Third person charged with murder in Saskatoon February homicide

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A third person has been charged this week in connection with Saskatoon’s first homicide of 2024, which occurred in the early hours of Feb. 3.

At the time, the body of a 25-year-old Alberta man was found in a home in the 600 block of Lisgar Avenue.

Officers executing a search warrant related to an aggravated assault investigation involving firearms discovered the body. A 34-year-old Saskatoon man and a 32-year-old woman are charged with first-degree murder.

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Additional charges against them were added on March 20, including indecently interfering with and offering an indignity to human remains.

On Wednesday, the city police major crimes section arrested and charged a 32-year-old man with first-degree murder, police said in a news release on Thursday.

“He was believed to be known to the victim.”

The suspect was already incarcerated in a Saskatoon correctional facility on unrelated charges at the time of his arrest, police said.

Other homicides in 2024:

— On Feb. 9, a 48-year-old Saskatoon man died of a gunshot wound in the city’s second homicide of the year. A 21-year-old Saskatoon man is charged in that case.

— The city’s third homicide involved a 48-year-old man who died in hospital from a gunshot wound on Feb. 17. Last month, first-degree murder charges were laid against three men, ages 34, 36 and 37.

— The fourth homicide of 2024 took place on Feb. 19. According to police, officers responded around 2 p.m. to a report of a man stabbed in the 200 block of 20th Street West. After an investigation involving the major crimes, serious assault and forensic identification units, a 24-year-old man was charged with second-degree murder

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— In the city’s fifth homicide, a 12-year old boy was shot on Feb. 19. Police have charged a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy with manslaughter. They cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Both boys also face weapons-related charges.

— In the city’s sixth homicide of 2024, a 42-year-old woman was charged with criminal negligence causing death after the body of a one-year-old boy was found at a home in the 100 block of Avenue T South. Police responded to the home on March 9 after a report of a sudden death.

— The seventh and eighth homicides were unrelated but took place mere hours apart:

Officers responded on April 15 around 11:20 a.m. to the 3200 block of 33rd Street West after reports of an insecure property and found a woman dead in the basement, police said in a news release. They confirmed the woman’s identity: 24-year-old Melissa Duquette.

Then, barely 13 hours later, officers responded on April 16 around 12:50 a.m. to reports of a shooting in the 200 block of Avenue O South. They arrived to find a 25-year-old man with a gunshot wound. Police in a news release said he was rushed to Royal University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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His mother identified him as Kade Lee, 25.

— The city’s ninth homicide resulted from an assault at a home on Chandler Place on April 15 around 4 a.m. A 30-year-old man was rushed to hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

— A 29-year-old man died from his injuries after a stabbing in the 800 block of 22nd Street West, in the city’s 10th homicide, on June 3.

— The 11th and latest homicide occurred in the 400 block of Forrester Road in the early morning of June 12. A 66-year-old man was found with life-threatening injuries in a parking lot next to Fairhaven School. He died in hospital a short time later.

The city recorded 12 homicides in 2023. In 2022, the number of homicides recorded in the city jumped to 13 from seven in 2021.

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