Slaying puts pall over bail system

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/01/2003 (8490 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The man charged with Winnipeg’s first murder of the year had been sought by police for the past four months after he failed to appear in court on another charge, according to court documents obtained by the Free Press.

The arrest of Everett Lance McKay, 32, is raising new questions over the effectiveness of bail hearings and the ability of police to catch wanted persons.

McKay was caught Wednesday near the downtown Law Courts building and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Rob Zielke, whose body was found stuffed in his freezer on Monday. The two were apparently former roommates.

McKay’s arrest came only 48 hours after the murder investigation began — but more than four months after a warrant was issued for his arrest for missing a preliminary hearing on an earlier charge.

McKay was initially arrested in July 2001 and charged with aggravated sexual assault, according to court documents obtained yesterday by the Free Press.

Provincial court Judge Ronald Meyers released McKay on bail days later, despite opposition from the Crown and police.

McKay, a father of two who worked in construction, was arrested several weeks later and charged with violating terms of his bail by missing curfew.

Police and the Crown again opposed his release, but provincial court Judge Robert Kopstein ruled he could return to society. McKay was scheduled to appear in court last September for a preliminary hearing on the earlier charge, but never showed up in court.

A warrant was issued for his arrest.

Morris RCMP confirmed yesterday they had been searching for McKay but didn’t learn of his whereabouts until Winnipeg police called Wednesday to say he had been arrested.

“We were not out there knocking on doors daily to chase him down. We were making inquiries, and working on information, but we couldn’t find him,” RCMP Const. Rob McCarthy said yesterday.

“We had some indication he had been living in Winnipeg but we hadn’t located him.”

Winnipeg police have admitted in the past they don’t have the necessary resources to actively pursue the thousands of fugitives currently wanted on warrants. RCMP agreed yesterday there is only so much they can do.

A Free Press investigation last year revealed that hundreds of people are thumbing their noses daily at the justice system by breaching court orders, resulting in a clogged legal system that stretches resources to the maximum.

Police say they grow tired of having to frequently rearrest people who had been in the grasp of the courts, but were released and then reoffended.

McKay has not yet been tried on the earlier charge and must be presumed innocent.

However, police were privately raising questions yesterday about whether McKay should have been released on bail in the first place.

“Had he been kept in custody, especially after the breach, we wouldn’t be here today,” said one officer, referring to the murder allegation.

Winnipeg police refused yesterday to discuss publicly McKay’s arrest or his involvement with the courts.

Police and court sources say officers arrested the roofer and seasonal labourer at York Avenue and Kennedy Street after a two-day investigation.

Police won’t say whether they had been trailing McKay or found out about him after getting a tip. Homicide unit Staff Sgt. Jim Thiessen would only say that Zielke’s murder was a difficult investigation.

Police did say Zielke, 45, was killed after he got into an argument with another man some time last weekend. The argument escalated to a physical confrontation that resulted in Zielke’s death.

On Monday, a police officer discovered Zielke’s body shoved into a small chest freezer at his Tyndall Park home at 2065 King Edward St. Police are still awaiting the autopsy results to confirm the cause of death.

Zielke’s mother reported him missing to police last Friday. Randy Zenuik, a second cousin to Zielke, described McKay as a former roommate of Zielke’s until some time last summer.

Zielke was an avid hunter and outdoorsman, often going to a trailer he owed near Point du Bois north of Winnipeg. Zenuik described Zielke, who had three adult children, as a loner.

“He was a hermit. He never really went out. He was always by himself. He spent a lot of time at home,” he said.

Zenuik said he last saw Zielke on New Year’s Eve. At the time of his death, Zielke was employed as a truck driver with McDiarmid Lumber.

McKay is divorced and is the father of two young children, according to family court documents obtained yesterday.

McKay is being held in custody at the Remand Centre. He will appear in court today on the murder charge, as well as the sexual assault and breach of bail charges.

	mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca
	bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca