Ottawa police probe triple slaying in luxury condo

Last Updated: Monday, July 2, 2007 | 10:19 AM ET

CBC News

Ottawa police have found no apparent motive and no suspects in a triple slaying in an upscale, gated, condominium complex.

Police search the area around a luxury condominium complex in Ottawa Sunday.
(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

An elderly man, his wife and their neighbour were found tied to chairs and beaten to death inside a condominium on the 10th floor of the luxury tower on Riverside Drive. They were discovered by a relative of the couple on Saturday morning.  

Ottawa police are still investigating the deaths and have not disclosed identities of the victims. Local media reports identified the couple as Alban and Raymonde Garon.

Alban, 77, was a chief justice at the federal Tax Court of Canada until 2004, when he retired. The third person was identified in media reports as Jean Marie Beniskos.

A brief biography on the court website says that Garon was a law professor at the University of Ottawa until 1992 and that he practised law with the federal Justice Department for a number of years. He was also assistant deputy attorney general and associate deputy minister of justice in the 1980s.

Ottawa police have sent the bodies of the victims to Toronto for autopsies, and are still scouring the area for clues.

Police spokeswoman Staff Sgt. Monique Perras said police are working with few details and asked anyone with information to come forward.

Police tape surrounds the condominium complex.
(Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

"There is no known motive," Perras said. "And we do not have any suspects."

More than 15 officers scoured the area around the complex on Sunday, poking every inch of the lawn with sticks and closely examining a flower garden.

Danielle Dufault, a building resident, said security is extremely tight at the condo.

"It is a gated community," with a security guard at the gate and surveillance cameras, she said, adding "you have to use a special key to get in."

Her husband Robert Dufault said, "You don't get in there unless you know somebody."

With files from the Canadian Press