WATCH ABOVE: For nearly 18 years, a family has been looking for answers about why their son and brother was murdered. Now, news of an arrest. Vinesh Pratap reports.
EDMONTON — Edmonton Police have laid charges in a nearly 18-year-old murder investigation with ties to a 1990s gang called the North Side Boys. James Milliken, 23 years old at the time, was fatally stabbed on May 17, 1997.
Darren Jason Young, 37, was arrested in southern Alberta on Thursday afternoon. He is charged with second-degree murder and possession of a prohibited weapon in connection with the murder. Edmonton Police said he was a suspect in the early days of the investigation, but there wasn’t enough evidence at the time to charge him.
On a Friday night in May 1997, Milliken and two friends were at the Beverly Crest Tavern at 118 Ave. and 34 St. They left the bar around 1:30 a.m. Saturday and crossed the street to the Abbotsfield Mall parking lot, where they ran into another group of young men, allegedly members of the North Side Boys.
Police said a verbal fight turned physical.
“There was a big fight between the two groups of males, and as a result of that fight, Mr. Milliken was stabbed one time in the chest,” said EPS Homicide Section Staff Sgt. Bill Clark on Friday morning.
A witness at the time said about a dozen teens viciously attacked the group.
“It was like playing punching bag with them on the ground.”
“Knock them to the ground, keep kicking them to the ground, keep kicking them in the head until they passed out,” the witness said in 1997.
During the altercation, Milliken was stabbed. He was treated by EMS and taken to the University of Alberta Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“I got the call. I went down there, they took me in, he was already dead,” his sister said at the time.
“They had sliced open his chest to try and save him, and there was nothing they could do. There was one small knife insertion into his heart, and they said he was dead before he even hit the ground.”
An arrest was made on the day of the murder, but the case fell apart at the preliminary hearing when a different person testified on the stand that they had committed the murder.
Police later determined that was a lie, but the case went cold until spring of 2014. Staff Sgt. Clark said at that point a new development arose.
“Suffice to say, there were a lot of issues that had to be looked at first in this case,” said Clark. “So obviously the issue of the stay of proceedings that was put in, the issue of the false confession during the preliminary hearing. So there was a lot of consultation done with the Crown over the past year and also firming up the information provided last spring.”
As a result of the investigation, EPS historical homicide unit detectives were able to issue an arrest warrant on Wednesday for Darren Young, who was 19 years old in 1997. The Medicine Hat Police Service arrested Young on Thursday. Clark said the suspect was very cooperative.
“The arrest and laying of a second-degree murder charge against the person police believe killed our brother, James Milliken, comes as a great relief and will hopefully provide us answers to questions we have; questions that have haunted us for years,” said a statement from James Milliken’s family.
The family thanked police for their determination in investigating the nearly two-decade long case.
“The arrest will not help us deal with our grief. There is no justice. Jimmy is dead, but perhaps some closure can now begin.”
Clark said officers who worked on the case in 1997 personally delivered the news to the Milliken family.
“It’s probably the best part of our job when we can go to a family, especially one that has waited so long for justice, and say to them: “Look, we got the guy who did this.”
“I mean, it doesn’t bring back their loved ones, but as they said, the healing process continues and it brings some closure to them,” Clark added.
In 1997, his sister said Milliken had a young son, and another child was on the way. The family’s statement said: “He will remain loved and always remembered. Not for the way he died but for the way he lived, with laughter and love for his children, his family and his friends.”
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