New details are beginning to emerge connecting the double murder of two young brothers in south Ottawa, an explosion and fire at their father’s dental practice in a village an hour’s drive away, and the father’s suicide in his vehicle at a carpool lot about halfway between the two scenes.
The father is believed to have killed his two boys at his townhouse in the south Ottawa neighbourhood of Findlay Creek, sometime in the overnight hours as Sunday became Monday, CBC News has learned.
The 40-year-old was on active probation at the time for threatening to cause bodily harm to his ex-wife, the mother of the boys, in 2024, according to Ottawa court records.
CBC is not naming the father or the two victims, who were seven and 12 years old, to protect the privacy of their surviving family members.
At about 2 a.m. Monday on a main artery in the village of Iroquois, Ont., along the St. Lawrence River, the father then firebombed his dental practice, Road 2 Dentistry, using cans of gasoline. Residents told CBC News they awoke to the sound of an explosion and saw the gas cans.
The landlord, Marcin Kozniewski, told CBC the father had signed a 10-year lease for the space, located at the end of a new mixed-use building that also contains 24 residential units and a 24-hour gym.
No one was injured in the blast or ensuing fire. One of the damaged residential units is no longer livable, Kozniewski said.
Records of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario show that the father was practising dentistry at the Iroquois office and another office in Ottawa, and his corporate address is listed as the Findlay Creek home where he lived and the victims were found.
Police were called to the house Tuesday morning by a coworker of the father who had heard about the explosion. The coworker had tried to reach the father by phone without success, then drove to his house to check on him.
Court records show the father was found guilty in Ottawa’s Ontario Court of Justice of threatening to cause bodily harm to his ex-wife in an email dated Jan. 21, 2024.
The father received a conditional discharge on April 10 this year, meaning he would have had no criminal record if he had abided by the terms of a one-year probation order. Another charge of threatening to cause bodily harm to a man in an email on the same day in 2024 was withdrawn at the request of the Crown.
His probation conditions included not communicating with his ex in any way, except with her prior written consent or through a third party or court order to arrange contact with his children.
Court records from 2024 show that in September that year, the father had custody of his children every other weekend per a family court agreement.
The father was found dead Monday morning in his vehicle in a carpool lot north of Kemptville, Ont., about 55 kilometres south of Ottawa and halfway between the father’s dental office and his home.
There will be no prosecution in the case because the deceased father is the only suspect, but the Ottawa police homicide unit must still conduct a complete investigation.
“As a father, it’s shocking to hear this kind of news. It’s heartbreaking, it’s tragic,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said Tuesday. “It’s hard to believe that this kind of thing can happen in our community. And all of my thoughts are with the family and all of those close to that family.”
“This is a time for kids to have fun and be out in the community. And it’s just so tragic, so senseless and the community’s just in complete shock,” said Coun. Steve Desroches, who represents the Findlay Creek area.
