Second Murder Charge For Niagara Falls Man
Posted June 5, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He’s already accused in the death of an exotic dancer and now a Niagara Falls man faces a second murder charge.
On Monday, Michael Durant was charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of 28-year-old Diane Dimitri, whose body was discovered in a Welland ditch in August of 2003.
Dimitri is one of five women – all of them prostitutes and/or strippers – found dead in the Niagara region since 1996.
Cops won’t say if D.N.A. helped them amass enough evidence to lay the charge.
“I think that might be getting into a little too much detail with regards to the investigation,” cautions Niagara Regional Deputy Chief Donna Moody.
Earlier in the year Durant, 33, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Cassey Cichocki. Her body was found in January wrapped in a blanket near the Niagara Gorge. That charge has since been upgraded to first-degree murder.
Niagara Police launched a task force earlier in the year to determine whether the deaths of Cichocki, Dimitri and three other women – Dawn Stewart, 32, Nadine Gurczenski, 26, and Margaret Jugaru, 26 – were related.
Moody admits investigators are still looking into a possible connection between all five slayings. But at this point, Durant doesn’t face charges in connection with the other deaths.
Kyri Kyriacou, Dimitri’s father, asked for respect from the media when talking about his daughter and said he was hopeful her killer would be brought to justice.
“For the past three years we’ve had no idea why, no questions answered, and now we have a possibility,” he said.
“It’s going to be a long struggle. Closure is the important thing.”
He knows his daughter’s profession may raise eyebrows but he contends those who knew her were aware she was anything but that stereotype.
“My daughter, she would have been 32 years old in September, the year that she was murdered. Very loving mother, very caring about the children.”
Durant will make a court appearance in St. Catharines on June 16th to answer the new first-degree murder charge.
