Accused Murderer Robert Reitmeier Also Before the Court on Sexual Assault

We would first like to echo the "Sun" in asking our readers to please consider making a donation to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of Canada in memory of Mark Mariani.

Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
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Pair nabbed in murder

Nadia Moharib, Calgary Sun
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 12:09:06 MDT AM

Up until a few days ago, Mark Mariani’s sister could still grasp onto the hope that it was all a misunderstanding.

But Tuesday, when police met with their family to tell them two men were arrested in the 47-year-old’s killing — and since charged with second-degree murder — it made denying the reality of his death nearly impossible.

“Every time the phone rings you hope it’s police to tell you it’s just a joke, it’s all just so unbelievable,” Kathy Mariani said a day later while still digesting the news.

“It still doesn’t bring my brother back.”

Robert David Reitmeier, 24, and Tyler William Sturrup, 26, — no strangers to police and skinheads said to be part of a white supremacist subculture in Calgary — are charged in the random killing.

The pair, said to be leaders in a white supremacist group, are well-known to police.

Weeks after Mariani’s killing near North Hill Mall on 16 Ave. N.W., homicide detectives had them on the radar as suspects.

It would take until this week to gather evidence to charge them with second-degree murder in the 47-year-old’s death.

Before they were charged, Reitmeier — who is before the courts accused in a 2009 sex assault and forcible confinement — was arrested in March for breaches downtown just as a white-pride rally unfolded.

Both he and Sturrup — who have their images flashed on Internet sites about white supremacists, some with the pair arm-in-arm — are allegedly leaders of the WEB.

The WEB is the Western European Bloodline, a group established after the Aryan Guard disbanded.

Despite a lengthy investigation and two arrests, homicide Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus said it appears to be a random act of violence, saying there is no belief any affiliations the pair might have with white-pride groups played a role in the murder.

“There was no indications he knew these individuals or did something to give (them) a motive to attack him,” Andrus said, adding robbery has been ruled out as a motive.

“It could have happened to anyone in the community who could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Mariani’s mother, Arlene, said the arrests, at the very least, begin the process of holding someone accountable, but nothing can bring her boy back.

“I really don’t care why they did it, it’s wrong,” she said.

“(It) takes two rotten people off the streets ... so they don’t do it to anybody else.

In Mariani’s memory, family and friends recently raised about $3,000 at a fundraiser for Crohn’s disease.

Several years ago, Robert David Reitmeier praised police for catching the culprit who shot him and left a Brazilian student blind.

This week, the 24-year-old and Tyler Sturrup, 26, were accused of being the culprits in the murder of an innocent man.

In 2008, Reitmeier was recovering from a near-deadly shooting when he spoke with the Sun at his Bridgeland home about the attack by a man later convicted shooting, and blinding an innocent international student.

“It’s just unfortunate they didn’t get him before ... I give my best wishes to the other guy that got shot,” he said at the time, offering condolences to Jose Neto.

Not long ago, Sturrup was also targeted in an attempted firebombing near an apartment where he was staying

Charges were later dropped against the purported neo-Nazi originally accused of trying to murder an ex-girlfriend who was dating Sturrup.

We also understand that the police are also looking for at least one other suspect. We have our suspicions, but best not speculate until we have something concrete and when we know that publishing such information will not put an investigation in jeopardy.