Mary May

1957 - 2013  (56 years)

• Name	Mary May
  Born	1957  [1]
  Gender	Female
  Interesting	murder, misfortune
  Misfortune	2013	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  	murdered by Kevin Koehler
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-79766
  Died	Sep 2013	Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I79766	Generations
  Last Modified	10 Jul 2025

  
  

• Notes

  KITCHENER A man who choked his "vulnerable" Kitchener roommate to death during an argument fuelled by booze was sentenced Monday to the equivalent of 12 years in prison for manslaughter. Kevin Koehler, 50, was charged with second-degree murder in the September 2013 death of Mary May, 55, but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter because there was no intent to kill. "I was just going in to scare her," he told Kitchener court in a brief apology. Koehler and May shared a two-bedroom apartment on Margaret Avenue in a small building well-known to police for problems including drugs and prostitution. May, who was against drug use and didn't have a criminal record, lived there out of financial necessity while on disability benefits and working occasionally as a cleaner. Koehler, who has long-standing drug and alcohol problems to go along with a violent criminal record, had moved into her apartment to help with the rent about six months earlier. Prior to that, he lived in a basement storage room after hitting what his lawyer described as "rock bottom" while unemployed, drinking daily and using drugs including crystal methamphetamine. Despite their opposite lifestyles, Crown prosecutor Jane Young said Koehler and May, who was described as intellectually slow, initially got along well. Conflict began, however, after Koehler's girlfriend, a woman with both substance and mental health issues, moved in with him over May's objections. Violent and erratic when drunk or high, the girlfriend often paced uncontrollably, talked incessantly, had imaginary friends and was prone to profane outbursts. May had made numerous attempts to get the woman out of the apartment, repeatedly complaining to her landlord, the police and former city councillor Daniel Glenn-Graham. The running dispute came to a head the night of Sept. 18 when Koehler broke down the 103-pound woman's bedroom door, apparently beat her and choked her to death.... Waterloo Region Record 2 Mar 2014

  
  

• Sources

  [S602] News - ON, Waterloo, Kitchener - The Waterloo Region Record (March 2008- ), Kitchener man guilty in choking death of female roommate - 2 Mar 2014.

  
  

• Event Map

  Misfortune - murdered by Kevin Koehler - 2013 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Died - Sep 2013 - Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth