Youth charged with murder after woman’s death in Choiceland

A youth has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of a 37-year-old woman Friday in Choiceland.

In a media release Monday, the RCMP said the youth was to make their first court appearance by phone Monday in Melfort Provincial Court.

The Mounties didn’t provide any other details, including the age or gender of the accused. The person can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

“Because Choiceland is a very small community and due to the nature of this ongoing investigation, we are not releasing some details of this incident, including the age or gender of the accused,” the RCMP said in an email to 980 CJME.

“We are bound by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which sets out that ‘no person shall publish the name of a young person, or any other information related to a young person, if it would identify the young person as a young person dealt with under this Act.’ ”

The RCMP hasn’t officially released the name of the victim, but an online fundraiser was created in her name. The woman was pregnant at the time of her death.

The RCMP said they got a call Friday at about 1:45 a.m., about a person who was found dead at a home in Choiceland, a town northwest of Nipawin.

Officers from the Nipawin detachment and paramedics who responded found the woman’s body.

The RCMP said officers arrested a person at the scene, but didn’t say whether it was a man or a woman or what their relationship was with the dead woman. The Mounties did say there wasn’t any concern for public safety.

— With files from paNOW’s Nigel Maxwell

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of the story, removing the woman’s name.