Man wanted in stepson’s death fled 2,000 kilometres before arrest, police say
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — An Ontario man accused of killing his seven-year-old stepson and badly injuring a banker with whom he’d once had professional dealings managed to flee 2,000 kilometres over four days before being arrested, police said Wednesday.
Niagara regional police Chief Jeff McGuire said the nationwide manhunt for 43-year-old Justin Kuijer, which began in St. Catharines, Ont., came to a peaceful end in the parking lot of a Walmart in Kenora, Ont., around 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
A member of the public who had heard of the search for Kuijer recognized the van in which the man allegedly fled. Six provincial police officers responded to the tip and arrested the former roofing company owner without incident, McGuire said.
Kuijer had been the subject of a Canada-wide warrant on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of his stepson, Nathan Dumas, but McGuire said the man will in fact be charged with first-degree murder in the boy’s death, as well as attempted murder in the attack on the bank employee.