Alberta RCMP release names of 5 people charged in 2021 homicide of Lane Tailfeather

The Alberta RCMP has released the names of five people arrested in relation to the homicide of Lane Tailfeather, nearly one year after his death.

Tailfeathers’s family reported him missing to the Fort MacLeod RCMP on June 23, 2021. Officers conducted a missing person investigation which later turned into a homicide investigation.

Officers found his body in Crowsnest Pass on July 20 after receiving a report from Alberta Fish and Wildlife about possible human remains near Bumis, Alta. Tailfeather’s family had spent the previous month looking for him.

He was 35 years old.

In a Monday afternoon press release, RCMP said five people were taken into custody last Friday in relation to his homicide.

Richard Lavell, 43, and Miranda Turuk, 28, of Fort MacLeod, Alta. have been charged with second-degree murder. They are scheduled to appear in court on May 18 in Fort MacLeod.

Randy Giroux, 40, also of Fort MacLeod, was charged with second-degree murder and appeared in court on Monday in Lethbridge.

Michelle Toth, 37, of Clareshom, Alta. and Edward Goodrich, 51, of Granum, Alta. have been charged with accessory after the fact to murder and indignity to a body. Toth appeared in court in Lethbridge on Monday while Goodrich is scheduled to appear in court on May 18.

The RCMP said no further information will be provided because the matter is now before the courts.

Tailfeather’s family has been calling for justice since last year, raising questions about his death.

Tailfeather’s sister Billi-J Heavy Shields told Global News last year he was a kind person who fell in with the wrong crowd.

“Lane was always joking. He was always greeting you with a smile, no matter the situation… and put his arm around you,” Heavy Shields said.

“Other than that, great guy. Always happy, kind, really kind to my children… I’m going to miss him.”