Calgary man admits to killing girlfriend then stabbing to death mother, stepfather

CALGARY — A Calgary man has admitted to slitting his girlfriend’s throat and, days later, stabbing to death his mother and stepfather.

Crown prosecutor Shane Parker said Tuesday that Dustin Duthie, 27, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murders of Taylor Toller and Shawn Boshuk and the first-degree murder of Alan Pennylegion. 

An agreed statement of facts said Toller, Duthie’s girlfriend of five years, was last seen on video footage from outside her condo unit about 4 a.m. on July 26, 2018. Duthie was captured on video leaving the condo alone about an hour later. 

Police found Toller, 24, five days later with her throat slit and “tucked into her bed as if she was asleep.”

The agreed statement of facts mentions a torn-up note in which Duthie explains why he killed Toller, but the document does not detail the note’s contents.

On the same day Toller was found, Duthie stabbed Boshuk, his mother, six times in their home and covered her with a plastic sheet, the statement said.  

Boshuk had messaged Toller’s grandmother a day earlier, concerned about how her son would react to police contacting him about Toller’s disappearance. 

The statement said Pennylegion witnessed Duthie cleaning his mother’s blood in the kitchen and Duthie attacked his stepfather, stabbing him eight times.

Duthie and his stepfather had a tense relationship at the time and Duthie had threatened violence against Pennylegion over the years, the statement said. 

One of Duthie’s pit bulls was stabbed but survived with surgery. Pennylegion’s pet dog, Odie, found with his owner in the main floor bathroom, was also stabbed and died. 

The statement said Duthie shaved his head, showered, and changed his clothes after killing his mother and stepfather.

About 10:50 a.m. on July 31, he called 911 and confessed to the killings. The document said he was “contemplating ‘suicide-by-cop.'”

A sentencing date has not yet been set. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2021

The Canadian Press