Security under magnifying glass after suspicious death on Mountain Avenue

Homicide detectives are investigating the suspicious death of a 70-year-old man at a seniors high-rise on Mountain Avenue.

Forensic investigators and detectives have been at the building, at 595 Mountain Ave., and questioning residents about the death of Richard Boychuk, whose body was found in his second-storey suite Tuesday morning.

The 70-year-old, who used a wheelchair, had lived in the Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corp. apartment for several years, said close friend Angela Abdilla.

She would clean, shop and take care of Boychuk, a former Elvis impersonator.

“He had a lot of love in his heart,’ Abdilla said Friday. “He was a nice, sweet, caring guy.”

“He’d phone me and tell me his corny jokes, which weren’t even funny, but I’d laugh, because of the funny voices he’d make.”

She said she was heartbroken when she heard about his death.

“Why would someone hurt him?” Abdilla said. “He would never hurt a fly. He couldn’t even walk.”

She said the building should be more secure.

“They let anyone in that building,” she said. “They need to get a security guard there. They need to get more cameras. In every hallway of every floor, in the elevator.”

As someone who frequents the building, she has seen residents regularly letting people in. Abdilla said people try to follow her into the building.

“I’d push them out,” she said. “I’d tell them: ‘You have to buzz to get up’ (they say) ‘Oh, my mom lives here.’ I don’t care, buzz your mom then.”

Fighting back tears, Ed Kanski said he hopes police catch the person responsible for his friend’s death. He said the world has been robbed of a “godly” man.

“This was not supposed to happen to him,” Kanski said, his voice shaking.

“They cut a beautiful man’s life short,” he said. “We need to find whoever this is and we need to straighten this out right away. This has got to be brought to justice right away.”

Leaders at the housing corporation said security will be put under the magnifying glass once the police investigation is complete.

“Once we have more information, we’ll be looking at our processes and looking to see if there’s anything we could do differently, or that we can do to increase safety for our tenants,” said executive director James Heinrichs.

He said a property manager is regularly on-site as well as a tenant resource officer.

Heinrichs said areas around the city are dealing with crime, substance abuse and mental health issues.

“The only way we’re going to meet these challenges is if we continue to work at it with due diligence,” he said.

He said at times, good tenants can experience crises or challenges that destabilize them, and when this happens, there needs to be support for them.

“Just providing people with housing is not enough,” he said.

A & O Support Services for Older Adults said there needs to be a cultural shift in society and political thinking to try to help older community members remain in community as they age.

“It’s so horrible and so unfortunate,” CEO Amanda Macrae said about the suspicious death. “This should never happen.”

“If you are in low-income housing and you are vulnerable, you’re at risk, you’re an older adult, there are not a lot of options in terms of safe, secure housing.”

Macrae said there are numerous senior homes in the province that have poor security protocols and people are fearful as a result.

“What we’re hearing, and it’s not all buildings, but that people feel very afraid even to leave their suites,” Macrae said.

She said at this time, it does seem as though low-income housing puts “people across the life course into one place without the appropriate support.”

Macrae said instead of investing more on seniors residences and 55-plus homes, more resources must be dedicated to on-site support, food security and support to keep seniors healthy at home: “We’re talking basic human needs.”

“You can’t really say one and done,” Macrae said, as the wide majority of seniors, more than 90 per cent, live in community.

“There’s always going to be a need for long-term care, but our thinking is, you invest in community, you invest in social services and you give people the tools to age well in place,” she said.

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca