Edmonton police charge man with murder in 1996 killing of 24-year-old Cree woman | CBC News

A man has been charged with first-degree murder 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.

In Thursday’s statement, police said numerous exhibits were tested forensically over the years but a confirmed match to a suspect could not be made.

However, on Oct. 22, 2022, the  RCMP forensic laboratory re-examined the exhibits and a male DNA profile was generated, police said.

The DNA profile was linked to Boucher and he was arrested on June 14. 

Police said Ghostkeeper and Boucher, who was 22 at the time of the killing, knew each other.

“Our hearts go out to Joanne’s family and friends. This was a tragic file that has plagued them with grief and unanswered questions for 27 years,” Det. Kevin Harrison with the EPS historical crimes section, said in a statement.

“Thanks to the tenacity of the forensic specialists at the RCMP lab and the EPS investigative team, we have at long last been able to provide some answers to those questions, and hopefully some degree of closure for her loved ones.”

Boucher’s DNA profile is now in the National DNA Data Bank and will be referenced against other historical forensic files, police said.