Rene Di Stefano, known to many of his friends as “Rambler,” was a 64-year-old father and grandfather living in Swan River, Manitoba. His daughters, Darlyn Hunt and Jenni Sandilands, remember him as a loving presence in their children's lives. His death left a void in their family, particularly as they faced their first holiday season without him. The family found some peace in the belief that he was reunited with their mother, who had passed away when the siblings were young. Di Stefano was battling cancer and had been prescribed fentanyl to manage the severe pain associated with his illness.
In the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, August 8, 2015, a fire broke out in the Starlite Trailer Court in Swan River. Police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene and worked to extinguish the blaze that had engulfed Rene Di Stefano’s mobile home.
Once the fire was out, first responders made a grim discovery inside the burned-out structure: the body of Rene Di Stefano.
The circumstances immediately struck investigators as suspicious. Following an examination of the scene and an autopsy, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officially ruled the fire an arson and Di Stefano’s death a homicide. The investigation was undertaken by the Swan River RCMP Detachment and the RCMP Major Crimes Services, under file number 2015-999016. While police have not publicly commented on a potential motive, Di Stefano's daughters believe they know why their father was killed.
Darlyn and Jenni are convinced the perpetrator or perpetrators were after their father's prescription fentanyl, a powerful opioid. "I with my whole heart believe that is exactly what this whole thing was over," Darlyn told a reporter. "Somebody wanted that and somebody took it." The family’s belief highlights a tragic intersection of the opioid crisis and violent crime. "Not only are people dying from using it but to me people are dying from having it," Hunt said. The thought that their father was taken for such a reason was devastating. "Just knowing that someone took him from us over an extremely stupid reason I think," Sandilands said. "They took somebody that we loved and they didn't care."
In the months following the murder, the family pleaded for anyone with information to come forward to the police. They spoke of the unnerving feeling of knowing that the people responsible were still at large in the community. "It makes me worry a bit for the community just knowing that there's those people still out there that could possibly do something like that again," Hunt stated. The violent nature of their father's death left a lasting trauma. "This affected our family in ways that we never imagined it would and with the fire it made it so much worse," she explained.
The family has struggled to find peace while the case remains unsolved. "When it's not solved it's feels like it's forever there," Hunt said in late 2015. "We can't completely lay him to rest in our hearts." The daughters expressed confidence that investigators were working diligently and would eventually make an arrest, noting that major crimes detectives had returned to Swan River several times since the homicide.
As of December 2015, the RCMP confirmed the investigation remained active, though no arrests had been made. The case of Rene “Rambler” Di Stefano continues to be featured on Manitoba Crime Stoppers’ list of unsolved homicides. Investigators are still seeking assistance from the public to solve this crime and bring a measure of closure to his grieving family.
