Philip Toner, who is a person of interest in the suspicious death investigation of Brenda Ware, was charged with second degree murder today.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED./RCMP
May 12, 2021 - 11:26 AM
An Alberta man was arrested in Lake Country yesterday and later charged with the second-degree murder of a 35-year-old woman whose body was found last week with her car in Kootenay National Park.
Philip Toner, 41, was charged with one count of second degree murder in relation to the homicide of Brenda Ware. Ware was known to be from Didsbury, Alberta and travelled to Kootenay National Park, where her vehicle and body were discovered, RCMP said in a press release.
Toner, who was located by the Lake Country RCMP yesterday, appeared in Kelowna Provincial Law Courts Wednesday morning where the B.C. Prosecution Service secured a seven-day remand, in order to have Toner transported back to Alberta.
B.C. RCMP, in consultation with the B.C. Prosecution Service liaised with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service to lay the official charge in Alberta courts, as police alleged the offence was carried out in Alberta.
“Although a charge has now been laid in relation to this complex, inter-provincial criminal investigation, the investigation is still very much active and ongoing at this time, we continue to share Toner’s photo in an effort to advance the investigation,” Acting Officer-In-Charge (A/OIC) Supt. Sanjaya Wijayakoon of the B.C. RCMP Major Crime Section said in a press release.
"We renew our previous public plea for information, and ask that anyone who may have had contact with Philip Toner between May 4, 2021 and May 11, in either British Columbia or Alberta, to come forward immediately. Furthermore, we ask anyone who may have provided or offered a ride to anyone hitch-hiking between Columbia Valley, B.C. and Lake Country, B.C. to come forward as well. You may have information that is of value to the investigation.”
Ware and Toner were known to each other, RCMP said in an earlier release, but the nature of that relationship will not be released at this time.
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Southeast District Major Crime Unit Information Line at 1-877-987-8477.
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