Two murders leave police, family members asking questions

Peel Regional Police are still searching for a killer, while family members and friends of the victims are looking for answers, following two murders in Mississauga over three days.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the slaying of 19-year-old Brampton resident Luis Estrada-Lemmon, who was stabbed to death Saturday at around 2 a.m. near Kennedy's Adult Entertainment club on Kennedy Rd. in Mississauga.
But, Peel homicide detectives have yet to make an arrest in the killing of a 43-year-old man Monday night at a Malton rooming house.
The News has learned that Peel police are looking at the strip club stabbing as a potential revenge killing. Well-placed sources say that Estrada-Lemmon, a student at Sheridan College in Oakville, was charged last July 17 with sexual assault in connection with an incident involving a person known to the accused — 23-year-old Michael James Struc, of Brampton.
He is charged with first-degree murder in Estrada-Lemmon's death.
Eric Jacome, 24, also of Brampton, is charged with accessory to murder after the fact.  
Estrada-Lemmon was to appear in court on July 28 regarding the sexual assault charge.
Police won't officially confirm vengeance was a motive in his death.
"We will not be commenting on motive or relationship between any of the parties involved," said Const. Wayne Patterson.
However, a police source did indicate that investigators are pursuing the revenge angle as the motive.
Linda Lemmon, the victim's mother, said her son was "a big joker and lots of fun." She can't understand why someone would want to kill him.
"I don't know why it had to come to this, why someone has to be dead," she said.
Estrada-Lemmon enjoyed the theatre throughout his childhood and teen years. He performed in several productions, including Les Miserables, at the Brampton Heritage Theatre. The Cardinal Leger Secondary School graduate also had a knack for making people laugh, his mother said. He had appeared at Yuk Yuk's and at other comedy clubs.
"He lived a wonderful, fun-filled life," she said.
Lemmon wouldn't comment on the possibility he was killed by someone seeking revenge.
"Luis had many many female friends who ... who loved him dearly. They are sorrowed and in disbelief about his death," the grieving mother told The News.
The teen loved to travel and spent countless summers meeting his relatives in his father's native Peru.
College mate and long-time friend John Hui remembered Estrada-Lemmon as a giving person. In high school, he said, Estrada-Lemmon grew his hair "ridiculously long" only to shave his head later for a cancer fundraiser.  
Struc was remanded into custody and will appear in court tomorrow. Jarome appears in court on April 14.
Meanwhile, homicide detectives are trying to piece together details of the fight in Malton that led to the death of 43-year-old Keith Shortridge.
Monday at around 7:15 p.m., officers were called to the building on Shallford Rd., where they found Shortridge, reportedly suffering from stab wounds.
He was taken to hospital, where he died a short time later.
An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.
For more than 12 hours, police cordoned off the street as a forensic team arrived to gather evidence in the basement apartment of a semi-detached brick home they described as a rooming house. Police say Shortridge lived in the rooming house.
A friend of Shortridge who wanted to be identified only as Charles said the incident occurred during a game of basketball outside the home.
The deaths were Mississauga's fifth and sixth murders of 2008. There were 10 murders all of last year.
lrosella@mississauga.net