Judith Pamela Brennan was charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Robert Vides inside a Presland Road apartment on Feb. 19 at 4:45 a.m.
Intimate partner violence was a factor in the stabbing death of Robert Vides on Feb. 19 in Overbrook, Ottawa’s police chief said Monday, though he did not confirm whether police had previously visited the address on behalf of the victim or the accused.
Judith Pamela Brennan was charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Vides, 36, inside a Presland Road apartment on Feb. 19 at 4:45 a.m.
Brennan, 45, appeared in court Feb. 21 and was remanded into custody at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre until her next court appearance.
In court, the Crown read into the record that Brennan stood accused of stabbing her boyfriend.
“In terms of that (homicide) being an intimate partner violence incident, I can confirm that it was,” Chief Eric Stubbs said Monday. “That is something we are actively investigating.”
Ottawa police released the first notice of the suspicious death and the subsequent murder charge on Feb. 21, two days after the incident.
During a media availability on Feb. 24, Stubbs said police generally have a multitude of reasons —including “strategic” reasons — for delaying the release of information to the public.
“There were steps the investigators wanted to take until they were comfortable with what occurred (Feb. 19) and then proceeding with the communication strategy after that … that process is generally very deliberate by the investigative team on our communications strategy,” Stubbs said.
“In general, with any sudden death that we go to … we treat every death as suspicious until we can determine whether it is or whether it isn’t.
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“There are some scenes that are very obvious and it’s very clear that it’s a homicide. There are others where it’s not so obvious. And even when it is obvious, in generalities, there may be strategic reasons why we aren’t alerting the public,” Stubbs said.
“It could be because we don’t yet have somebody arrested, we could be watching them, we could be not wanting them to know that they’re a suspect. There’s a multitude of reasons, strategically, during the investigation that the team commander wants to communicate with the public or not. And that’s all, obviously, for the success of the investigation.”
A person who knows the woman accused of killing Vides said the relationship with Brennan was fairly new and quickly turned sour when the pair moved in together.
The person, who requested anonymity to protect their personal privacy due to the sensitive nature of the charges, described Vides as “abusive” and said Brennan had called Ottawa police several times.
The person said that Brennan and Vides met around Christmas while living separately at 550 Wilbrod St., an attractive residence next to the Rideau River in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood.
Brennan, who was known as Pam, and Vides recently moved in together to another pay-as-you-go apartment on Presland Road in the Overbrook neighbourhood on the other side of the Rideau River from the Wilbrod building.
When asked to confirm whether Ottawa police had intervened or interacted with the couple prior to the homicide, Stubbs said he was “hesitant” to reveal any more details of the active investigation.
Ottawa police said they are unable to provide additional details as the case is now before the courts.
Brennan was represented in court Friday by Cassandra Richards, who declined to comment on the case when reached Saturday.
Brennan’s next court appearance is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28. In the meantime, by court order, she is prohibited from communicating with several potential witnesses.
The homicide is Ottawa’s fourth to date in 2025.
— With files from Lynn Saxberg
