North Vancouver stabbing victim identified, murder charge laid

A man has been charged with second-degree murder after a woman was fatally stabbed in a North Vancouver apartment Tuesday, with authorities saying the suspect is the victim's nephew.

In an update from the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, the woman who was killed is identified as 68-year-old Dominga Santos.

She was found suffering stab wounds in her apartment in the 200 block of 3rd Avenue around 11 a.m. and died there soon after. A suspect was arrested at the scene and has now been identified as 48-year-old Anthony Del Rosario.

IHIT spokesperson Sgt. Timothy Pierotti, at a news conference Wednesday, said Del Roasario did not live with his aunt and that he was known to police, but declined to comment further on the nature or extent of the police involvement.

Investigators say they are releasing information about the victim and suspect in hopes of furthering the investigation.

Anyone with information is urged to call 1-877-551-IHIT (4448).

3 WOMEN KILLED IN 1 WEEK

Santos is the third woman in the past week to be killed in Metro Vancouver, but police said these are all isolated incidents.

"The information we have is that they’re not connected. Yes, they happened within a short span of time but we’re seeing a lot of different motives a lot of different scenarios play out whether they be domestic assaults, familial homicides,” Pierotti said.

While police say there is no risk to the public, Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director of Battered Women’s Support Services, believes otherwise.

"We have to understand that gender-based violence and femicide – the killings of women – is actually a concern for so many women across the province and that's their lived reality. So, it's not fair to think there's no implication for the public,” she told CTV News.

Police have also released new details regarding last week's killing in Coquitlam, which also appears to involve domestic violence. Pierotti said they were looking to question the victim's former husband in connection to the case, but that he has since died. 

IHIT confirmed on Wednesday that 39-year-old Stephanie Forster was shot and killed in a vehicle near Lambert Way and Turner Avenue.

Last week, another woman, 40-year-old Harpreet Kaur Gill, was stabbed to death in her Surrey townhouse.

Her husband was arrested at the scene. No charges have been laid.