MOTHER OF TWO A 'TROUBLED' ADDICT

Woman Often 'Roughed Up,' Neighbour Says

Neighbours knew Pamela Kosmack as a "troubled" young woman, addicted
to drugs and HIV-positive, who would ring their doorbells at all hours
of the night and routinely beg for money.

But none believed that she deserved her cruel fate: beaten and left
dead on a Britannia bike path, naked from the waist down.

As police stood guard outside her third floor apartment on New Orchard
Avenue, neighbours said they always worried the 39-year-old mother of
two, who frequently suffered from unexplained injuries, might fall
victim to a tragic end.

"It doesn't really surprise me all that much," said neighbour Pierre
Rheaume, 52, who would often ask his neighbour what happened when she
sported a new injury.

Each time, the answer would be the same: "Never mind."

"She had been roughed up quite a few times," said Mr.
Rheaume.

"She was all marked up, black eye, swollen lips. She had been punched
in the face a couple of times."

Mr. Rheaume said he remembered one incident in which he saw four or
five young men waiting in the lobby. Ms. Kosmack -- who was a crack
cocaine and OxyContin addict -- later told him the men had been
waiting for her.

"I had never seen them before and they looked pretty mean," he said.
"She said, 'yeah, they trashed my place'."

Ms. Kosmack was discovered by a woman walking her dog at about 6:15
a.m. in a wooded area only steps from a bike path near the corner of
Britannia Road and Howe Street.

She is the city's fourth homicide this year.

Police said there are indications her homicide may be sexually
motivated, although they said they are awaiting the results of an
autopsy scheduled for today in Toronto.

It's not believed Ms. Kosmack, who had also suffered obvious head
injuries, had been dead for long. Police also don't know if she was
killed in the wooded area, a little more than two kilometres west of
her apartment, or just dumped there.

People who live in the area said it is a popular spot for pedestrians
and dog-walkers during most hours of the day.

One man, Vladimir Solovyev, said he heard noises near the bushes
between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. yesterday morning.

"I heard a loud, strong voice -- I think it was male -- a very angry
voice," he said.

The coroner arrived on scene in the early afternoon, and Ms. Kosmack's
body was removed from the scene shortly after 4:15 p.m.

As of the early evening, Ottawa police had begun "a
shoulder-to-shoulder search of the area," Insp. John Maxwell said.

The hope was to cover as much area as possible while there was still
daylight, he said.

Police said it was also too early to determine if it was a random act
of violence, although they remained confident they would solve the
crime. It's believed that police have no suspects.

Ottawa police Chief Vern White said police are "throwing every
resource we have at it.

"If you look at the pyramid of crime, this is always the worst
offence, at the very tip of the pyramid," he said, adding police have
no evidence to suggest it is related to any other crimes.

"We have not drawn any direct links to any other complaints we've had,
but this is early in this type of investigation," he said. "We have
someone dead. The public should be concerned. They should be aware of
their environment."

Yesterday, police sources revealed officers had frequently visited Ms.
Kosmack's apartment over the past several years for domestic violence
incidents.

Mr. Rheaume said Ms. Kosmack had at one time lived with a boyfriend
"on and off" over the last few years.

Mr. Rheaume said he last saw the boyfriend a few days ago. He last saw
Ms. Kosmack on June 2, getting out of a taxi carrying a LCBO bag.

Other neighbours said she had lost a lot of weight in the past year
and a half, apparently as a result of her drug addiction.

She could be quite friendly when her life was going well, said one
neighbour. Another described her as "quite intelligent."

Ms. Kosmack had two teenage children who didn't live with her and
spent a lot of time with her mother, neighbours said.

She lived in one of three apartments in the Ottawa Community Housing
building that were managed by the Salvation Army's Booth Centre,
according to neighbours.

Her behaviour frustrated her neighbours, who became used to being
woken up at all hours of the night when she wanted to be let into the
building. She would also ask for money.

"She would come here and say 'give me money to go see my daughter' or
some story (that) she wanted five bucks. It was two or three times a
week," said Mr. Rheaume. "She wouldn't take no for an answer."

Yesterday, detectives canvassed her apartment building, asking
neighbours questions about Ms. Kosmack and her lifestyle, but never
told them what had happened to her.

The discovery was eerily similar to that of a 30-year-old woman who
was found naked and badly beaten by a man walking his dog in
Carlington Park last month.

The woman, who was beaten to the point where her mother had trouble
recognizing her, left hospital about a week after she was found and
has since been seen in the area of the attack.

Her mother spent part of yesterday morning trying to track down the
woman after a family member told her of the discovery.

The woman -- who has mental health issues and had fallen into drug use
and prostitution -- was found to be okay, but her mother was left with
questions.

"Is it the same person, is it a coincidence?" the woman's mother asked
during an interview yesterday. There is no indication that the
incidents are connected, nor have police publicly established any link
between the discovery of the body and at least six sexual assaults or
attempted sexual assaults reported to police in which a woman has
allegedly been accosted by an unknown attacker in the past month.

The women were sexually assaulted in four of the incidents.

At a local community meeting last night in the city's west side,
residents expressed concerns about the safety of young girls and women
to police.

"That's a lonely, lonely stretch that no one covers," said Kay
Rawlings, a resident of Bay Ward, about the area where the woman was
found.

"I am amazed there hasn't been more trouble."

Police were at the meeting to brief residents on the incident and
answer any questions.

Police Insp. Jill Skinner said police have increased their officers in
the area and "are trying to give a real presence."

Area resident Nancy McCoy said she couldn't believe the body was found
"so close to home."

"Seeing the blue tarp makes me physically ill," she said yesterday
afternoon.

Ms. McCoy said the incident had shaken her confidence in the
neighbourhood.