Before the man accused of killing her sister left an Ottawa court room Thursday he stopped and looked Cindy Murch in the eyes.
Murch stared right back.
“I didn’t blink,” she said, her eyes still glistening from the tears she wiped away from seeing Marc Leduc, 56, for the first time after learning he is accused of killer Murch’s older sister Pamela Kosmack, 39, June 4, 2008.
Her body was found next to a west end bike path. She had been choked to death.
Leduc also faces first-degree murder charges in connection to the death of Leanne Lawson, 23. Her body was found downtown Ottawa and lived at a local shelter.
Police said she was involved in the sex trade and said the same about Kosmack.
The family takes offence to this.
“She wasn’t a prostitute. She didn’t need money. Her family helped her out,” said Cindy’s husband Darrin Murch.
Kosmack had her own apartment and was a mother.
She hit dark times when getting shingles and was prescribed Oxycontin painkillers. She got hooked.
A few weeks before she died she attempted to get treatment but couldn’t find a bed.
The Murch’s sat in the front row of the court room Thursday to get a good look at Leduc.
“Let him see your eyes. He already knows me,” Darrin whispered to Cindy. Darrin works at the local detention centre where Leduc as been since November on charges of sexually assaulting a young women at knifepoint. The woman was able to wrestle the knife away and flee.
She is lucky to be alive police said.
When Leduc entered the room he was disheveled with grey hair and beard. He kept looking at someone across the room.
Police linked Leduc to the two murders through DNA as reported Wednesday by APTN National News.
When Leduc sat down Cindy broke down in tears wiping them away with a Tim Horton’s napkin.
“It’s OK sweetie,” Darrin whispered to her again this time putting his hand on her knee to comfort her. “It’s OK.”
Darrin didn’t take his eyes off the man police alleged killed his sister-in-law known in the family as “the Rose.”
Police held a press conference after the court appearance but wouldn’t release any new information. They said the investigation is on-going.
They are trying to link Leduc to other murders in the city. Two of them were First Nation women.
Jennifer Stewart was found stabbed to death in the Vanier suburb in August 2010. Kelly Morrisseau was also from Vanier but was found stabbed to death in Gatineau across the river in December 2006.
She was seven months pregnant.
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