Article content Murder charges against a northern Alberta man have been withdrawn after he admitted to mistreating the body of a woman whose remains were found in a burned-out mobile home. Roderick Ellery-Sorensen pleaded guilty Wednesday to interfering with the remains of Marge Bouchard, who died under unclear circumstances in 2021. Court of King’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence and sentenced Ellery-Sorensen to a single day in jail, acknowledging the months the accused spent in pretrial custody.
Belzil called the case an “incredibly tragic situation,” but agreed the Crown could not prove Ellery-Sorensen started the fire or caused Bouchard’s death. “Indeed, how she died has never been determined,” he said. The fire broke out Sept.
22, 2021, in Bouchard’s mobile home on Central Avenue in Falher, a town of around 1,000 people in the Peace Country. According to an agreed statement of facts, Bouchard and Ellery-Sorensen were smoking methamphetamine using a gas-powered torch. At some point, Bouchard grew agitated and attacked Ellery-Sorensen with a kitchen knife.
Unbeknownst to either of them, the torch tipped over during the scuffle and started a fire. Ellery-Sorensen fended off the attack and retreated to the bathroom to wash his injured hands and forearms. When he returned to the main room, Bouchard was dead.
Ellery-Sorensen admitted to moving Bouchard’s body “a short distance” to “cover up the fact that metham.
