Yukon's unusually violent year: 8 homicides in 12 months

Yukonhas seen eighthomicides in the last 12 monthsan unusually high level of violence for the territory.

Yukon RCMP Supt. Brian Jones saidpolice have had to call inoutside help from RCMP inBritish Columbia and Albertato investigate multiple cases.

"Our major crimes unit is working beyond capacity on all of those," Jones told CBCafter the most recent homicide.

"It has been an all hands on deck situation for the Major Crimes Unit for a long time."

Of the eight cases, four have led to arrests; none have made their waythrough the courts yet.

Level of violenceunusual

Statistics Canada recordshomicides by calendar year, going back to 1961.

An overwhelming majorityof those years have seen three murders, or fewer,in Yukon.

Twelveof those years saw no murders at all, including 2011, 2012 and 2013. There were three homicides in 2014 and one in 2015.

Only in one previous calendar year, 2004, was there an unusually high number of homicides seven in Yukon.

"The number of homicides in the territory, and these recent deaths in Whitehorse, would be unsettling," said Supt. Jones.

"We understand that. Unfortunately at this point in time, we don't have all the answers that the public is looking forandequally importantly, the questions that the families [have]."

Here is alookat the eight cases over the last 12 months.

Adam Cormack

June 28, 2017
Alaska Highway northwest of Whitehorse
Status: Arrest made

Thebody of 25-year-old Adam Cormackwas found on the Alaska Highway northwest of Whitehorseon Wednesday June 28.

"The incident was quickly deemed a homicide,"stated an RCMPpress release.

On July 3, Yukon RCMPsaid they had charged a B.C. man, 20-year-oldEdward James Penner, with first degree murder.

Wendy Carlick and Sarah MacIntosh

April 19, 2017
Whitehorse
Status: No charges laid

Two Indigenous women were found dead in the same house in Whitehorse's McIntyre subdivisionon April 19.

Wendy Margaret Carlick, 51, and Sarah MacIntosh, 53, were mourned ina community march that gathered hundreds of people.

The case was especially painful as Carlick's daughter Angel had been killed by violence in Whitehorse 10 years earlier.

Greg Alvin Dawson

April 6, 2017
Whitehorse
Status: No charges laid

Greg Alvin Dawson, 45, was found dead on April 6 in the Riverdale neighbourhood of Whitehorse.Police say they're treating his death as a homicide.

Dawson was a member of the Ta'an Kwch'n Council.

Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis said he knew Dawson for 35 years.

"I know that in our community... the degrees of separation are so small, it's absolutely almost frightening," Curtis told CBC in April.

Raine Andrew Silas

Nov.4, 2016
Pelly Crossing
Status: Arrest made

Eighteen-year-old Raine Andrew Silas was killed in Pelly Crossing in November.

Tristan Joe, 30, of Pelly Crossing has been charged with second-degree murder.No other details have been revealed, as the case has yet to be heard before the courts.

Matthew Devellano

Oct.8, 2016
Whitehorse
Status: No charges laid

Matthew Devellano, 32, was shot in the chest in front of a house in the Porter Creek neighbourhood ofWhitehorse in October.

Witnessesdescribed hearing sounds like firecrackers on the suburban cul-de-sac, before seeing a van speed away.

Thevan was recovered by RCMP,but no arrests have been made.

Olson Wolftail

Dec.23, 2016
Watson Lake
Status: Arrest made

RCMP responded to a call of an assault in December 2016 and found87-year-old OlsonWolftaildead inside his Watson Lake home.

Crown prosecutors in Yukon intend to pursue a first degree murder conviction against 31-year-old Alfred Thomas Chief.

Chief is in custody.

Andy Giraudel

July 16, 2016
Watson Lake
Status: Arrest made

Andy Giraudel, 36, was killed in Watson Lake in July 2016 and hisbody was dismembered.

Police launched an extensive search ofthe community to recover his remains, some of which were found in an industrial area.

Within a week of the murder, Travis Dennis, 22, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and offering anindignity to human remains.