A Peace River judge has found Jason Alec Tallcree guilty of first-degree murder, sexual interference, and interference with a body in the death of Roderica Ribbonleg.
Ribbonleg was last seen on July 5, 2020, sleeping in a rundown hut with no internet or cell service near John D’Or Prairie – 700 kilometres north of Edmonton, part of the Little Red River Cree Nation.
The court heard the 15-year-old stopped answering her phone and didn’t come home after saying she was going to meet friends.
During the trial, a number of people testified they saw Ribbonleg at the outbuilding, with one person texting her after she had left: “Did you make it home?”
She did not make it home. She disappeared and was reported missing a few days later and all cell activity ceased. A week after she was seen alive, an organized search party found her cell phone not too far from the hut.
Court heard that search members saw crows circling, and followed them down a trail a few kilometres away. That is when search members found Ribbonleg’s body and called the RCMP to secure the scene.
An autospy found she had been strangled to death, potentially with her own bra strap, and suffered blunt force trauma to her head. There was evidence suggesting sexual assault.
A man’s DNA was found. Investigators eventually linked the DNA sample to Jason Alec Tallcree, who was 35 at the time and is now 37.
In 2014, Tallcree was charged with second-degree murder and interfering with a body in the death of his common-law wife, a mother of three named Malena Loonskin. But one year later, those charges were stayed. A spokesperson for Alberta Justice said at that time, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service determined there was no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction in the Loonskin case.
Court heard when RCMP asked Tallcree about Ribbonleg, he said he hadn’t heard of her — the judge determined that to be a lie.
Tallcree had been at the property where Ribbonleg was last seen sleeping.
The judge ruled Jason Alec Tallcree sexually interfered with the teenage girl in the course of murdering her, and then interfered with her body by burying it.
Three months after Ribbonleg’s death, dozens of Ribbonleg and Loonskin supporters walked 127 kilometers from John D’Or Prairie to High Level, so Tallcree would see their faces at a previous court appearance.
On Tuesday, the verdict was read. Jason Alec Tallcree was convicted of first-degree murder. It comes with an automatic life sentence, with no chance of parole for 25 years. By then, Tallcree will be in his sixties.
No date has been set for a sentencing hearing — that will determined on April 24 — but victim impact statements will be presented at that time.
