Friends of Glenn Bauman say accusations that he killed his wife and stepdaughter don’t seem to fit with a man they describe as quiet, peaceful and unflinchingly kind.

“The whole thing is shocking,” Jonas Martin told CTV Kitchener. “It’s kind of like getting kicked in the stomach.”

Bauman was arrested earlier this month and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Linda and Cheyenne Daniel.

Police say neither woman has been seen since July 2011, when Linda was 42 and Cheyenne was 13.

That summer, officials at Linwood Public School were told that Cheyenne would not be returning there in September as the family was leaving the province.

Martin says that he had heard Bauman and Daniel were talking about leaving their St. Clements-area home and moving to Alberta, where they dreamed of owning a horse ranch.

“They both loved horses,” he says.

The biggest hurdle, he said Bauman told him, was that they had to sell their existing home first.

Martin says he and Bauman have known each other since they were kids, growing up together in the Old Order Mennonite community they both left as young men.

In the 1990s, he says, he trained Bauman to be a truck driver. For a time, they roomed together in Alberta.

“We had a house out there. We were in it together – worked, partied and everything else young guys do,” he said.

They kept in touch through the years, even as their paths brought them both back to Ontario.

Martin says Bauman eventually moved back to Alberta – where he was arrested Aug. 19 – and claimed Daniel had left him.

“Supposedly she walked out … and wasn’t coming back,” he said.

“I never once suspected that it was anything other than her moving on with her life.”

The lifelong friends continued to talk from time to time, Martin says. Living three provinces apart, they’d often lose touch for a while. Since they were both long-haul truckers, they’d sometimes spend hours on the phone, keeping each other awake and alert.

Martin says he never once heard about any violence in the relationship between Bauman and Daniel, who Bauman met online while living in Simcoe in the mid-2000s.

As for Daniel’s daughter Cheyenne, Martin says Bauman loved her as if she were his own.

“He loved her – absolutely loved her. If it meant doing extra runs or working extra hours so that he could pay to do something for her, that wasn’t even a question,” he said.

Another friend says he never saw Bauman be violent at all – not even when they were younger and partied together.

“I never saw Glenn do anything violent to anybody,” said Vern, who asked that his last name not be published.

“That doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen, I guess, but I certainly wouldn’t have expected it.”

Vern describes Bauman – who he knew a little bit from childhood but became closer to as a young adult – as kind and quiet, no matter what the situation was.

“Even if we were out at a party or wherever – he always had a good time, but he definitely wasn’t going out and making the most noise,” he said.

Vern says the last time he saw Bauman was about two years ago, when Bauman was driving through southern Ontario. He stopped in for a visit and helped Vern fix his furnace.

One way or another, Vern says, he hopes Bauman realizes people still care about him.

“Guilty, not guilty – one way or another, he’s still our friend,” he said.

“No matter what happens, we’re not going to turn our back on him.”

Bauman remains in custody. None of the allegations against him have been tested in court. During his last court appearance, he said he had yet to retain a lawyer.

Martin hopes to figure out where Bauman is incarcerated so he can pay him a visit.

“I’d like at least for him to know that not everyone has pinned him down to being guilty, and that he does have people that still care about him,” he said.

Last week, police executed a search warrant at the home on Hessen Strasse near St. Clements where Bauman and the Daniels lived.

After an initial flurry of activity, including items being removed from the home and a blue tarp being placed in the backyard, the on-site investigation seemed to have quieted down in recent days.

On Tuesday, a pile of carpeting was seen on the front lawn while investigators worked inside the home.

With reporting by Alexandra Pinto