RCMP have made an arrest in a double homicide that happened in a remote First Nations community in 2021.
The bodies of Brent Denechezhe, 31, and Leona Tssessaze, 24, were found after a fire in a home in Northlands Denesuline First Nation on Sept. 9, 2021.
Leon Paul Mercredi, 22, was arrested in Fond du Lac, Sask., on Monday and has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Mounties said at a news conference Thursday that Mercredi is originally from Northlands Denesuline, a fly-in community northwest of Thompson also known as Lac Brochet.
Leona Tssessaze and Brent Denechezhe (Supplied)
Mounties said Mercredi left the community after the killings.
RCMP said, after a two-and-a-half-year investigation, that they have determined the suspect and victims were at Denechezhe’s home on the night of Sept. 9 when there was a “disagreement.”
The suspect left and later returned with a gun, RCMP said. Investigators believe the suspect fatally shot the two victims, left again and returned moments later, before the house was engulfed in flames.
RCMP previously said Denechezhe and Tssessaze were homicide victims but would not say whether they died in the fire or were killed beforehand.
Investigators travelled to the community to conduct interviews last month, put up posters asking for tips and search for more clues.
Mounties are not searching for any more suspects but continue to seek information regarding the case. Mounties are asking people to call a tip line at 431-489-8112.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca