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Arrest in Melissa Richmond murder

George Wallace

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Arrest in Melissa Richmond murder

Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa
Published Friday, August 2, 2013 12:52PM EDT 
Last Updated Friday, August 2, 2013 12:58PM EDT 


Ottawa Police have a man in custody in connection with the murder of 28 year old Melissa Richmond of Winchester.  Sources say the man is Richmond’s husband, 50-year-old Howard.  Melissa Richmond was reported missing by her husband last Wednesday, after she went for a late night drive from her Winchester area home.  Last Friday evening, her car was found at the South Keys parking lot in Ottawa.  Two days later, police discovered her body in a creek that runs beside the shopping centre.

Major Crime Investigator Rob Drummond of the Ottawa Police says they have arrested someone but will not release the name of that individual until he appears before a justice of the peace to be charged.  That is expected to happen later today or tomorrow.

Read more: http://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/arrest-in-melissa-richmond-murder-1.1395611#ixzz2apfSID52


Edit to add other links that were found:

http://cornwallfreenews.com/2013/08/breaking-howard-richmond-charged-in-homicide-of-wife-melissa-richmond-august-2-2013/

http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/08/02/cops-question-husband-in-melissa-richmond-murder

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Melissa+Richmond+husband+arrested+death/8742127/story.html

"Military officer suffering from PTSD charged in wife's death"
 
I'm not attempting to convict the man, but that was my very first thought.  Usually, the spouse is the first suspect.
 
PMedMoe said:
I'm not attempting to convict the man, but that was my very first thought.  Usually, the spouse is the first suspect.

Moe, that crossed my mind, with the same caveat that he has not been convicted.
 
Old Sweat said:
.... he has not been convicted.
Excellent point - always useful to provide a couple of reminders ....
Under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, "any person charged with an offence has the right .... to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal"
Danjanou said:
In addition to that just a gentle reminder that this case may attract a lot of attention from the media and public and that usually leads to them showing up here looking for quotes etc. Be very careful of what you post ....

Milnet.ca Staff
 
Some media outlets are now stating his unit to be the Mapping and Charting Establishment in Ottawa.  He is not a member of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders as first reported.
 
I was really hoping this wouldn't turn out to be the result in this case:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2013/08/02/ottawa-canadian-soldier-charged-wife-death-melissa-richmond.html
 
I have read a couple articles on this now. Do they have any proof that he did it?
 
They don't need proof. Any story with the words murder+soldier mean he did it as far as the press and public is concerned.  :threat:
 
The media always jumps at any negative stories on the military. I know it sucks that the accused is a soldier but the police must have enough evidence to charge him with murder. The court will decide if that evidence is enough to convict. If he did this crime he deserves to be punished like any other person.
 
Haggis said:
Some media outlets are now stating his unit to be the Mapping and Charting Establishment in Ottawa.  He is not a member of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders as first reported.

CBC.ca this AM says he is a geomatic tech, but most recently posted to the IPSU in Ottawa area.

I second the caveats to be very prudent about what we say about this (or any other case under investigation/trial) . This will probably generate a lot of heat and light.

As far as "negative" reporting on the military: I'd rather live in a country where the media reports on whatever it wants to, however it wants to, than in one where they unquestioningly praise the military, the police and the govt, and cover up the bad stuff. If you look back objectively over the last few years, the Canadian public has held a consistently high opinion of the CF, as opposed to other govt institutions or other professions. A big part of that, IMHO, came from lots of positive media coverage.
 
pbi said:
As far as "negative" reporting on the military: I'd rather live in a country where the media reports on whatever it wants to, however it wants to, than in one where they unquestioningly praise the military, the police and the govt, and cover up the bad stuff. If you look back objectively over the last few years, the Canadian public has held a consistently high opinion of the CF, as opposed to other govt institutions or other professions. A big part of that, IMHO, came from lots of positive media coverage.

