KOVACS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-12-26 published
Widow found slain
Her son is charged with murder in the death in the complex in
Westmount.
By Katherina
DEHAAS,
Patrick
MALONEY and Daniela
SIMUNAC, Sun
Media, Wed., December 26, 2007
Cranbrook Trace is a caring little community, a clutch of high-end
London condos where residents greet their neighbours by name
and keep an eye out for one another.
Some in the Westmount complex would dutifully check in on Helen
VICARY, calling every few days to say hello and see how the kind,
elderly widow was getting along.
Then, a few weeks ago, she stopped answering the phone.
She was no longer seen picking up her mail, either.
Now, a 48-year-old man, identified by neighbours as
VICARY's
son, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of a woman
whose body was found at his mother's home on Christmas Eve.
Police haven't publicly identified the woman.
"We did notice that we hadn't seen
(VICARY) in awhile," Eric
JOHNSON, who lives a few doors away, said yesterday. "In the
last month, we hadn't seen her at all."
Monday,
London police swooped down on the
VICARY home, unit 23
at 505 Cranbrook Rd., while searching for someone reported missing
that morning.
A woman was found dead inside.
That night, neighbours say police went door-to-door asking about
Helen VICARY.
Craig James
VICARY, 48, whom, neighbours identified as Helen's
son, is charged with second-degree murder. He had been living
at the condo, police said yesterday.
With investigators still scouring the home for evidence, neighbours
who would be otherwise occupied with the holiday were shaking
their heads over the city's sixth homicide of the year.
"Obviously, we're all shocked by it," said one man. "It's really
not hit home yet. We really haven't had a whole lot of time to
reflect on it."
One neighbour said
VICARY moved into the condo about three years
ago but had lived alone since her husband died Christmas Day
two years ago. Her grown children live in the area.
Investigators were first called to the condo Monday after a report
of a missing person. Police haven't said who notified them of
the disappearance.
Police then searched for a brown, four-door Pontiac Grand Am,
which was registered to Helen
VICARY.
JOHNSON, who described the elderly
VICARY as kind and friendly,
said the homicide is "unnerving… a close community. A lot of
elderly people and we watch out for each other."
The Christmas Eve discovery marked the third serious incident
in London this month. Early December 8, 24-year-old Anthony
BRUN
was found injured outside an Old South home and later died in
hospital. Gordon Tyler
McCURDY, 33, is charged with second-degree
murder. Later that day, teacher Ed
DICKSON/DIXON was seriously hurt in
a south-end parking lot shooting. Angela
SEDORE, who taught with
DICKSON/DIXON, was killed in a murder-suicide, apparently at the hands
of Ray KOVACS, whose body was found in her sport utility vehicle
after a police chase.
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KOVAR o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2007-08-10 published
Keen student drowns in waves
By Glynnis
MAPP,
Sun
Media,
Fri.,
August 10, 2007
The mother of a Michigan girl who drowned off Grand Bend on Wednesday
remembered her daughter yesterday as an avid tennis player and
ambitious student who loved ballet and Irish dancing.
And a Grand Bend-area resident described the desperate attempts
to save her that ultimately failed.
Jule Marie
KOVAR, 14, drowned Wednesday night when high waves
pushed her into an area off the Lake Huron resort, not patrolled
by lifeguards, that police called "highly dangerous."
"She was like the sunshine… always happy and dancing. She was
gorgeous," Anna
KOVAR said of her daughter.
The girl, from Fort Gratiot, Michigan., had been in Grand Bend
visiting family and Friends for a day of shopping and fun, including
swimming.
"She had been planning this trip for some time," her mother said,
noting her daughter was excited to be in Grand Bend for the first
time where she visited a longtime friend from Sarnia.
Jule Marie was swimming off the south end of the Bend's public
beach, about 7: 20 p.m. with a friend, also 14, in metre-high
waves, Ontario Provincial Police said.
The friend's mother called them back ashore, police said.
The friend made it back, but strong waves pushed Jule Marie north
of the pier where the water was "extremely treacherous," police
said.
The area, not patrolled by lifeguards, is known for high winds
that cause large waves and a dangerous undertow.
A Beachville male, 17, whom police said was a friend of Jule
Marie, tried to save her but was overcome by the waves and had
to be pulled out. The teen, whose name was not released, was
treated at hospital.
The Sarnia friend's mother also went into the water to try to
save Jule Marie but couldn't.
Police and volunteers searched the water and found Jule Marie's
body about 40 minutes later south of the Grand Bend pier.
Brian DALE, a Grand Bend-area resident, helped initiate a search
about 25 minutes after Jule Marie slipped under.
He said he rounded up off-duty lifeguards -- who had finished
their shifts at 5 p.m. -- from the other end of the beach to
help in the search.
"No one seemed to be doing anything or knew what was going on
when we got there… so I ran to the lifeguarding house and got
them to bring out equipment.
"I cleared water from her throat… by the time we found her it
was obvious it was too late,"
DALE said of efforts to revive
the girl with cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
At the south end of the beach, the area where Jule Marie drowned,
there's no publicly accessible water safety equipment. There
are signs posted at entrances and on the beach warning swimmers
the south end is not patrolled by lifeguards.
On Wednesday, there were red flags on the beach warning of treacherous
water conditions. It isn't known if Jule Marie and her friend
were aware of the flags.
John BYRNE, chief municipal administrative officer for Lambton
Shores, said he'll raise the issue of beach security at council's
next meeting, in early September. "It is an unsupervised beach
and we ask people to use their discretion when they swim there.
"We always try to monitor the area, but it is dangerous there&hellip
we will try to determine whether we can implement better safety
measures."
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