Woman, 28, charged with 1st-degree murder in St. Albert senior’s death

A 28-year-old woman has been charged with first-degree murder and indignity to human remains in the death of a St. Albert senior.

Ronald Worsfold, 75, was last seen on July 7. A missing persons investigation was launched on July 9, the same day Worsfold’s body was found in a rural area of Parkland County near Stony Plain, according to RCMP.

An autopsy was conducted on Tuesday morning and his death has been deemed a homicide, although police have not released the cause of his death.

“It’s a tragic loss to have such an incident,” Sgt. Jack Poitras with RCMP K Division said. “It’s a horrible kind of crime and we’ll hopefully hear more about that during the court process as to what exactly transpired there.”

READ MORE: Body recovered believed to be missing St. Albert senior Ronald Worsfold: RCMP

Worsfold reported his car stolen on July 2, five days before his disappearance. RCMP said the stolen Toyota Corolla was recovered Monday morning by Edmonton police.

“To be honest, given the suspicious circumstances of the disappearance – so unlike him, so out of character – we were almost prepared for bad news from the beginning,” Worsfold’s daughter Sandy told Global News Tuesday evening. “My dad was very routine… working three jobs he was always busy so we could pinpoint a lot of times where we could find him if he wasn’t at one of his various jobs.

“Immediately, our thoughts were not positive thoughts and that’s unfortunate. Of course we held out hope but ultimately, knowing him, the circumstances so, so out of the ordinary for him… It was hard to know that there was going to be a positive outcome.”

RCMP said Tuesday afternoon that the car theft was not connected with his death or disappearance.

READ MORE: RCMP searching for missing St. Albert senior and his stolen car

Beryl Musila , 28, is charged with first-degree murder and indignity to human remains.

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“From what I can tell, they were known to each other but I don’t know how well they knew each other,” Poitras said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "From what I can tell, they were known to each other but I don't know how well they knew each other," Poitras said.

Worsfold’s daughter told Global News that she believes at some point, Musila was a renter at a building where her father worked, however, she did not provide further details.

Those who knew Worsfold remember him as a compassionate, hardworking and friendly person.

“He related to people so well and that was his thing in life,” Sandy Worsfold said. “He just glowed this positiveness that attracted people to him.

“Out of all the people that I know or have ever met in my life, (that) this happened to somebody like my dad who’s such an amazing, goodhearted person – is unbelievable.”

Michelle Massick met Worsfold 20 years ago when she moved into the building where Worsfold worked as a landlord. She said he was a positive, outgoing man, and forgiving when rent was late.

“He was fantastic,” she said. “One in a million. There’s not going to be another Ron and that’s what makes it so sad.”

Worsfold worked as an usher at Rogers Place and Rexall Place. He was also a long-time employee at a Petro-Canada station in St. Albert.

“Every morning he would have their lotto tickets or their coffee ready as soon as they came in the door. He knew what they wanted,” Massick said of his customers.

Eric Erguiza is also a resident of the St. Albert apartment complex.

“He was a compassionate landlord. He’s a nice guy. Sometimes when rent is due he still had the patience to wait for those late payments,” Erguiza said.

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“He did the lawn here. He was always busy and always talking to people, if you saw him.”

“We choose to honour our dad by moving forward and being happy and positive and loving life the way he did,” Sandy Worsfold said, adding she wanted to thank the St. Albert RCMP for their hard work on the case and all the people who have sent her family messages of support.

Musila is scheduled to appear in Sherwood Park court on Wednesday.

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With files from Slav Kornik and Phil Heidenreich, Global News.