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    • Victims of homicides linked to Winnipeg hospital stabbing remembered by friends, colleagues

    New Bothwell homicide victim Judy Swain source: Instagram/tripopfarm New Bothwell homicide victim Judy Swain source: Instagram/tripopfarm
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    WINNIPEG -

    The victims of two homicides in and around Winnipeg are being remembered by friends and colleagues who are trying to process their deaths.

    Judy Swain is the woman who was found dead Wednesday at her farm home near New Bothwell, Man., according to friends.

    Stuart Farley, Swain’s ex-husband, was also found dead that same day at his home in Winnipeg’s West End.

    “He was simply a lovely man,” said LéAmber Kensley, who knew Farley through Winnipeg’s pagan community. “The shock of it all has been kind of overwhelming.”

    Friends have identified Farley as the man in his 70s found dead at his Toronto St. home Wednesday evening – a homicide Winnipeg police and RCMP have since linked to a serious stabbing at Seven Oaks Hospital and Swain’s homicide.

    Earlier in the day Wednesday, RCMP doing a well-being check discovered a 73-year-old woman dead at her home near New Bothwell.

    Friends and colleagues have identified the victim as Swain, who ran a small farm and worked with a group that promotes small farms and locally grown food.

    “She’s just one of those people that light up a room,” said Phil Veldhuis, president of Direct Farm Manitoba, a group Swain was a member of and held the role of treasurer.

    According to court records and friends, Swain and Farley divorced more than a decade ago.

    A suspect in the deaths, a man in his thirties, is an employee of Seven Oaks Hospital who was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after critically stabbing another employee at the facility. That employee has since been upgraded to stable condition.  

    Police believe all three incidents may be related, and say the suspect was known to the victims.

    Police said Friday no charges have been laid in any of the three incidents.

    Veldhuis said he’s known Swain for 10 years. He’s remembering her as a community-minded person with a passion for farming, something he said she’d been doing largely on her own as of late.

    “Like all farmers we’ll probably think of two things: grief for the loss of the person but also concern that the animals on the farm are looked after and trying to make sure that there isn’t more suffering because of this terrible thing,” Veldhuis said.

    He’s been told arrangements have been made to care for Swain’s animals.

    Meantime, friends of Farley said they’re planning to hold a ceremony in his honour.

    Police wouldn't say Friday if the suspect arrested at the hospital has finished undergoing a medical assessment. 

    Investigators have said they’re only dealing with one suspect at this time.

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