was a different person around his mother, acting loving and “like a child,” said the person, who found the conflicting behaviour to be “bizarre.”

His father died in 2016, according to an obituary.

Multiple people who know Queau said he worked as a construction safety officer for a company, but also ran his own, smaller construction firm, and boat tours on the side.

A woman told the Free Press she briefly communicated with him after responding to his advertisement seeking bartenders for a party he was hosting.

She didn’t take the job because the frequency of his replies was inconsistent.

“I just thought it was a little off and annoying the way he communicated, which made me back off the job,” she said. “I’m pretty sure the ad specified he wanted female bartenders.”

Two friends said Queau boasted of making a lot of money and quickly paying off a mortgage on a house in Winnipeg, but they didn’t know whether to believe him.

Other court records show convictions for thefts in Saskatchewan and a forgery in Alberta in 2012.

Queau was fined for obstructing a peace officer, speeding and driving without a licence in Victoria, B.C., in 2013.

— with files from Erik Pindera

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca