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The man suspected of murdering three women in the Ottawa Valley is a former millwright whose life seems to have spiralled out of control during the past five years.

Basil Joseph Borutski, 57, has been identified as the man who allegedly shot dead three women in the area around Wilno, a small town about 180 kilometres west of Ottawa.

Borutski was recently released from jail after being sentenced to 19 months for assault, theft and a firearms offence.

He has a troubled history with police: Court documents reveal that he believed that he was the victim of a longstanding harassment campaign by the Ontario Provincial Police.

“People stay away from trouble — so he was someone who was losing friends,” said Janice Visneskie Moore, mayor of the Township of Killaloe, Hagarty and Richards.

Moore grew up with Basil Borutski near Round Lake, where she knew the Borutskis as a large, hardworking family. He was a normal kid, she said, but later had “lots of tragedy” in his life.