REGINA -- Keenan Toto’s wife and mother are remembering him as a man with morals. He valued honesty, integrity and compassion; values he worked hard to teach his children.

Keenan was killed on Dec. 1 in the 1200 block of Queen St. He was 23-years-old.

Police have arrested and charged Dillon Ricky Whitehawk, 25, with first-degree murder in Toto’s death.

Jacqueline Kequahtooway, Toto’s wife, said he was a loving father of six children.

keenan toto and jackie

Keenan Toto and Jacqueline Kequahtooway are pictured. Courtesy: Jacqueline Kequahtooway

“[Keenan] was a bit shy and distant from his step children but gradually he grew to become a genuine loving father figure and stepped up to fill the role,” Kequahtooway told CTV News. “He soon had two biological daughters of his own [who] he cherished with all his heart.”

Kequahtooway had four children from a previous relationship. Keenan’s mother Trenna Lee Toto said he cherished and loved his wife’s children as his own.

“I was really impressed when he stepped up and accepted Jackie’s older kids as his own and became a father to them,” she said. “I was very proud of him for that…. The kids really love him.

“I still can’t believe it, I expect to see him here… just to pop up one of these days.”

She described her youngest son as a quiet person who let few people get close to him.

“I don’t him portrayed as someone who was a thug, someone in a gang, on drugs or drunk,” Trenna said. “He had a lot of hopes and dreams for himself, his wife and his children.”

Trenna said taking care of the children helps keep her mind off the heartbreak of her son’s death. She said that at night, when the house is quiet, she lays awake while the pain creeps back into her mind.

She said she and Kequahtooway struggle to answer the questions from the children, who still ask where their father is.

“[Zulay] knows he’s an angel now,” Trenna said of Keenan’s oldest biological daughter.

keenan

Trenna said as a boy, Keenan was rambunctious and loved to ride bikes. She said he had a good sense of humour, and would get upset when people lied.

Kequahtooway said Keenan struggled with drugs, but kept that part of his life away from the family home.

“He was going to turn himself in to treatment on the Monday,” she said. “He wanted better, he wanted a good life… to be a family man.”

Trenna said after months of wondering, she’s relieved that her son’s alleged killer is in custody.

Trenna said when she received news of an arrested, she couldn’t stop shaking. She was shocked when she saw Whitehawk in court.

“He was just little… I thought, ‘this is the kid who took my son’s life?’”

Whitehawk had been in and out of police custody around the time of Toto’s death.