Grandmother, 46, victim of slaying

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/11/2007 (6578 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RCMP are investigating the death of a Portage la Prairie woman in what they say is the city’s second murder of 2007.

Police were called to a home on Fifth Avenue East, near Second Street N.E. at about 9 a.m. Thursday where they found the body of Charlene Ward, 46.

Ward, who worked in a coffee shop, was divorced and had two grown daughters, 21 and 25 years old, and five grandchildren, said her sister, Donna Wettlaufer.

“She was spunky,” Wettlaufer said, of Ward. “She would tell you if she didn’t like you or if she didn’t like what you were doing.”

Ward was diagnosed with breast cancer last year but had recently been given a “clean bill of health”, Wettlaufer said.

Ward didn’t belong to any organizations, Wettlaufer added, preferring instead to devote her time to her family.

“All she wanted to do was spend time with her grandchildren,” Wettlaufer said. Ward’s fifth grandchild was born only a week ago.

Police did not say whether they had arrested a suspect in connection with Ward’s death.

Portage RCMP blocked off Ward’s house and street Thursday as forensic investigators collected evidence.

Mike Stiegler, owner of the nearby Mike’s 5th Avenue Grocery, said rumours were flying about the nature of Ward’s death. Stiegler said he’d heard reports of a possible stabbing, but said nothing had been confirmed.

Ward’s home is located in a residential area in the northeastern part of Portage la Prairie and may have been the scene of a Halloween party, Stiegler said.

“It’s generally a pretty good neighbourhood,” he added. “It’s pretty quiet, usually.”

In Portage la Prairie’s first murder of the year, on Aug. 2, Sherman Meeches was seriously assaulted on Saskatchewan Avenue West. He later died in hospital. Two men have been charged with second-degree murder.

joe.paraskevas@freepress.mb.ca

bruce.owen.freepress.mb.ca