Murderer Basil Borutski

The morning  of September 22, 2015, began with Borustki strangling Culleton to death with a television wire. He then stole her car and drove to Kyzyk’s home where he killed her with a 12-gauge shotgun as her terrified sister ran for her life. Finally, he drove to Warmerdam’s home and shot her to death as her son, Adrian Warmerdam, ran out of the house.

Carol Culleton

Culleton, who had only just retired, was fixing up her cottage on Kamaniskeg Lake when Borutski approached her and offered to help out as a handyman. Culleton accepted but soon found that Borutski would not finish projects before moving onto another, and made changes to the cottage she had not asked for. He also began showing up uninvited and her friends later testified that she began finding him creepy and felt as though she was being stalked.

Friends also said that Culleton, who had recently lost her husband to cancer, was not looking for a new relationship and had never referred to Borutski as anything other than a handyman.

Anastasia Kuzyk

Borutski spent 19 months in jail after choking Kuzyk when she asked him to leave her home in January of 2014. Borustki had a long history of domestic violence. The Crown had often reduced or dropped domestic violence charges against him, and he never attended the counselling sessions as demanded by the court. Although he had a lifetime ban on owning weapons, he retained a firearms Possession and Acquisition License (PAL).

“I thought he was honestly going to kill me,” Kuzyk told police, “I could see the switch go off in his eyes.”

Upon release, Botutski refused to sign a probation order to have no contact or communication with Kuzyk.At trial, Eva Kuzyk testified that was upstairs at her sister’s home on September 22, 2015, when she heard screams from the kitchen. Running downstairs, she saw Kuzyk on the floor and Borustki by the door. Surprised, Borustki ran from the home, but when she saw him return with a shotgun, she ran for her life,

Described as horse-crazy, Anastasia Kuzyk was an accomplished equestrian and participated in many horse shows throughout her life, winning many ribbons and trophies. She was a nature and animal lover who worked as a naturalist in Algonquin Park for four years. Because of her love for hiking with her dogs along the local trails in her hometown of Wilno, a community trail was dedicated in her honour.

Kuzyk had worked at a local bar, the Wilno Tavern, before becoming a successful real estate agent.

Nathalie Warmerdam

Warmerdam was a home care nurse and had worked at a local hospice. She met Borutski while she was caring for his father in hospice. She had just recently separated from her husband.

As Borutski’s violence escalated, Warmerdam finally made a police report and he was sentenced to 150 days in jail for assault and uttering death threats. When he was released, he was ordered to attend a partner-assault-response program,  but he never showed up.

Warmerdam was afraid of Borutski and kept a“domestic violence panic alarm” on her bedside table, as well as a shotgun under her bed. Unfortunately, these things did not help her when Borutski stormed into her home on that September morning and shot her dead.

Warmerdam’s son was lying on the couch when he heard his mother scream in the kitchen and run into the living room with Borustski behind her aiming a shotgun. Adrian ran out of the house and heard the shotgun blast that killed his mother. He hid in the bushes and called 911.