Police look at possible link between deaths of estranged Oakville couple

The day after a nurse was found stabbed to death in her Oakville home, police say they are investigating if there's a connection to the fatal shooting of her estranged husband by officers outside a police station also on Thursday.

Police noticed Kyle Newman, 43, causing some type of damage in the Oakville station's parking lot at about 11:45 a.m. Thursday and went outside to deal with him. What happened next is unclear, but shots were fired by police and Mr. Newman was pronounced dead at the scene. Later, police tape marked off a section of the lot where at least three police vehicles sat near the man's tarp-covered body. A silver rental car with the driver's door flung open was left crashed against a police vehicle.

Mr. Newman's death is now being probed by the province's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, because officers were involved. There are two subject officers and eight witnesses.

A former colleague of Mr. Newman's said the way he died is incomprehensible.

"He was always incredibly positive, he was extraordinarily funny, extraordinarily bright," said Mike Kasprow, who now works in the computer industry but was Mr. Newman's manager when the two worked at Bell Canada in the late 1990s. The two stayed in touch as their careers progressed and often gave each other references, Mr. Kasprow said.

As well as a degree in biosciences and an MBA, Mr. Newman lists sales and marketing jobs on a networking website. Most recently, he worked at Johnson & Johnson. The company confirmed he began working there in September.

Mr. Kasprow said he was insightful when it came to work.

"He's like the kind of guy you would have met at university and hit it off with really well," he said, noting Mr. Newman could be private about his personal life.

At some point, Mr. Kasprow met Mr. Newman's wife, Katherine who also went by "Bunny." Ms. Newman was the daughter of Walter Stayshyn, a retired Superior Court judge.

"She was incredibly lovely and they seemed to have an exceptionally good relationship," Mr. Kasprow said. The couple had three sons.

Mr. Kasprow said he lost touch with Mr. Newman and his family when they moved to Boston a few years ago to take a job with a medical company. In the few years that followed, the family would return to Oakville, where they were living in separate homes.

It was in Ms. Newman's Treetop Terrace home, which she purchased this summer, that the 43-year-old was found dead by a friend on Thursday at about noon, shortly after Mr. Newman had been shot dead. On Friday, a day later, police said a postmortem confirmed she died from multiple stab wounds. There has been no information released about suspects.

Neighbours said Ms. Newman, a trained nurse, lived there with her sons.

On Thursday afternoon, police tape cordoned off Ms. Newman's townhouse and two nearby schools were placed in a form of lockdown. A neighbour a few doors down, Abaid Rahman, said the large police presence included what he called tactical officers and he was instructed to stay inside his house.

Ms. Newman's brother, lawyer Ted Stayshyn, said the family wasn't ready on Friday to speak publicly about what happened to his sister or her relationship with Mr. Newman.