Police unable to arrest suspect before he killed estranged wife and himself

Charges have been formally withdrawn against a Calgary man who murdered his estranged wife outside of an elementary school during morning drop-off last week before taking his own life shortly after.

The development means previously protected court documents are now public.

Those documents show that police planned to lay new charges and arrest the man on the day he killed the mother of his children, but they did not know where to find him.

CBC News is not identifying the family in order to protect the three newly orphaned children.

The man, who CBC News will call KG, and the woman, who will be identified as MN, were in the process of divorcing and did not live together, court records show.

• Man who killed his estranged wife outside Calgary school was facing domestic violence charges

MN was fatally stabbed outside John Costello Catholic School in the city's southwest on Jan. 16. KG's body was found nearby within a few hours. He had taken his own life.

At the time, he was before the courts on three sets of charges for alleged criminal behaviour that began last summer. 

Warrants issued 90 minutes after homicide

Last July, after KG was charged with an offence involving domestic violence, he was released on bail, on conditions he not contact MN or their children unless permitted through a court order.

But KG was charged with breaching that no contact order in September and again in November.

On the same day of the murder, warrants for KG's arrest were issued on new charges of harassment and breaching the no-contact order.

Court records show the warrants were signed that morning at 9 a.m., nearly 90 minutes after KG killed MN, which means police likely started the paperwork at least the day before.

'Whereabouts unknown'

The documents list KG's address as "whereabouts unknown." 

This, despite court records from 2023 listing a northwest address for KG.

That means police likely tried to arrest him at least the day before but were unable to find him, says criminal defence lawyer and former RCMP officer Chad Haggerty.

"It would be standard police procedure to attempt to locate a suspect when there were safety concerns with respect to the complainant," said Haggerty.

Standard practice in a situation like this, says Haggerty, would be for officers to attempt to locate a suspect by phone, email, attending his known locations or speaking with his associates. 

Nov. 8, 2023

KG may have known he was about to face a new set of criminal charges. 

"If they did that, it is very likely that he would have been aware police were looking for him, and it's also likely that he would have assumed that they were going to arrest him," said Haggerty.

The new charges of harassment and a breach show an offence date of Nov. 8, 2023, the same date as a previous breach charge. 

Haggerty says repeated breaches of a no-contact order could lead police to escalate the charge to harassment.

Review, investigation underway

CBC News did request information from Calgary police but the service would not answer questions about the warrants or new charges.

"We are not in a position at this time to be releasing different details of this tragic file," wrote CPS in an emailed statement.

"Despite the accused being deceased, this matter will still be investigated to the fullest, as with any other homicide, and that investigation is ongoing." 

On the day of the homicide, CPS said MN had previously reached out to police and had been provided with court support, safety and planning. 

CPS says an internal review is being conducted in the case "to determine if there is anything we can learn from this." 

The service also says there is a potential provincial review, which would "take a far more holistic approach to this, looking at the entire system around this file."