The homes on Moulton Crt. in Courtice are lined with trees and where squirrels bound about and ducks and Canadian geese can be heard bickering in a nearby pond — but it has been far from scenic this week.
A Durham Regional Police command truck and police cars were parked Wednesday in the cul-de-sac outside of a residence and homicide detectives walked up and down the street interviewing neighbours after a grim discovery on Monday.
Police said a wellness check was conducted at 37 Moulton Crt. on Tuesday at about 1 p.m. and two woman were found dead inside the home with “obvious signs of trauma.”
A child was discovered alive inside the home, police said, and a 33-year-old man was taken into custody “without incident” at the scene.
Police have not released the names of the deceased, the man taken into custody or the age or name of the toddler; however, the Toronto Star reported that the victims were Laurie Crew and Katrina Zwolinski.
Christina, who has lived beside the home of the deceased for 26 years, said on Wednesday that the women who were found dead were a mother and her daughter, who was also a mother to a little boy.
“I feel really bad for the mom; she trusted everybody and gave everybody the benefit of the doubt,” said Christina.
Christina said she was at home when police showed up to conduct the wellness check.
She said they went into her backyard and jumped her fence to get to the back door of the house.
“We hadn’t seen her (the mother) in a few days, so there was a wellness check being performed,” said Christina. “I guess they (police) saw something they didn’t like and went in.”
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Neighbours on the street said police have been to the home multiple times, allegedly to respond to arguments, but never expected something to happen.
Lucia, who lives a few doors down, was equally upset.
“Honestly, it’s really sad, a sad situation,” said Lucia. “Thought whatever was going on had been dealt with.”
Lucia said she wished she and the other neighbours had more information, so they could have tried to help the victims before they were found dead.
A request for a comment from Durham police about prior visits to the house and an update on if any charges had been laid had not been responded to by Wednesday night.