RCMP have laid murder charges in relation to a suspicious death in Stettler, Alta. on the weekend.
Officers in the central Alberta town were called after the body of a man was found in a home in the evening of April 6. The major crimes unit (MCU) took over the investigation into his death.
Police then made a public plea for help finding the man’s truck, which they tracked down the next day. All occupants of the truck — two men and two women — were arrested for being in possession of property obtained by crime.
One of the men in the truck was taken to hospital in Edmonton upon his arrest.
An autopsy done on April 10 by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Calgary determined the death of 70-year-old James Hulkovich of Stettler was a homicide.
While still in Edmonton hospital, officers with the MCU arrested 51-year-old John Roland Savage, also of Stettler, and charged him with second-degree murder in Hulkovich’s death.
Savage remained in custody Thursday afternoon. He is scheduled to appear in Stettler court on April 26.
Savage had been arrested in the early morning hours of April 6 by Stettler RCMP in what officers called an “unrelated incident.” He was taken to Stettler Hospital where he was placed under watch of hospital security.
He reportedly fled the hospital sometime that afternoon.