By all appearances, the family that moved in next door to Nicole Rouillard in Anjou last summer were moving in a positive direction.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, the house the family — Rafal Zembowicz, his wife and four children, including Adam, who was born in September — had purchased last year quickly went up for sale again.
The wife approached Rouillard after the “for sale” sign went up and explained that she and Zembowicz were going to get a divorce, Rouillard said.
Neighbour Nicole Rouillard was shocked to hear of the apparent murder-suicide of Rafal Zembowicz and his baby, Adam, in Anjou July 6, 2015.
Another sign of trouble was a police car parked in front of the family’s house, on Des Vendéens Ave., on Thursday.
Then the unthinkable happened on Sunday. A 10-month-old boy and his father are dead in what Montreal police believe is a murder-suicide.
The bodies of the baby and the 39-year-old man were found late Sunday in a shed at the back of the home in the northeastern part of the city.
Montreal police spokesperson Anie Lemieux said the baby’s death is considered the 14th homicide reported on the territory covered by the police force so far this year. She also said the father of the baby was recently separated from his wife. Court records reveal the couple filed for divorce on June 30.
Rouillard said she has a hard time believing Zembowicz, a man who was polite enough to approach her last year and apologize if any noise he made while renovating his family’s new home bothered her, would do something so drastic.
Zembowicz said he was in a rush to get the home ready by September last year, because he and his wife were expecting Adam’s arrival, Rouillard said Monday morning.
A neighbour who lives directly behind the house said the father was a polite man who asked if he could put up some cedar hedges along the property they shared.
“He worked so hard on renovating that house. It makes no sense at all,” said the woman who asked that her name not be published. “They put up a gazebo in the backyard and they never seemed to benefit from it.”
By all appearances, Zembowicz took his own life in a half-finished garden shed in the backyard of the home. A baby carriage could be seen next to the shed Monday morning.
A Facebook photo of Rafal Zembowicz.
Jacques Martin, a former neighbour and co-worker of Zembowicz, said that last month his friend of more than 15 years had been acting unusual. Martin said he called to ask him about a fence on a property Zembowicz and his wife owned in another part of Montreal. He left a message and was looking forward to talking to his friend.
He said the normally chatty Zembowicz sent him a terse text stating, “Why don’t you ask the co-owner?”
It was a cold way of referring to his wife and Martin said it was then he realized the couple were having problems.
The bodies were discovered after the boy’s mother contacted police. The father failed to return with the child as planned Sunday afternoon.
She was taken to hospital to be treated for nervous shock after officers conducting a search found the bodies.