http://winnipeg.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CT...ub=WinnipegHomePolice have suspect but no bodyUpdated: Thu Sep. 11 2008 18:10:01ctvwinnipeg.ca
Winnipeg police are continuing to dig through the Brady Road landfill, searching for the body of a man they believe was murdered in July.
On Thursday they announced they had arrested a suspect in the case. They've charged 31-year-old Jonathan Anders Muzychka with second-degree murder.
Muzychka was serving a 16 month sentence in the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, after leading police on a high-speed pursuit through a Vancouver playground in early August.
He has been brought back to Winnipeg to face the murder charges.
Police have been searching the landfill for two weeks, but Thursday was the first time they released the name of the alleged victim.
Jacinto Eduardo Etcheverry, 46, came from a small Ecuadoran fishing village and moved to Canada years ago.
His acquaintances told CTV News, he kept to himself in his Wolseley Avenue apartment.
He had bought a house this year and was planning to move in at the end of July -- but that's when he went missing.
A reliable worker
The first people to notice something was wrong were the people Etcheverry worked at Direct Transport on Higgins Avenue.
The man was so reliable that when he didn't show up for work the second day in a row, his supervisors tried to find him.
When they couldn't, they contacted police.
At about the same time Etcheverry wasn't showing up for work, police got a tip that a murder had occurred.
They received information that a man had been killed, and his body thrown in a dumpster near Etcheverry's Wolseley Avenue apartment.
But by the time they got that information, all the dumpsters had been emptied.
That's why they're searching the landfill.
Body still not found
"We don't have a body yet, however in order for us to be able to lay this [second degree murder] charge, there had to have been consultation with the crown's office," Const. Jacqueline Chaput told CTV News. "And they're satisfied there was sufficient evidence to go ahead with these charges."
Police believe the murder happened in third week of July.
At the time the suspect, Muzychka, is also alleged to have committed some break-and-enters, and a car-jacking at the corner of Kennedy Street and Ellice Avenue.
He allegedly stole a Porsche and drove to Vancouver. That's where the high-speed chase that led to his capture occurred.
Police also say Muzychka and Etcheverry knew each other.
Investigation obstacles
Police say they want to find the man's body to help bring closure to his family, but also to aid in their investigation.
Without the body there can be no autopsy, so there is know way to know how Etcheverry died. However, sources tell CTV News he may have been beaten to death.
Another challenge that police encountered in their investigation was that Etcheverry's apartment was cleaned out before they could search it. His neighbours say the landlord had it emptied because he hadn't received rent payment.
With a report from CTV's Kelly Dehn.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/20...etcheverry.htmlMan wants cash, protection after providing tip on Winnipeg homicideLast Updated: Monday, September 15, 2008 | 10:04 AM CT
CBC News A Winnipeg man who tipped off police about a homicide in July is upset that he can't get a reward that would help keep him safe, even though he says investigators would have no case at all if he hadn't turned in his daughter and her boyfriend.
Police laid a charge of second-degree murder Wednesday in the death of Jacinto Eduardo Etcheverry, although they have not yet found his body.
Police believe Etcheverry was killed in an apartment in the city's Wolseley neighbourhood and his body removed with trash some days later. Investigators have been searching the city's Brady Road landfill for several weeks.
A man, whom CBC News is not naming to protect his identity, said he learned about Etcheverry's death in July from his daughter.
She called him in July and invited him to a Winnipeg hotel room to smoke crack cocaine with her new boyfriend.
When he got there, the pair seemed nervous, so the man asked what was going on.
"They [said they] were doing scores, robbing dealers, drug dealers, and this last drug dealer that they robbed, the robbery went bad," the man said.
The man said he was told the robbery had ended in the drug dealer's death. He said his daughter's boyfriend returned to the scene the following night, put Etcheverry's body in a duffle bag and disposed of it.
Turned in daughter, boyfriend
The man said the couple then committed a series of crimes, as they left Winnipeg and crossed the country to Vancouver.
