Three men, youth charged with second-degree murder in fatal Elmwood assault

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This article was published 03/11/2022 (783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police homicide detectives have arrested three men and a teen accused in the slaying of a man who was found dead on an east Elmwood street last week.

Police and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel were called to the 130 block of Clyde Road at about 9:45 a.m. on Oct. 24 because an injured man had been spotted underneath a cargo truck parked on the residential street.

Fire paramedic service workers determined the man — later identified by homicide detectives as Lionel Sherwin Colombe, 35 — was dead. Police officers taped off the area while homicide investigators began their probe into the killing, the 43rd in Winnipeg this year.

Homicide police have since arrested and charged Desmond Arthur Paul Houle, 25, of Winnipeg, Miles Nicholas Batenchuk, 24, of Berens River, and a 16-year-old male from Winnipeg with second-degree murder.

Nathan Michael Bruce, 22, of Winnipeg, has also been charged with second-degree murder and on a warrant out of Berens River for failing to comply with a probation order.

Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said the victim had been assaulted in the area of Clyde Road, but would not say whether a weapon was involved.

“I can just say that it was a serious assault and that the investigators believe that all four of the arrested individuals played a part in that assault,” he said Friday.

The four suspects all know each other, Chancy said, but he could not say for certain whether they knew the victim.

“There was a dispute,” Chancy said. “It was not a random assault.”

Chancy said he could not reveal exactly when the suspects were arrested, but confirmed it was this week. The police spokesman said police aren’t investigating any other scenes connected to the slaying.

Houle was convicted on a charge of obstruct or resist peace officer after pleading guilty in Dauphin on Oct. 5 last year, court records show. The charge was laid in Norway House after he ran away from RCMP officers executing a warrant at a home believed to be connected to cocaine trafficking.

Court heard he had been in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and fled from officers when he was walking up the home’s driveway. He was sentenced to a year of supervised probation for that offence.

Houle appeared in court on the murder charge in Winnipeg Friday.

Batenchuk has never been convicted of a crime in Manitoba. His next court appearance is Nov. 14 in Winnipeg.

Bruce also appeared in court in Winnipeg Friday. He had active charges out for three offences allegedly committed prior to Colombe’s slaying.

On July 6 this year, he was accused of uttering threats and assault cause bodily harm. On Aug. 2, he’s alleged to have failed to comply with a release order, and on Sept. 3, was accused of failing to comply with a probation order.

On Oct. 6 last year, Bruce failed to attend court. He was fined for that offence on April 13 this year, court records show. He also pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a release order and was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Police said the four all remain in custody.

Last week, police remained on Clyde Road, near Talbot Avenue, until late Tuesday afternoon, when officers tore down the tape that had been cordoning off the area.

A resident who lives across the street from where Colombe was found dead said: “It’s pretty scary. It normally doesn’t happen here. It’s pretty quiet.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera