BC man charged with second-degree murder after missing Indigenous woman found dead
A 57-year-old man last seen with an Indigenous woman before she was reported missing and later found dead has been charged with second-degree murder.
Late last week, RCMP said 44-year-old Stephanie Patterson’s friends and family hadn’t seen her since she and David Hall left a residence near Colony Farm Road and Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam.
Hall was also reported missing in an initial release from RCMP, but he was found along with the vehicle the pair were believed to be travelling in.
In a tragic update yesterday, IHIT said Patterson, who had been missing since Friday, was found dead in a rural area of Mission on Tuesday.
Patterson was a member of the band council of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation.
IHIT said police arrested Hall in connection to the investigation and, in an update Thursday, announced he was charged with second-degree murder in relation to the homicide of Patterson Wednesday evening.
Chief Ron Giesbrecht from kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation shared a statement with IHIT to say, “The entire nation is grieving this tragic and sudden loss.”
This matter is now before the courts.