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Before his arrest, Basil Borutski lived in unit 204 of the Raglan Meadowvale Apartments, a two-storey public housing project in tiny Palmer Rapids.

Today, of course, neighbours are parsing his past.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Basil Borutski borrowed a friend's car, left $100 for gas, and allegedly went on a murderous rampage Back to video

On Monday evening, Shirl Roesler, 55, distinctly remembers Borutski saying a most striking thing, while complaining about a newly failed relationship with Carol Culleton.

“All he said was, ‘Karma’s gonna get her,’ ” said Roesler, as an OPP detective stood nearby, gun on his hip.

Struggling with a Rottweiler pup named Saphire, Roesler elaborated on Borutski’s memorable reference to his so-called “girlfriend,” the woman by the lake.

“Are you married?” she asked an interviewer. “How would you like to find out your wife was playing around with a couple of other guys?”

It wasn’t until the next day that she had any inkling what the words could possibly mean.

Borutski appeared in court Wednesday, accused in the homicides of three women — Culleton, Nathalie Warmerdam and Anastasia Kuzyk — one of the most chilling crimes ever to strike the Ottawa Valley.