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Suspect arrested in ‘heinous’ 2009 murder

Victim relied on wheelchair and battled addiction
Ted Emes
Ted Emes, formerly of the B.C. Paraplegic Association, was at a loss for words when told of the arrest of a suspect in connection with the murder of former client, Michael Nestoruk. He called it the best news he’s heard in a long time. Photo Dan Toulgoet

He was the city’s 13th homicide in 2009.

And as the fifth anniversary of Michael Ciro Nestoruk’s death came and went this month, the case appeared to be headed deeper into the Vancouver Police Department’s unsolved files.

But last week, police had news to share about the investigation: They deployed one of their emergency response teams Wednesday and arrested a suspect in a car at Renfrew and Hastings.

“The arrest went, for the most part, without any complications,” said Const. Brian Montague, a Vancouver police media liaison officer. “We did get a few calls about it because there were flash bangs involved but no one was injured.”

Aaron Dale Power, 37, of Vancouver has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nestoruk’s death. As court records show, Power has an extensive criminal history involving burglaries and possession of stolen property.

Police are tightlipped about what led them to the suspect, how Nestoruk died or whether a motive was established in what police at the time called “a truly disturbing and heinous crime.”

Nestoruk, who had a prosthetic leg and relied on a wheelchair, was a 41-year-old man suffering from drug addiction. At one time, he played wheelchair tennis and basketball.

“Homicide investigations are notoriously challenging and many of them can take years to solve — this is a prime example of that,” Montague told the Courier. “It’s little bits of information and little pieces of evidence along the way that we gather to give us the ability to make an arrest like this.”

Nestoruk was known to panhandle outside the 7-Eleven at Joyce and Kingsway. On the morning of April 9, 2009, his body was found across the street from the 7-Eleven on the grounds of Sir Guy Carleton elementary school. A parent dropping off her child at the school was the first to come across the grim scene.

Three weeks before he was murdered, Nestoruk reached out to Ted Emes, who at the time was the rehabilitation manager for the B.C. Paraplegic Association.

Emes told the Courier in April 2009 that Nestoruk had “vitality and passion in his voice” and was on an upward swing to get his life back.

Emes and Jean Budden, a social worker with Vancouver Coastal Health, first met Nestoruk in the fall of 2006. Nestoruk had been living on the streets and injecting heroin and cocaine.

They helped him get a new wheelchair and find housing.

Reached Tuesday, Emes said he was at a loss for words when told of the arrest but that “it was the best news I’ve heard in a long, long time.”

He recalled his last conversation with Nestoruk.

“He called me to congratulate me on the birth of my son, and I’ll never forget that phone call,” said Emes, who is now the director of services for the western Canada branch of Muscular Dystrophy Canada. “He was really excited for me. And, again, he just sounded like he was really, really digging down and trying to do his best. And that was the last, unfortunately, that I heard from him.”

Emes and Budden were led to Nestoruk after former mayor Sam Sullivan, who is quadriplegic, ran into Nestoruk in the Downtown Eastside and put a call into the paraplegic association to get help for his old friend. Nestoruk played wheelchair basketball when Sullivan was vice-president of the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association.

“I’m just pleased that they found somebody and I hope they can bring closure to this,” Sullivan, now B.C. Liberal MLA for Vancouver-False Creek, said Monday. “It’s been very upsetting for everybody.”

Nestoruk has two daughters but they have not spoken publicly about their father’s death. The Vancouver Police Board posted a reward of $10,000 in November 2009 to help solve the case. But it’s unclear whether the reward still stands and, if so, whether the arrest of the suspect will lead to someone receiving the money. A call to the Vancouver Police Board Monday was not returned before the Courier’s deadline.

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