An Alberta man, on the run for more than a year and wanted on murder charges, and a woman who had been missing just as long were arrested together in east-central Alberta this weekend.
Lloyd Wesley Boudreau, 23, from Lac La Biche was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, accused of first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Michael Matthew Mountain, a fellow resident of the same town.
Mountain died in hospital on Oct. 28, 2017 after being shot in a home in the northern Alberta community. RCMP said Mountain, his wife and three young children had moved into the residence only a few weeks prior to the death.
“It is alleged that he was alerted to someone being at his front door and when he opened it he was shot just outside the residence,” RCMP Cpl. Ron Bumbry said at the time.
The warrant for Boudreau was issued a few days later. At the time, RCMP didn’t know where Boudreau was but said he was considered to be armed and dangerous and not to be approached.
READ MORE: Arrest warrant issued, 1st-degree murder charge laid in Lac La Biche death
For more than a year, he remained on the run from police.
On the day of Mountain’s death, 26-year-old Mandi Leigh Boucher of the Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement was reported missing. Police said she was known to Boudreau and may have been with him.
READ MORE: Lac La Biche RCMP believe homicide suspect and missing woman may be together
Boucher’s family told Global News they believed she was taken against her will, but also said the pair was in a relationship.
READ MORE: Family of missing Alberta woman preparing for bad news — ‘It’s been too long’
On Sunday afternoon, a group of law enforcement officers — including RCMP, Alberta sheriffs and police dogs — descended upon a home in Two Hills, located about 145 kilometres south of Lac La Biche.
Boudreau was arrested without incident. RCMP said Boucher was also in the home and was charged with accessory to murder in the homicide of Michael Mountain.
RCMP said recent evidence gathered leading up to the arrest provided the grounds to lay the accessory to murder charge.
The couple remains in police custody and will be appearing in court in St. Paul on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Boudreau’s mother Margaret Simon was also charged with accessory to murder. RCMP allege Simon assisted her son with evading police and getting rid of evidence.
RCMP said Simon’s case was still before the courts and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for March.
In November 2017, police said they had received tips from people who believed they had seen Boudreau and Boucher in Lac La Biche, St. Paul, Boyle and Edmonton.
On Tuesday, RCMP thanked the public for numerous tips it received in regards to this investigation.