(picture: Tiki Laverdiere)

A 35 year old woman charged in connection to the death of Tiki Brook-Lyn Laverdiere in 2019 has been sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in jail. Danita Thomas was originally charged with first degree murder, kidnapping, improperly interfering with human remains and vehicle theft during her non-jury trail in March, but was found guilty of manslaughter and the two charges of improperly interfering with human remains and vehicle theft. She was given 1,422 days credit and has just over eight-and-a-half years remaining.

Thomas is one of ten who were charged by the RCMP. Nicole Cook, Jesse Sangster and Soaring Eagle Whitstone are still going through the court process.

In 2020, Brent Checkosis was sentenced to seven years on charges of accessory after the fact to murder and Mavis Takakenew was given 18 months for the same charge. January of last year, Charles St. Savard was sentenced to just under 15 months in jail for kidnapping with intent to unlawfully confine.

Later in 2021, Nikita Cook was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years and Samuel Takakenew pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and was sentenced to time served.

In late April of 2019, 25 year old Tiki Laverdiere of Edmonton was in the North Battleford area for the funeral of 20 year old Tristen Cook-Buckle. She was reported missing and her remains were found in a rural area outside of North Battleford.