+1, PBI.

The truly irritating part is that most MSM ran with the wrong unit, causing a huge amount of unnecessary work by the unit and it's higher HQs to sort this out and get it corrected.  Nobody asked the named unit for confirmation before publishing the story.  It's just that the SD&G Highrs are the closest CAF unit to where the accused lives.  In fact, the original story of his arrest, which is still a live link, continues to mis-identifiy his unit.

Lazy reporting and editing.  This article should have been corrected two days ago.
 
I'll grant the media often displays an irritating level of ignorance and lack of research effort where reportage on the military is concerned:I've probably commented on it on these pages somewhere. There are even a few (and I believe it is only a few) anti-military journalists. But that's a pretty far cry from a concerted "plot" by MSM.
 
Haggis said:
The truly irritating part is that most MSM ran with the wrong unit, causing a huge amount of unnecessary work by the unit and it's higher HQs to sort this out and get it corrected.  Nobody asked the named unit for confirmation before publishing the story.  It's just that the SD&G Highrs are the closest CAF unit to where the accused lives.  In fact, the original story of his arrest, which is still a live link, continues to mis-identifiy his unit.

Lazy reporting and editing.  This article should have been corrected two days ago.

I've been following this story on the Citizen's website, CBC, the Sun network, CTV, the Winchester Press and in social media, and the first time I heard the SD&G mentioned was today, in this thread.  So if it's any consolation, at least it appears like the majority of media outlets either didn't perpetuate that error to start with, or corrected themselves quickly. 

pbi said:
As far as "negative" reporting on the military: I'd rather live in a country where the media reports on whatever it wants to, however it wants to, than in one where they unquestioningly praise the military, the police and the govt, and cover up the bad stuff. If you look back objectively over the last few years, the Canadian public has held a consistently high opinion of the CF, as opposed to other govt institutions or other professions. A big part of that, IMHO, came from lots of positive media coverage.
   
:nod:  Yes, exactly.  Thanks for making that point, pbi.
 
I am interested in this case due to some media outlets reporting that the accused has PTSD.

Given my background, I know that certain mental illness are likely to begin at certain ages. It may be a coincidence than the accused may have been diagnosed with a mental illness shortly upon his return from Afghanistan. But i find it is highly unlikely that this individual actually contracted a true, medically diagnosed case of PTSD in the role his filled on his tours.

If this is the case, then it will not help those who are truly affected by this illness.
 
Just remember NO ONE will ever be arrested again who isn't suffering from PTSD from something. [if you know what I mean]
The word is now out there.

It's like the reason everyone who gets arrested is diabetic,  = extra food.
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
Just remember NO ONE will ever be arrested again who isn't suffering from PTSD from something. [if you know what I mean]
The word is now out there.

It's like the reason everyone who gets arrested is diabetic,  = extra food.

You are no doubt correct with this assumption. Unintended consequences of the awareness of the legitimate mental health issues now starting to come to the forefront.
 
Rider Pride said:
I am interested in this case due to some media outlets reporting that the accused has PTSD.

Given my background, I know that certain mental illness are likely to begin at certain ages. It may be a coincidence than the accused may have been diagnosed with a mental illness shortly upon his return from Afghanistan. But i find it is highly unlikely that this individual actually contracted a true, medically diagnosed case of PTSD in the role his filled on his tours.

If this is the case, then it will not help those who are truly affected by this illness.

It was no different when the Viet Nam veterns came back and some had PTSD. Suddenly every vet that got into some difficulty was "one of those rabid vets".

This went on for a good number of years, but occasionally still pops up....

It sure didn't do any good for those who had real problems....in fact, I know of a couple of guys who refused to self identify themselves as vets for that very reason...
 
From today's National Post. Re-posted under the usual caveats of the Copyright Act.

