Victim’s family hopes for answers in Maples slaying

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This article was published 09/09/2022 (1457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The family of a man fatally assaulted at a home in the Maples last week is trying to understand why he was there in the first place.

Dakota Beardy, 26, was attacked at a residence on the 200 block of Mapleglen Drive in the early hours of Sept. 3.

Winnipeg police officers were called to the scene just after 1 a.m., police said Tuesday. The officers applied tourniquets to stem the flow of blood from the injured man’s limbs before paramedics rushed him to hospital in critical condition. He was later pronounced dead.

Officers arrested a teenage male suspect in the area. Homicide investigators believe the 16-year-old suspect and the victim were together at the house when an altercation occurred, leading to an assault.

The victim’s sibling said Beardy was a kind person who had been strong through struggles in his young life. He was a great hockey and basketball player, and produced hip-hop music and rapped, 24-year-old Dustin Beardy said.

“He was very friendly, always laughing, putting a smile on other people’s faces.”

The half-brothers grew up together in the same foster home until child welfare placed Dakota in various group homes throughout his teens, Dustin said.

“That on its own is a big struggle for people emotionally — it leads to issues further down the line when you’re an adult, in terms of guidance. Where do you go when you turn into an adult?” said Dustin, who lives in Selkirk.

“I know that was hard on him, but he always showed strength.”

The pair’s mother died about 12 years ago; Dakota’s father has since died, too, Dustin said.

The two reconnected with their three sisters in adulthood. Dakota lived with his sisters, moving between their homes, Dustin said.

“Losing that so suddenly is heartbreaking,” he said, adding his sisters are “in shambles” over the sudden death.

The siblings have received little information from police about what happened that night, Dustin said.

Dakota had been at an uncle’s home in central Winnipeg, near the Health Sciences Centre, the evening before he was killed, and no one in the family heard from him after he left, Dustin said.

“He wouldn’t hang out with anyone outside of immediate family. It was very strange to all of us that he was in the Maples area that night,” he said.

“He had a lot of social anxiety, for one, and, for two, he was just cautious because he knows that Winnipeg’s dangerous.”

The family is hoping to get more answers.

“How did he know (the accused), what was he doing over there, how did they come to meet?” said Dustin, adding it’s a relief a suspect has been arrested.

“However, the fact that it was a teenager, it’s just almost unbelievable.”

The Winnipeg police public information office did not provide a response to Free Press questions about the homicide, nor the force’s next-of-kin notification process. Spokesman Const. Claude Chancy noted the homicide unit was aware of the request.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera