Charge in 2024 Ottawa femicide upgraded to first-degree murder

Ottawa police identified the victim of a homicide on Lady Slipper Way as Jennifer Zabarylo, 47, of Ottawa. Police have labelled her death a femicide. (Facebook)

Ottawa police say a charge in a 2024 femicide has been upgraded to first-degree murder.

Michael Zabarylo, 55, was initially charged with second-degree murder in the death of 47-year-old Jennifer Zabarylo. Police say he is now facing the stronger first-degree murder charge.

The Criminal Code of Canada says a homicide is considered first-degree murder when it is planned and deliberate. All murder that is not first-degree murder is considered second-degree murder.

Ottawa police said the charge was upgraded on April 9 but would not comment on why.

“As evidence will be presented before the courts, the Homicide Unit is unable to provide additional details about why these charges were upgraded,” a news release said.

Jennifer Zabarylo was found dead Aug. 26, 2024, on Lady Slipper Way, a rural area just north of Highway 7. She was a civilian employee and a longtime member of the Royal Canadian Navy Headquarters team.

The accused is her husband.

The case marked the first time the Ottawa Police Service used the term “femicide” to describe a killing in the city.

“In the context of police investigations, we consider this death to be a femicide as it occurred in the context of intimate partner violence, which is one of the many forms of misogynist killings,” Ottawa police said in a news release at the time of Zabarylo’s death.

There were two killings labelled as femicide in 2024 in Ottawa. So far this year, Ottawa police have identified two deaths as femicides, one involving a woman who was stabbed on Heney Street in Lowertown on April 1, and another involving a woman who was found dead in her home on Bentbrook Crescent in Barrhaven on April 5.