Ottawa police charge man with first-degree murder, identify victim of femicide in Barrhaven

Police are investigating after a 61-year-old woman was killed in Barrhaven Saturday night, the second femicide in the city this year.

The Ottawa Police Service has identified a victim and charged a suspect with first-degree murder of a femicide that happened in Barrhaven Saturday evening.

The victim has been identified as 60-year-old Brenda Rus of Ottawa.

The suspect is 61-year-old Robert Rus, also from Ottawa.

Police say officers responded to a call reporting an incident at a home on Bentbrook Crescent and located a dead woman inside.

The investigation is ongoing.

This marks the ninth homicide, second femicide, in the city so far this year.

“Femicide is defined and understood by the Ottawa Police Service as the intentional killing of women and girls, 2 Spirit, trans women and gender non-conforming individuals because of their gender, overwhelmingly committed by men,” police said in a statement Saturday, noting that it can take multiple forms, such as “the murder of women as a result of intimate partner violence.”

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Ottawa Police Service Homicide Unit at 613-236-1222 extension 5493, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 to remain anonymous.

Neighbour says she ‘was a wonderful lady’

Dixie Mosseau, a neighbour who lives nearby told CTV News Ottawa’s Kimberley Johnson the victim “was a wonderful lady.”

“If she liked you, you were one of her tops. She’d call me, text me, talk to me anytime she was out for a walk, I loved her,” Mosseau said.

Mosseau says that Brenda’s loss is “horrible,” noting that she was a quiet hard-working woman.

“She worked hard. She worked in the government. She had a son she raised. She had a beautiful little dog that we’re looking after right now,” Mosseau added.

Nereilyn del Rosario, another neighbour, says she was at home when the incident happened.

“I was in the house and we didn’t hear a commotion, I didn’t hear a commotion,” she said.

“It’s shocking for this to happen.”

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Kimberley Johnson