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Every morning, 77-year-old Mario Bilich would visit his wife’s grave before stopping by a social club to play Italian cards and have an espresso with his friends.
It was his regular morning routine, something he had done ever since his wife died from cancer in 2022, his heartbroken family told The Toronto Star, after one day the beloved retired teacher was stabbed to death in broad daylight in the parking lot outside the social club.
Bilich was the third victim in a horrifying killing spree across southern Ontario earlier this month, allegedly at the hands of a woman who authorities in Canada are calling a suspected serial killer.
Sabrina Kauldhar, 30, was arrested and has been charged with the first-degree murder of Bilich.
She has also been charged with second-degree murder in the killings of Lance Cunningham, 47, in Niagara Falls, and Trinh Thi Vu, a woman believed to be in her 60s, The Toronto Sun reported.
The slayings began on October 1 when Toronto police responded to a basement apartment to find the body of a woman with signs of “physical trauma.”
The next day, police responded to John Allan Park in Niagara Falls to find that 47-year-old Lance Cunningham, a loving father and chef, had been stabbed in an attack while walking his dogs. He died at the scene.
On October 3, around 12.26pm, Bilich was found stabbed in a parking lot, according to Hamilton police. Hamilton is just outside Toronto. He was transported to a hospital where he died of his injuries.
The same day, Kauldhar was arrested after police said they tied her to the slayings of three people over three days in Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls.
The Niagara Regional Police Service alleged that only the Toronto victim was known to Kauldhar while Cunningham and Bilich were “randomly targeted.”
Niagara Regional Police Chief Bill Fordy said detectives are working with law enforcement across the province to determine if there may be other victims.
“I think by definition she is a serial killer,” Fordy told reporters when asked about labeling her as a serial killer.
“Two or more offenses, so by definition, I think that’s a fair comment.”
He added that detectives are also trying to identify a woman who was seen on surveillance footage buying clothing at a Giant Tiger store in Burlington that Kauldhar had in her possession when she was arrested.
The slayings have rocked communities across southern Ontario as investigators work to find a motive for this rare type of alleged murderer: a woman on a seemingly random killing spree.
The victims
In a heartbreaking post on Facebook, Mario Bilich’s daughter Antonella Greco wrote that their family is reeling from the tragic news of his senseless stabbing.
“We are at a loss for words,” she wrote.
Greco didn’t know if her father, who she described as a devoted husband, father and “nonno,” a poet, a “walking encyclopedia” and a “ridiculously generous” person, had a chance to visit his wife’s grave on the day he was killed.
She explained that her father wanted to be sent “home” to be with his beloved, and now has been, though “certainly not in the way we would have intended or even imagined,” she wrote.
“He was taken from us far too quickly, far too abruptly, far too violently.”
Lance Cunningham, 47, a chef at the Fallsview Casino, was walking his dogs just before 3pm on October 2 at John Allan Park before he was due to pick up his daughter Piper from school.
He never made it.
The “fun-loving” dad who was a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, loved hiking and spending time with his wife Kim and daughter, was stabbed to death in the brutal, random attack.
According to his obituary, Cunningham worked as a chef at Niagara Fallsview Casino for over 15 years and enjoyed fishing, hiking and road trips with his daughter and their dogs.
A GoFundMe was created to help his family pay for funeral expenses.
“Lance touched the lives of many as he lived and worked in our community, volunteered at school functions and was an all around kind-hearted baseball dad and Steelers fan,” his friend wrote.
“A senseless death that has stunned the whole community. Let’s show our support to his wife and daughter at this painful time.”
A woman, who court records identify as Trinh Thi Vu, according to The Toronto Sun, is believed to be the first victim in the killing spree.
Toronto Police said that on October 1, shortly after 2 pm, officers responded to a call to the woman’s home on Keele Street.
She is believed to be in her 60s, but police have not yet released age or further information about her.
The woman is believed to be the only victim out of the three who Kauldhar knew.
Who is the suspected killer Sabrina Kauldhar?
Kauldhar, dressed in a bright green sweatsuit with her hair wrapped in a black durag, faced Justice of the Peace Jennifer Veenboer on a Zoom call from the Vanier Centre for Women in Ontario.
Her attorney Sherif Foda told the judge they have “fitness concerns” and asked for a delay in the proceedings in order for Kauldhar to undergo a mental health assessment.
Kauldhar was swaying on the Zoom video as she was told to appear next in person on October 17 at the Toronto courthouse.
The daughter of two dentists, Kauldhar had once been a happy and intelligent student, an unidentified high school friend told The Toronto Sun.
“She was a straight-A student and very active in sports, played high-level hockey and did figure skating when she was young,” the friend said, adding that Kauldhar struggled after her mom died suddenly in 2020 at the age of 54.
The classmate added: “About all I can really say since it’s been forever but [she] was only ever a happy, fun person with a good head on her shoulders and all the resources she could ask for to have been crazy successful, but clearly went down a bad path.”
