Matthew Brown had planned to rest up Friday night after dinner at his brother?s house in preparation for a weekend of snowboarding at Sunshine Village in Banff with his family.
But after a friend invited the 30-year-old father out for drinks, he accepted, and made plans for his girlfriend to pick him up when the night was over.
Finding nobody at the address he gave, she drove back to their Taradale home to discover police and ambulances at the scene and Brown in the basement suffering from stab wounds.
He was rushed to hospital but could not be saved.
Investigators are now trying to determine where Brown was and who he was with in the hours leading up to the stabbing, the city?s first homicide of the year. Police say the attack was not random. Brown was not known to police.
Family and friends refuted neighbours? claims that Brown was a ?crazy party guy? whose home attracted police attention, remembering him as a jokester, an avid outdoorsman and proud father who doted on his seven-month-old daughter, Alexza.
?He was the biggest guy but he had the biggest heart,? his sister-in-law, Erin Williamson, said tearfully. ?He had a baby, he was a brother, a father, a friend, an uncle. Why would somebody take him from us??
Officers were called to Brown?s home in the 0 to 100 block of Taradale Close N.E. at around 6 a.m., responding to reports of a man in medical distress, and found Brown in the home.
Staff Sgt. Grant Miller of the homicide unit said Brown had been out at several bars and other people?s homes throughout the night with a group of people, and was back at home hosting a small party when he was stabbed.
He said police have interviewed some people who were with him and they have been ?co-operative.? But he urged others who were present that night to come forward.
No suspects have been identified at this time.
Brown?s girlfriend, Jennifer Harker, said she?s ?a mess? over losing Brown, adding she?s focusing on happy moments to get through the sorrow.
Originally from Ontario, Brown moved to Calgary four years ago and found work as a roofer and scaffolder, including construction of the Bow building.
Harker said she met Brown two years ago at a convenience store and the pair hit it off immediately. While he liked to joke around, he was serious about being a good father to Alexza.
?She started saying ?Dada? recently, and he was so proud,? Harker added.
He also adored his pit bull, Shyla, who recently gave birth to five puppies.
In his downtime, he enjoyed camping, dirtbiking and snowboarding, an activity he liked to do with his nephew.
?They always went snowboarding together ... they were really close,? Williamson said, adding she got a kick out of seeing their snowboards sticking side by side in the snow, one towering over the other.
She said it breaks her heart that Alexza will never know her father.
Phil MacDonald, who grew up with Brown and flew in from Ontario to help the family, said he has trouble finding words to explain how torn up he is over losing one of his best friends.
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