LAKE COUNTRY, B.C. — A charge of second-degree murder has been laid against a 41-year-old man following the recent discovery of a woman's body in Kootenay National Park in southeastern B.C.
A statement from RCMP says Philip Toner was arrested Tuesday in the Okanagan and will be returned to Alberta to face the murder charge.
The body of 35-year-old Brenda Ware was found last Thursday near her vehicle along a B.C. highway through the park, but investigators say they believe the alleged killing happened in Alberta.
Police say Toner and Ware were known to each other, but the nature of their relationship has not been described.
The statement says the "complex, interprovincial investigation" is still very active and police want to speak to anyone who may have had contact with Toner between May 4 and May 11 in either Alberta or B.C.
Drivers who might have picked up a hitchhiker travelling between B.C.'s Columbia Valley and the central Okanagan district of Lake Country on those dates are also asked to contact RCMP major crime detectives.
Toner appeared in provincial court in Kelowna Wednesday and police say the BC Prosecution Service received a seven-day remand in order to return him to Alberta.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2021.
The Canadian Press
