(Pam Kosmack’s family gathered Saturday to celebrate her life and the arrest of her alleged killer Marc Leduc last week. APTN photo)
By Kenneth Jackson
APTN National News
The man accused of killing two Ottawa women and under investigation for the murders of two First Nation women claims to be First Nation himself.
Marc Leduc, 56, has been asking for special services while in custody that First Nations receive while behind bars.
He is particularly interested in smudging.
Leduc was arrested Feb. 6 for the murders of two non-Aboriginal women Pamela Kosmack, 39, and Leanne Lawson, 23. Kosmack was found dead in June 2008 and Lawson September 2011.
Leduc was already in custody facing sexual assault charges after it is alleged he broke in the home of a 19-year-old woman and assaulted her at knifepoint in November. The woman was able to wrestle the knife away and run for help.
DNA collected from that crime scene matched samples retrieved from the crime scenes of Kosmack and Lawson.
Leduc was put in the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre awaiting trial on the November incident. It was then that he requested to be given Aboriginal status inside the detention jail.
He was never able to get it due to a backlog of requests as there are some 75 Aboriginals looked after by one person.
Leduc has since been transferred to the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ont. because he can’t have any contact with Darrin Murch, the brother-in-law of Kosmack, who works as a guard at OCDC. Leduc was ordered by a judge Thursday to have no direct or in direct contact with Murch or his wife Cindy Murch, Kosmack’s younger sister.
Due to hearing difficulties, Leduc has to attend every court hearing. That means he’ll have to be transported from Napanee to Ottawa for each appearance. It’s about 200 kilometres.
New information has come to light that Kosmack knew Leduc. Kosmack’s family said they have learned Leduc grew up in the same Ritchie Street housing complex in Ottawa and he is said to have frequented the Britannia Pub in Ottawa’s west end where they both lived. Kosmack was also known to go to the same pub.
He apparently had the nickname “Toonie” for Kosmack but so far the family has no idea why. They believe it may have something to do with her favourite meal being Kentucky Fried Chicken and their meal deal “Toonie Tuesday”.
It’s one of the questions her family wanted answered.
They gathered Saturday to remember Kosmack and celebrate the arrest of her alleged killer.
Kosmack’s mother Gail Brown believes God finally answered her prayers.
Police told the family they had “found their guy” two days before the arrest at Brown’s home. When she heard the words come out of a detective’s mouth she squeezed her daughter Cindy’s leg and leapt up and said “thank you, God!”
Police told the family they expect Leduc in other unsolved murders too.
Kelly Morrisseau was murdered in December 2006, while Jennifer Stewart was killed in August 2010. Both lived in Ottawa’s Vanier suburb and were First Nation. Their murders remain unsolved.
Leduc’s next court date is in March.
Twitter: @afixedaddress
