WARNING: Some of the details in this case are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
Three people have been charged in connection with the suspicious death of a woman on Vancouver Island.
Wendy Head turned 52 on March 7, 2023, the same day RCMP said she died at a home on Autumnwood Drive in central Nanaimo, which neighbours said was operating as an Airbnb at the time.
The death of Head, a mother of two with no criminal record in B.C., was initially investigated as a fatal overdose.
The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU-BC) Island District Team began investigating the case in August 2023, after information led investigators to believe Head’s overdose death was suspicious.
In Oct. 2023, Nanaimo RCMP announced Head was the victim of a homicide and on Oct. 17, 2024, two men and a woman were charged in her death.
The BC Prosecution Service approved first-degree murder charges against Kehar Gary Sangha, a 59-year-old man from Duncan; Tyler Stephen Elrix, a 41-year-old man from Duncan and Lily Irene Lindbergh, a 44-year-old woman from Duncan.
Criminal lawyer Ravi Hira, K.C., who is not connected to the case, said first-degree murder charges indicate a homicide is planned and deliberate.
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Sangha and Lindberg are also accused of unlawfully counselling undercover police officer(s) to commit murder between Sept. 1-30, 2023 at or near Duncan and Langford, B.C.
“It appears that two of the three people charged with first-degree murder tried to enlist the undercover police officer to undertake another murder or murders,” Hira, K.C., told Global News in an interview Tuesday.
The CFSEU-BC is not commenting on the case as it is before the courts but said the investigation advanced using “various police techniques and resources”
“Here, it would suggest the use of at least one or more undercover operators,” Hira said. “There may have been wiretaps involved.”
The owner of the home where Head was found deceased said via email that he did not know the victim and never met the group who’d booked the Airbnb – but was glad to hear the suspects have been charged and police were able to get enough evidence to proceed.
The homeowner, whom Global News is not naming, added that an Airbnb host has no control over what guests do inside of a home after they book.
In Jan. 2020, Sangha was sentenced to five years and three months in prison – less time served – after he pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault and forcible confinement of a woman held captive in his Cowichan Valley home for three days in April 2017.
Court heard Sangha viciously beat the victim before she eventually escaped through a bathroom window and ran across a farmer’s field to safety.
A contractor from a nearby property found her so badly beaten that her face was reportedly unrecognizable, and reportedly believed she was wearing a mask.
Police at the time said Sangha and the victim knew one another.
Sangha and Lindberg remain in custody on the murder charges and are scheduled for virtual court appearances on Oct. 29.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Elrix and if anyone has information about his location they are asked to contact their local police office or Crime Stoppers.
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