"I was just concerned," the man said. "I knew that it was getting to the point where she was going to end up with some serious jail time herself."
The man contacted police.
"All I was thinking about was trying to save my daughter," he said.
On Thursday, police announced that a 31-year-old man had been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Etcheverry's death. The man was arrested in Vancouver with a 19-year-old woman.
No cash reward
The man said he's now worried for his safety and that of his daughter, who is expected to be the star witness for the prosecution.
"He knows my place, and so that's why I want to get out of there," he said.
The man lives in a Manitoba Housing complex on disability assistance, and said he would require financial assistance to be able to afford to move.
He called Crime Stoppers, hoping to receive a cash award for his tip, but said he was told he didn't qualify for any money.
"'You've already given us the information. We no longer need to pay you,'" he said he was told.
"You know, jeez, I put my life out on the limb for his information for them, and the guy comes back with a response like that."
Anonymity key: Crime Stoppers
Officials with Crime Stoppers in Winnipeg said the program cannot pay the man because he identified himself to police.
"If we know the individual, the tipster calling, they basically have disqualified themselves from the program. The program is based on anonymity," Reg Parkin, chair of Winnipeg Crime Stoppers, told CBC News on Monday.
"I feel very sorry for the individual. It's not a pleasant situation, from what I understand. But, you know, the program has to maintain its integrity."
Parkin suggests that people who are afraid for their safety should contact police for assistance.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/prin...bhub=PrintStoryEscapee from Manitoba prison may be in Calgary
Police believe Jonathon Anders Muzychka may be in Calgary The Canadian Press
Updated: Fri. Oct. 17 2008 9:13 AM ETCALGARY — A prisoner who escaped from a Manitoba jail is believed to be in the Calgary area.
Calgary police issued a warning Thursday that Jonathon Anders Muzychka, 31, "is violent and a potential danger to the community." Muzychka, 31, scaled a razor-wire topped security fence surrounding an exercise yard at Headingly Correctional Centre and swam across the nearby Assiniboine River.
Police believe there might have been a car waiting there for him.
Muzychka was returned to Winnipeg from a British Columbia jail in early September to face second-degree murder charges in the mysterious disappearance of Jacinto Eduardo Etcheverry.
He has a distinctive tattoo on his body that depicts a face, and has a tattoo on his left shoulder of a monster head and another on his back of a monster face.
Muzychka also is charged with robbery with a weapon and three counts of break and enter.
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/200...30/7257426.htmlInmate who swam Manitoba river after jail escape caught in B.C.By THE CANADIAN PRESS GOLDEN, B.C. — A murder suspect who escaped from a Winnipeg-area jail by scaling a razor-wire topped fence and swimming across a river has been arrested in B.C.
RCMP say Jonathon Anders Muzychka, 31, was taken into custody without incident in the community of Golden and will be returned to Manitoba in the next few days.
Muzychka was sent to Winnipeg from a B.C. jail in early September to face second-degree murder charges in the disappearance of Jacinto Eduardo Etcheverry.
Investigators allege the Winnipeg man was killed in July and his body was dumped in the garbage, but his remains have not been found.
Police believe a car may have been waiting for Muzychka when he escaped from the Headingley Correctional Centre on Oct. 5.
Calgary police also issued arrest warrants for Muzychka last week in connection with two bank robberies.
Cpl. Barry Kennedy of Golden RCMP said Thursday police acted on a tip that the well-tattooed Muzychka could be located in a suite at the Sportsman Lodge a medium-sized hotel in Golden and hatched a plan to quickly arrest him.
“He was quite surprised to learn we knew where he was,” Kennedy said.
A hotel employee said Muzychka had been staying at the hotel with another man and a woman for “a few days” before the SWAT team burst in and arrested the fugitive.
She said the bill for the room was paid in full.
Manitoba RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said Headingley Mounties would handle the arrangements to have Muzychka returned to secure custody here.
The Crown prosecutor’s office in Calgary has not decided what to do about the robbery charges he faces in Alberta, Kennedy said.
21:41ET 30-10-08