Edmonton police charge man with murder in 1996 killing of 24-year-old Cree woman
CBC
A man has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of a woman found strangled in her northeast Edmonton apartment more than 26 years ago.
Edmonton police have charged Brayan Boucher, 48, in the December 1996 killing of Joanne Ghostkeeper, 24.
In a statement Thursday, police said a re-examination of DNA evidence last year led to a charge in the historical homicide — a development that investigators hope will provide closure to Ghostkeeper's family.
Ghostkeeper was found dead on Dec. 25, 1996, inside her apartment at 119th Avenue and 34th Street in the Abbottsfield neighbourhood.
The Cree mother of two from Sucker Creek First Nation, near Lesser Slave Lake, Alta., had been strangled with a telephone cord.
Police had been called after she failed to show up for Christmas dinner at her mother's house.
Ghostkeeper's death was a deemed a homicide shortly after her body was found but no charge was laid until now.
The case has been under investigation by the Edmonton police historical homicide unit for years. Over the decades, Ghostkeeper's family has pleaded for information on her killer.
Ghostkeeper's mother, Mary Willier, told CBC on Thursday that police told her about the arrest earlier this week at her home in the community of Driftpile Cree Nation, 320 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
"When the detectives came and told me, it was just like something lifted out of me ... lifted away," she said.
"I hope he doesn't walk on the other side of the walls again, because he did his 27 years of walking. I think he shouldn't be walking out of jail."
Willier said she hopes to attend future court dates in the case.
"She was a kind person," Willier said of her daughter. "And I'm not saying that because she's gone. She was a kind, helpful person."
Willier raised Ghostkeeper's son and daughter, who are now in their 30s. She said knowing someone has been charged brings her some peace after nearly three decades with no answers.