Police say the deaths of a 45-year-old woman and 42-year-old man inside a Springhill, N.S., home on Tuesday was the result of a homicide-suicide.
The RCMP said their bodies were recovered from the small house following a suspicious fire at the residence.
Police say the woman was the victim of the homicide.
Officers have not identified the victims, but family and friends have identified them as Marc J. Poulin and Jennifer Lynne Semenec, both from North Bay, Ont.
Poulin's 20-year-old son, Kyle, says his father was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder before the tragedy happened.
“It's important to me and my family to take an opportunity to inspire whoever is out there suffering of PTSD to get the help that they need, and to take whatever steps they need to take so that something like this doesn't ever happen to the sufferer or their family,” says Kyle Poulin.
The Canadian Armed Forces confirm that Marc Poulin was a master corporal who served from 1999 until 2013, when he was released. He did three tours of duty in Afghanistan, including two in Kandahar.
Poulin’s cousin Shane MacDonald is remembering him as a hero, and the type of person to always put others first.
“A treatment plan was put into place in 2013 for him, and that it's something that he's been struggling with ever since,” MacDonald says.
“Mental illness wears so many masks that when he was with us you wouldn't even know he was suffering.”
Poulin’s son wants him to be remembered as the father and husband he was, not for how he died.
“As hard as it is to suffer from PTSD, it also becomes hard on the family,” he says. “(PTSD) was never something he wanted to bother us with or deal with. It’s a hard thing to talk about because it’s not a mainstream topic.”
Poulin says his family’s hearts go out to Semenec’s family.
“We only offer out support and want them to know that we love them, too.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchieand CTV’s Brittany Bortolon.
