Man sentenced after killing Indigenous woman in northern Alberta, moving body to Manitoba

A man was sentenced Thursday to 11 years for killing an Indigenous woman in northern Alberta and later moving her body to Manitoba.

Grant Sneesby, 72, stabbed Gloria Gladue multiple times in October 2015 before destroying her cellphone, burning her clothes, wrapping her body in plastic and storing it in a trailer.

At his trial, court heard that at some point Sneesby transported the body of the 44-year-old woman to Manitoba.

Gladue, a member of Bigstone Cree Nation, was last seen in Wabasca, Alta., about 330 kilometres north of Edmonton, in October 2015 and reported missing by her family a month later.

READ MORE: Manitoba man charged in killing of Alberta woman who vanished in 2015

Her remains were found in rural Manitoba almost three years later by undercover RCMP officers.

In June, a jury convicted Sneesby of manslaughter instead of the initial charge of second-degree murder. He had pleaded guilty to causing indignity to Gladue’s remains.

“This was a brutal and callous killing,” said King’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil during sentencing in Peace River, Alta. “Gloria Gladue’s life was senselessly ended by the actions of Mr. Sneesby.”

Sneesby was credited seven years for his time in pretrial custody, leaving him three years and 221 days left to serve.

In addition to his prison sentence, Sneesby has a lifetime firearm ban.