A man who was killed in central Winnipeg on Wednesday was the brother of Helen Betty Osborne, a young woman raped and murdered almost 40 years ago in northern Manitoba.

Kelvin John Osborne, 42, died early Wednesday in a suite on Broadway near Langside Street. He had been stabbed and beaten, police said.

A 56-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder, police said.

A foundation dedicated to the memory of Helen Betty Osborne confirmed the victim's relation to the young Cree woman who was killed in November 1971.

Osborne, a student at a residential school in The Pas, was abducted off the street of The Pas, Man., sexually assaulted and stabbed more than 50 times with a screwdriver before being left in the bush outside the northern Manitoba city.

Though it was believed that many people knew what had happened, the crime remained unsolved for years, creating a rift between white and aboriginal communities.

Sixteen years later, four men were charged with the killing. One man, Dwayne Archie Johnston, was convicted of second-degree murder. He was released after serving 10 years of a life sentence.

The case eventually led to a review of Manitoba's justice system and its treatment of aboriginal people.