A violent domestic dispute in Courtenay has left one man dead — reportedly stabbed to death — and his partner is in police custody facing a murder charge.

The man, 54-year-old Allan Charles Whitequill, was found in his trailer at Maple Pool Campsite around 11 p.m. Sunday, according to Comox Valley RCMP and later died in hospital.

Campsite owner Jin Lin, who lives about 10 metres from Whitequill’s trailer, said she didn’t hear anything suspicious that night. But minutes after she closed the trailer park gates at 11 p.m., police cars came blaring down Headquarters Road.

Officers entered the trailer and the next thing Lin saw was paramedics loading Whitequill into an ambulance. RCMP officers took a 40-year-old woman, believed to be Whitequill’s girlfriend, into custody and said they are recommending murder charges. The woman is expected to appear in court Tuesday.

Police said Whitequill was able to talk to investigators from his hospital bed at St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Comox before he died.

The trailer was surrounded by police tape Monday as forensic investigators gathered evidence until late afternoon. It is unclear whether police recovered a weapon.

Lin said Whitequill and his girlfriend, Laura Pierre, moved to the trailer park about six months ago, both coming from Vancouver. One resident said they had lived previously in the Downtown Eastside.

They were brought to the trailer park by representatives of the Wachiay Friendship Centre, a First Nations support group.

Lin described Whitequill as “a big guy” standing over six feet tall, with a medium build. Pierre is about five feet tall and weighs about 130 pounds, Lin said.

Neither of them had jobs, Lin said. She said the couple drank often and, during the beginning of their tenancy, she had to warn them to keep quiet at night.

Despite this, she often saw them walking together and holding hands.

“Allan told me he loved Laura so much,” Lin said, adding that she wasn’t aware of any previous physical violence.

“Allan, he never ever hit a woman in his life. Both of them, they are harmless people, so it’s very surprising.”

One resident reported seeing the couple walking back from the liquor store that night around 8 p.m. The resident then heard yelling outside their trailer shortly before 11 p.m.

Whitequill comes from a family of 14 brothers and sisters and grew up in Regina. His sister said his body will be flown to Vancouver for an autopsy and, following that, likely brought back to Regina for a funeral.

While living in Regina in 1997, Whitequill was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Emma Littletent, who was found strangled in her Regina home.

Whitequill was released on bail and fled to Mexico. Police arrested him there in 1999 and he pleaded guilty to murder. He spent several years in prison in Regina.

His death is the first homicide in Courtenay this year.

kderosa@tc.canwest.com