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Funeral service held for Ajax woman, 2 teens killed

A funeral service was held in Toronto on Saturday for three people killed in Ajax last week.

Some family and friends were seen entering the church, wearing black, while others, in hockey jerseys, remembering the victims.

Krassimira Pejcinovski, 39, and her son Roy Pejcinovski, 15, were found dead inside their home in Ajax on March 15. Her daughter Venallia, 13, was taken to a trauma centre but died of injuries later that evening.

"It's been hard," Mark Cohen, a parent of a student who knew and played hockey with Roy, said Saturday. "All the support is unbelievable. It's good to see the hearts that everybody has."

Cohen's son Brandon was a friend of Roy's and played hockey with him. "He was always so respectful and nice. A guy that everyone liked," Brandon Cohen said.

NHL player among mourners

Roy played for the Toronto Hockey League's Don Mills Flyers, and the team's president told CBC Toronto last week that Roy would have been eligible and a high pick for the OHL draft next year.

The team also described Roy as "an outstanding goalie, teammate, and above all person," in a tweet and held a friendly game in his honour on Sunday.

NHL player Paul Coffey, who knows Roy's father, was among the mourners Saturday.

"Everybody is mourning. It was a real tragedy. It doesn't make sense," he said. "It almost makes you angry, but we're here to pay our respects."

Neighbour and family friend Pat Jordan, described Venallia as "a heartfelt soul," when he learned of her death.

"She was happy, she was active, interactive with everybody," he added.

Her mother, he said, was a "great parent" who once looked after his daughters when he and his wife went on a weekend getaway.

Former boyfriend charged with murder

A police autopsy said two of the three family members killed last week died by "sharp force trauma." The third victim was asphyxiated.

Cory Fenn, 29, of Ajax, who had been in a relationship with Krassimira, has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder.

Fenn, meanwhile, appeared in court with facial injuries on the same day as the deaths occurred. It was determined that the injuries did not meet the threshold for an investigation by the province's police watchdog.

Fenn was not the father of either of the two teens killed. He did reside in the home with Krassimira for a time.

CBC News has confirmed that, in 2011, Fenn was found guilty of mischief under $5,000, and in 2009, he was found guilty of assaulting a police officer. In both cases, he was sentenced to 12 months' probation.

Homicide investigators are asking anyone who may have potentially valuable information to contact police or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers.

Memorial fund set up in tribute

Vas Pejcinovski, the biological father of the teens killed, and his other teenage daughter, who was not home at the time of the attacks, are setting up a memorial fund to honour their three family members who were killed last week.

Pejcinovski said the fund will be set up as a lasting tribute to his former wife, son and daughter.​

He said he and his one surviving daughter want to honour their family members' qualities of "compassion, kindness and charity."

Their hearts are broken, but he said they have received an outpouring of community support and sympathy.

The family has not yet decided where the proceeds of the fund will go, he added.

He announced the creation of the fund on the website of the hockey league where Roy excelled as a goalie.