Slain Manitoba family identified, remembered as ‘beautiful souls’

The five family members killed in Manitoba over the weekend are being remembered as “beautiful souls.”

An obituary has identified the victims as Amanda Clearwater and her children, Bethany, Jayven, and Isabella Manoakeesick. Clearwater’s 17-year-old niece Myah-Lee Gratton was also killed, in what Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew described as “a dark time” for the province.

The victims were found at three different crime scenes around southern Manitoba on Sunday.

Clearwater’s common-law partner Ryan Howard Manoakeesick, who was the father of the children — aged six, four, and two-and-a-half-months — is in custody facing five counts of first-degree murder.

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RCMP said Monday that all five victims lived together in Carman, Man., southwest of Winnipeg.

Family and friends have also been sharing stories of the family on social media, calling their deaths “tragic,” “unimaginable” and a “horrible nightmare.”

Police continue to investigate.

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— with files from The Canadian Press