Ottawa man charged in city’s second femicide of the year
Posted Apr 6, 2025 12:52:30 PM.
Last Updated Apr 7, 2025 10:42:25 AM.
Robert Rus, a 61-year-old man, has been charged in the city’s second femicide this year, according to Ottawa police.
OPS responded to a home on Bentbrook Crescent in Barrhaven on Saturday evening. Inside the home, police found 61-year-old Brenda Rus deceased.
Robert Rus appeared in court Sunday morning, facing charges of first-degree murder.
OPS defines femicide as “the intentional killing of women and girls, 2 Spirit, trans women and gender non-conforming individuals because of their gender, overwhelmingly committed by men.” Femicide can take the form of the killing of a woman as a result of intimate partner violence.
The second femicide this year
The murder of Brenda Rus is the second reported femicide of the year for Ottawa, just days after the first on April 1.
In this incident, police were called, shortly before 5 p.m., to a home on Henry Street in Lowertown. Fifty-one-year-old Renee Descary was found dead at the scene.
Oliver Denia, 24, of Ottawa, was charged with second-degree murder.
