Fear and anxiety grip a Dartmouth neighbourhood where a man and woman were killed in separate attacks in the past few days.
“The question that I am getting asked is that is it safe,” said Tony Mancini, the councillor whose district covers the Highfield Park area where the killings took place. “Is my kid going to be all right to walk to school, to the community centre? I really understand that concern.
“Two homicides in a couple of days has really shaken the community. I was there yesterday afternoon and talking to some community leaders and just going out and speaking to some residents. It’s a community that a lot of people know each other. There are a lot of connections. They are really hurting.”
Halifax Regional Police confirmed Tuesday that the second death was a homicide and identified the victim as Deborah Irene Yorke, 63, of Dartmouth. She was found dead inside a fourth-floor apartment at 3 Farthington Place after police responded to a call at 4:08 a.m. on Sunday.
About 36 hours earlier, police were called to an apartment building on Pincecrest Drive, a couple of blocks from the Farthington Place apartment building. The body of Derek Miles, 42, was found at the Pinecrest Drive location on Friday at 4:25 p.m.
“The investigators have no evidence to suggest that they are connected but they are certainly not ruling that out,” said Const. Carol McIsaac. “Of course, they want anybody who has any information to contact us in relation to either homicide.”
Debbie Yorke’s Facebook page recounted that she was robbed a week before Christmas.
“My Visa debit was stolen, and used that evening to steal over $1,000.00 from my account,” she said in the Facebook post. “This money was for my rent, power bill, cable and Christmas gifts and dinner. There will be no dinner or Xmas in my home this year. I am still in shock, that anyone could be so rude to spoil someone’s Christmas by stealing every cent you have.
“I am single . . . have been disabled since the fall of ’91 with a herniated disc, at which time I lost my business, my home, vehicle and contents of house. I started all over and set up a silk floral business, was starting to expand when I slipped on our . . . steps and herniated another disc.”
Reached in Pictou County, her sister Cheryl said she was too upset to talk about Debbie and her death.
The Facebook page indicates that Debbie Yorke was widowed and had attended West Pictou District High.
McIsaac said police are aware of how difficult the situation is for neighbourhood residents.
“We do know that it can be very upsetting and disconcerting that you have two homicides within two blocks of each other,” she said. “We would suggest to people that if they see or hear anything suspicious or anything concerning to them to call the police and we will respond. If you think it is an urgent situation, call 911. That’s what we are there for, that’s why we are out on patrol 24-7. We just want to keep them safe and do everything we can to help them feel safe.”
Mancini said it’s a “real tough” situation.
“I do believe it is safe. These two situations are not random and not believed to be connected. We have been doing a lot of work over the years there to continue to make it safer, making sure that pathways are clean and bright and that bush is cut back. Community policing is well-entrenched in there. There is a lot of work we have done to get to the core of violent crime.”
McIsaac said police do not believe Miles’ death was a random act.
Police executed a warrant on Jackson Road in Dartmouth on Monday in relation to Yorke’s death and they have completed that part of the investigation.
“If anything was seized out of that residence as a result of the execution of the search warrant, we wouldn’t speak to that,” she said.
Police are still on the scene at Farthington Place, McIsaac said. They are not revealing how the victims died.
Meanwhile, community leaders are discussing an anti-violence march, Mancini said, and he would like to arrange a community town hall meeting, where “residents can come out and talk to police and talk to other leaders and hear their concerns.”
Mancini said the two deaths are very concerning and unfortunate because crime statistics are down in the area.
“Stats are stats and you can toss the stats out the window when somebody loses their life, but we have done a lot of work. I think we’ve progressed in many ways, but here we are, talking about this again.”
