'Unthinkable': Manitoba man accused of killing wife, children and teenager

KARMAN, man. — RCMP in Manitoba say a 29-year-old man has been charged with five counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his wife, three young children and a 17-year-old relative.

Family and friends are dealing with an “unimaginable tragedy,” RCMP Insp. Tim Arsenault said at a press conference in Winnipeg on Monday.

“Our thoughts also go out to the Carman community, who are grieving the entire family, the young people we know now and the three young children.”

Arsenault said the dead were the suspect's 30-year-old wife, the couple's six-year-old daughter, four-year-old son and two-month-old daughter, as well as the woman's 17-year-old niece. They all lived together in Karman.

Police have not released the names of the victims.

Five people died Sunday in multiple crime scenes in and around the city, 85 kilometers southwest of Winnipeg.

That morning, police responded to a hit and run report and found the woman dead in a ditch.

More than two hours later and 70 kilometers to the north, police officers reported a car on fire and found the children outside the vehicle.

The children were pronounced dead at the scene and police arrested Ryan Howard Manoakesik of Carman.

Police then returned to Carman and found the teenager's body in the family home.

Police said autopsies were ongoing and declined to release further details as the investigation is ongoing.

Pocket police tape cordoned off the front and back yards of the family's small white bungalow, and forensic teams could be seen going in and out. Police cars are parked outside.

Children's toys and a bicycle were strewn across the back lawn.

“These are dark times in Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a news conference.

He said he knows what it's like to hold a baby, to hold a toddler's hand, to be with a teenager at graduation and to laugh with his wife at the end of the day.

“I think people in every region of the province understand these connections because these connections are sacred,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 12, 2024.

Brittany Hobson, Canadian Press