The boyfriend of a 32-year-old woman who vanished near Salmon Arm, B.C. in 2016, has been charged with her murder.
In a news conference on Monday, the BC RCMP announced that Derek Lee Matthew Favell, 39, had been arrested in Kelowna and charged with the second degree murder of Ashley Simpson. He remains in custody.
Mounties did not reveal any details as to what led to Favell’s arrest, but they did say a tip from the public led to the woman’s remains being found on Nov. 26 in a wooded area outside Salmon Arm.
“Early on, the Southeast District Major Crime Unit was called to take conduct of the investigation into Ashley’s disappearance. This team worked diligently for almost five years on the case, identifying Favell as a primary suspect,” Chief Supt. Elija Rain, who heads up the BC RCMP Major Crime Unit, said in a news release.
It’s at least offered some closure to her loved ones.
“Last Friday, Dec. 3, our prayers were answered. Unfortunately, there was no storybook ending. The detectives from her case travelled from B.C. to personally tell us that they had found our daughter’s remains, and had arrested a suspect. All we could muster were tears of joy mixed with sadness,” Ashley’s father, John Simpson, said in a statement.
“We had always hoped that Ashley would be found alive, against all odds, but we also knew that, realistically, the chances of that outcome were slim. As a father, I can tell you, no one can be prepared for news that their daughter was found murdered and left to rot in the ground.”
Despite it all, Simpson said they are grateful that Ashley will return home so she can finally be laid to rest in a place where her family and friends can visit her.
He said the family is also grateful for the two RCMP officers who worked the case and who travelled to see the family in Ontario to tell them they’d found Ashley’s remains. They’d brought rings that were found with Ashley.
Favell and Simpson, who is originally from St Catharines, had been living in a trailer on a property in the Yankee Flats area near Silver Creek belonging to Favell’s friend, Brent Cox.
In May 2016, Favell told Global Okanagan that he was “crushed” when he realized she was missing and that he’d filed a missing person report after learning she had also not been in contact with her family.
He also said the couple had fought over money the day she was last seen.
Police investigated Ashley’s disappearance a number of times, conducting multiple searches in the Yankee Flats area.
Five women, including Ashley, have disappeared from the North Okanagan and Shuswap regions since 2016. Only one has ever been found: police discovered the remains of Vernon teenager Traci Genereaux on a rural property in Salmon Arm in 2017.
On Monday, Rain said there’s no connection between Ashley’s death and the four other missing women, though the investigations into those cases continue.
Anyone who has information regarding any of the other cases is asked to call the BC RCMP tip line at 1-877-987-8477.
– with files from Megan Turcato
Editor’s note: This is a corrected story. A previous version reported Simpson’s age as 27, and not 32.