Missing half-hour before homicide baffles police

After scouring hours of footage from traffic and security cameras, and combing through OpinyP'ochieng'scell phone, police are no closer to catching the Ottawa man's killer.

P'ochieng was last seen buying a pack of cigarettes at a Montreal Road Ultramar around 3 a.m. on May 5. His body was discovered 30 minutes later and six kilometres away at the side of Russell Road. He'd been shot to death.

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Investigators are trying to account for that missing half-hour.

"It's very baffling," saidStaff Sgt. Bruce Pirtof the major crime unit. "Usually we're able to track people through their cell phones, security cameras or traffic cameras, and this is strange that he disappeared from one spot and appeared in another spot."

Holding out hope

Detectives believe the 49-year-old was driven to thespot in the city's Sheffield Glen neighbourhood, killed and left in a pool of blood.

They're holding out hope that someone saw him getinto a vehicle near the gas station in Vanierand can describe the car and driver.

"It'stoo far to have walked and the publictransportationwasn'tavailableat [that time],so someone picked him up and drove him to that area. So we're trying to figure out who picked him up, for what reason he was picked up and why that area," Pirtsaid.

Detectives have pored over traffic camera footage fromSt. Laurent Boulevard and Montreal Roadto Russell Road, but have come up empty.

Before going to buy cigarettesP'ochiengwas seen atFinnigan'sPub and D.J.NelsPlus restaurant inVanier, police said.

Struggling to pay funeral costs

As police puzzle over thecase, the victim's friends are struggling to organizeafuneral. P'ochienghad nofamily in Ottawa,so his roommate, EidiAyueil, has taken on the responsibility of burying him.

"He's a very peaceful man. That'swhat'shurt me, the way he died violently. He doesn'tdeservethat," said Ayueil, who hadknown P'ochiengsince the early 1990s."I think it's the least I can do for him as a friend,is to give him a dignified burial."

But Ayueil, an unemployedstudent, is struggling to handle the funeral costs. P'ochienghad neitherlife insurance nordeath benefits through work, he said.

A generous spirit

P'ochiengcame to Canada in 1993 as a refugeeafter fleeing war in South Sudan. The third-oldest of six children, he enrolledat Carleton University.Prior to his death heworked as a janitor for Bee-Clean Building Maintenance, mopping floors late into the night atDepartment of National Defence headquarters in downtown Ottawa.

Despite his modest income,P'ochieng was known for his generous spirit. Acousin living in Calgary, Nora Agot,said she received regular texts from P'ochiengand spoke with him two weeks before his death.

Agot, a single mother, said her cousin never failed to show his affection for her and her children.

"He always checks on us. He asked me about my son and I told him he was graduating, and [P'ocheing]sent him $300."

Agot said she can't afford to flyto Ottawa for a funeral, but ishelping Ayueilraise money for her cousin's burial. Family and friends hope to have enough money to hold a service this weekend.