Man charged in 3 Winnipeg killings pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder

A man charged with killing three people in a span of roughly six months in Winnipeg has pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder.

Maxim Dale Garneau was charged in the deaths of Daniel Raymond Garvey-Rodriguez, 25; Robert Clayton Smith, 35; and Edgar Allan Bear, 56, in killings that spanned from September 2023 to March 2024.

The first of those killings happened on Sept. 10, 2023, after Garneau got in an argument with Garvey-Rodriguez at a house on Spence Street.

Garneau pulled out a gun but was soon disarmed by Garvey-Rodriguez, who pulled out a knife and held it to Garneau's head. A third man then separated the two and told them to leave, Court of King's Bench Justice Joan McKelvey heard in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday.

As he left, Garneau complained about how he had been "handled" by Garvey-Rodriguez, and was later heard on a phone call in a cab saying while he'd "pulled a strap" on the victim, it wasn't loaded and he "complained that he looked stupid," Crown attorney Matthew Armstrong read from an agreed statement of facts.

Garneau then took the cab to a College Avenue apartment building, where he waited in a stairwell just off the lobby for Garvey-Rodriguez to show up. When the victim walked through the front door, Garneau shot him in the chest once, sending a bullet ripping through his lungs and heart. Garvey-Rodriguez collapsed just outside the building and later died, court heard.

The next killing Garneau admitted to was about six months later, on March 16, 2024. Garneau got into an argument at a house on Manitoba Avenue with Smith — after Garneau saw the victim in a bedroom with a "younger woman" — and ended up shooting the man in the head twice, Crown attorney Michael Desautels said.

Court heard Garneau then directed another man who was in the house at the time to wrap the victim's body in a tarp, then go to a nearby apartment complex that's "a known headquarters of the Bloods group, to which Garneau belonged," Desautels said.

When Garneau was later interviewed by police, he said he saw the victim with "a very young girl," Desautels said.

"His father instincts kicked in and he began to argue with Smith, accusing him of previously 'skinning' girls — being a reference to sexually assaulting women, or young women."

Garneau also told police he gave the other man at the house the gun he used to kill Smith and "told him to get rid of it in the river," court heard.

Police later found the young woman who was in the bedroom at the time of the shooting. She said she was friends with the victim and they had been romantically involved for almost a year at the time of his murder, court heard. 

She said Garneau was at the house that day to collect a debt from someone else who wasn't home yet, and was waiting for that person's return when he killed Smith.

Victim suspected of 'ratting out' robber

The third murder Garneau admitted to happened two days after that, and followed a robbery where only one of the three participants ended up getting arrested.

Court heard another of those three people — Bear — was blamed for the arrest and suspected of "ratting out" the other man, court heard.

Garneau then went to a house on Selkirk Avenue, where he asked for and was handed a sawed-off shotgun. He said he planned to use it to either shoot Bear in both knees or kill him, court heard.

When Bear later arrived at the house, Garneau confronted him with the gun and shot him in the head.

Breanne Joan Bruyere was also later charged with manslaughter and obstructing justice in Bear's death. McKelvey heard her case is still before the court.

The month after the third shooting, police who were searching for Garneau found him walking near Euclid Avenue and Austin Street N., court heard.

When he was arrested, he was wearing "a long-haired wig," prosecutor Armstrong said. Inside his backpack was a semi-automatic rifle with a sawed-down stock and barrel, along with ammunition.

Garneau's sentencing is scheduled for next month.