Roderick Sutherland has been found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the 2020 murder of Megan Gallagher.
A 12-person jury at the Court of King’s Bench in Saskatoon returned its verdict Friday. Jurors also found Sutherland guilty of charges of unlawful confinement and causing undignified insult to human remains.
Gallagher’s family and friends sat in the front row and gasped, sobbed and hugged each other as the jurors delivered their verdicts, one by one, to Judge John Morrall.
The decision ends a legal journey for her family that began five years ago when the 30-year-old woman disappeared under suspicious circumstances.
Within months of her disappearance in September 2020, police believed she had been killed. It wasn’t until two years later that his remains were found. on the bank of the South Saskatchewan River, about 105 kilometers northeast of Saskatoon, near the town of St. Louis.
Finally nine people were implicated in his disappearance and death.
Robert (Bobby) Thomas was the first person charged on September 20, 2022. He pleaded guilty in October 2024 to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.
Cheyann Peeteetuce and Summer-Sky Henry were charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in January 2025 and were sentenced to seven years each.
Ernest Vernon Whitehead, Jessica Badger (Sutherland) and John Wayne Sanderson pleaded guilty to offering indignity to human remains.
Charges against Robin John (false confinement and aggravated assault) and Thomas Sutherland (murder) were suspended prior to appearing in court.
Roderick Sutherland’s trial began on October 6.
After the verdict, both the Crown and defense said they would need time to prepare their sentencing arguments.
Crown prosecutor Bill Burge indicated he would make an application to cancel Sutherland’s release and take him into custody, an application for which lawyers will present their arguments later on Friday afternoon.