Soldier charged with murdering wife to remain active member of Canadian Armed Forces pending review

Drake Fenton, Postmedia News | 13/08/04 10:25 PM ET

On Friday, Ottawa police arrested Howard Richmond. He has been charged with his wife's murder.
Ottawa Citizen fileOn Friday, Ottawa police arrested Howard Richmond. He has been charged with his wife's murder.

Charged with murder in the death of his wife, Howard Richmond remains an active member of the military pending a Canadian Armed Forces review that could result in the warrant officer’s suspension from regular duties.

Richmond, 50, of Winchester, Ont., south of Ottawa, was charged Saturday with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his wife, Melissa Richmond, 28.

“When an incident, a special circumstance, or a professional deficiency occurs that calls into question the member’s suitability for continued service, an administrative review will be initiated to ensure the most appropriate career administrative action is taken,” said Cpt. Joanna Labonte, a Department of National Defence spokeswoman.

Labonte could not say whether Richmond would be suspended or whether any suspension would be with or without pay.

She did say: “The Canadian Armed Forces hold their members to a very high standard of conduct and performance.”

Richmond, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces since 1988, is a geomatics technician currently employed at the Integrated Personnel Support Centre in Ottawa. He has also worked with the Mapping and Charting Establishment.

Richmond has told the media that he was receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and that he has done six overseas tours in Afghanistan and other conflict zones.

One mission in which he took part in Afghanistan involved collecting “unclassified high-resolution colour stereo imagery.” He wrote a first-person account of the mission for the 2009 edition of Canadian Military Mapper, a newsletter published by the Mapping & Charting Establishment.

The mission began around the Easter long weekend in 2009. Richmond writes that advance teams set up instruments to aid in the mapping process throughout Afghanistan, including Kandahar Airfield, Camp Bastion and three southern districts: Tarin Kowt, Qalat, Lashkar Gah.

“I carried seven knives and got to fire an American M-60 (machine gun) from a Chinook . . . and we get paid for this!” he said.

Richmond writes that teams were in the air for up to 13 hours, collecting images approximately every 10 seconds. Their efforts helped in the mapping of 100,000 square kilometres of Afghanistan.

“They say when you do a job well, no one remembers, and if you mess it up you will never be forgotten,” he concludes. “The crew that made up the mission did what should be forgotten, but hopefully will be remembered. We were critically short on training and preparation time, deficient in equipment, but with more morale than we knew what to do with; we surmounted every obstacle as they arose.”

A soldier who served with Richmond in Afghanistan described him as a good team leader for younger troops. He said Richmond was never overly aggressive, showed no signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and did not share any war stories suggesting he had been in a serious firefight.

After the tour ended, the soldier did not talk to Richmond again. The soldier, who does not want to be named, said Richmond went back to Afghanistan in 2010 or 2011. The soldier does not know details of that tour.

Paul Champ, an Ottawa lawyer familiar with legal proceedings involving members of the military, said a big question is whether Richmond will be suspended with or without pay during the trial. An Armed Forces member convicted of murder could expect to be discharged from the military, Champ said, but would not lose accumulated pension benefits.

Richmond reported his wife missing on July 24. Her body was found three days later with multiple stab wounds in a ravine near the South Keys Shopping Centre in Ottawa.

He appeared in court Saturday to hear the first-degree murder charge and is scheduled is appear in court again Tuesday by video link.

With files from Natascia Lypny, Postmedia News

Article Link
 
In another thread I posted an article about the "dysfunctional" Ottawa JPSU. Now the Ottawa Citizen has linked WO Richmond to it.

The headline is: Soldier charged in wife’s killing was posted to overloaded rehab unit.

The article notes that, "Richmond, who told news media before his arrest that he is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was posted into the Ottawa IPSC, which is officially a platoon with a traditional personnel strength of around 30 ... [but] ... "the Ottawa IPSC is now trying to cope with 182 ill and injured, the bulk of whom are “Red Cases” — “high intensity people who need a lot of care.”"
 
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