Jamie Francis Vickers, 35, was found dead on December 31st, 2011.
Vickers was Edmonton's 46th homicide victim of the year.
Paul Raymond Gill, 44, and William John Tubrett, 47, were both charged with second-degree murder.
On the final day of the year, Edmonton's homicide detectives were still working the suspicious death of Michael Allen Haley, a 40-year-old man found dead on December 27th in an Inglewood apartment building.
With 45 murders already on the books, the last thing police needed was another case to work on. On New Year's Eve 2011, they got three.
The investigation into the city's latest homicide began as a result of police activity in Fort McMurray.
Full details of what took place in that northern Alberta service area weren't made clear, but a local homicide detective later said RCMP had arrested a man on a separate matter.
Based on their interview with the man, at about 2:40 a.m. on December 31st, 2011, RCMP then asked Edmonton police to go a home at 3723 45 Street in Mill Woods to check on the welfare of an individual.
Police arrived to find the house unlocked. Inside they came upon a deceased 35-year-old male.
Homicide detectives were called out, the area was sealed off, and officers went door-to-door waking area residents to find out what they knew.
"The body was found in the house," a still-groggy Steve Ennett later recounted.
"It's been ... about three-three-thirty this morning that the police came by, canvassing the neighbourhood," he said.
Police remained tight-lipped about the New Year's Eve find and their resources were stretched thin as investigators soon had the suspicious fire death of 60-year-old Rukmani Prasad and the gruesome dismemberment of 27-year-old Misty Lynn Ward to deal with.
Detectives would only say a "serious incident" had taken place inside the Mill Woods home.
For their part, neighbours had to deal with crime scene tape being strung around the property. Soon forensics staff arrived to process the scene – see images »
The home was up for sale. The owner said he had rented the house to three men and a woman on a year-long lease. They had only been staying in the house for about three weeks.
Word soon emerged that the tenants were from Newfoundland and worked in the construction trades. Speaking to media, neighbours related what they knew about the occupants – read more »
Diane Bjorling said she met one of the home's renters while walking her dog. She described the man as large and in his 40s. She recalled they only chatted about the weather, and that he said he had signed a one-year lease at the home.
"Generally speaking it's been a very good neighbourhood," Steve Ennett said, adding he thought whatever happened in home might just be a random incident.
"Things do happen. It doesn't matter what part of the town you live in. You can't go around living in fear."
Speaking at his home next door to the crime scene, Ralph Hughes also said the area was safe and that his neighbours were "ideal."
"Very nice neighbourhood, quiet, normal," Hughes said. ""When I looked out and seen the police and seen the tape, I knew that something was going on next door."
Hughes said he regularly spoke to a one of the men, a carpenter named Bill who was in his 40s.
"Hard worker. Got up in the morning, go to work at six, seven. Home at six in the evening, seven o'clock in the evening. No wild parties, nothing like that," Hughes said. "They were working together, building houses."
Hughes said Bill told him the men had moved to Edmonton from Newfoundland to work construction in Beaumont, part of a plan to earn money to help Bill's parents and brothers back east.
Originally from Nova Scotia himself, Hughes knew what it was like to be far from family and had invited the men over for Christmas. However, they had left for Lethbridge, coming back the next day.
"Sounds like they had a bad night and things didn't go right," Hughes speculated. "So quick ... how a person can be here one day and gone the next."
Hughes thought about the folks the deceased man left behind.
"Well, they'll never see their brother again, or their son again, and that's going to be stressful on the family."
With all signs pointing to the death as being the city's 46th murder of the year, Hughes reflected on the local homicide record.
"Why there's so much of this happening in Edmonton? It's unbelievable. You gotta question why it's happening and how we can bring it to an end," he said.
 |
At about 4:00 p.m., the medical examiner's van arrived and the body was removed – see images »
Police didn't reveal the identity of the man, saying that next of kin had to be notified first. With the death falling on a holiday weekend, investigators weren't certain when an autopsy would be scheduled.
Arrests announced
On January 1st, 2012, police confirmed that the death of the man found in the Mill Woods home was a homicide, saying also that two arrests had been made.
Paul Raymond Gill, 44, and William John Tubrett, 47, were each charged with second-degree murder.
Police said Gill's last known address before moving to Edmonton was in Springdale, a town of about 2,800 on Newfoundland's northeastern coast. He had been arrested in Fort McMurray.
Tubrett was most recently of St. John's and was originally from Grand Falls-Windsor, a town of almost 14,000 located inland from Springdale. He was arrested in a west Edmonton residence.
"All of these individuals have recently moved in from Newfoundland, approximately about a month ago, and they've come here to work," Acting Staff Sgt. Dan Collins told media.
The homicide unit investigator offered only a brief detail about what first alerted Edmonton police to the find.
"It was information that [RCMP] received through the community up in Fort McMurray," was all Collins said.
"Two of our investigators ended up going up to Fort McMurray, where they interviewed Mr. Gill."
That interview led to Tubrett's arrest in Edmonton.
The two men were not known to police in Fort McMurray or Edmonton, but back home it was a different matter.
"Both Mr. Tubrett and Gill do have a history with the police in Newfoundland," Collins said.
According to records obtained by Newfoundland's The Telegram, Gill had been previously convicted on a half-dozen charges, while Tubrett had spent several years in jail while answering to 67 offences, up to and including assault causing bodily harm – read more »
Paul Raymond Gill had been convicted of six charges between 1984 and 2010. His most serious conviction came in November 2010 when he was sentenced to five months in jail for break and enter.
According to court records, Gill had also resided in King's Point, about 24 km from Springdale.
A woman answering the phone at a Gill residence in Springdale told The Telegram not to call the number again.
"Don't you realize that we're hurting?" were her parting words.
William John Tubrett was first convicted of assault in 1982 and received a $250 fine with 12 months of probation.
The next year, he was convicted of five break-and-enter charges, earning him his first jail sentence of 45 days.
A December 25th, 1983, assault led to a 12-month sentence. Less than two years later he picked up a pair of years for a break and enter.
In July 1988, Tubrett received a 30-month sentence – again for break and enter.
In 1995, Tubrett was convicted of assault and breach of probation. He got three months in jail and was given two years of probation.
In 2001, probation breaches and a theft charge landed Tubrett a sentence of more than 100 days.
In September 2002, he received a one-year concurrent jail sentence for assault with a weapon and two one-month consecutive sentences for uttering threats and breaching a probation order.
A move to St. John's in 2004 may have been a change of scenery for Tubrett but it didn't prompt a change in his habits – he quickly faced multiple assault charges.
In March 2005 he was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting two female friends while intoxicated.
In 2010, in Grand Falls-Windsor, Tubrett was convicted of charges of theft, break and enter, and producing false documents. That produced a sentence of 14 months in jail.
When contacted by The Telegram, family members declined to comment on the charges Tubrett was facing in Edmonton.
"It's a touchy situation for the family," Tubrett's aunt said.
Later, the Edmonton Sun had better luck with Tubrett's sister, Ada Chippett, who said she was shocked to learn her brother had been charged with murder.
"I can't even believe it. My brother has been in trouble with the law for a while, but it was nothing like this," Chippett said from her home in Grand Falls.
The two last spoke a few days after Christmas.
"There was no indication anything was wrong. He told me he was doing perfect," Chippett said. "I'm not sure what happened in between. It's a mystery to me."
Police didn't say how long the man had been in the Mill Woods home prior to being found, and next-of-kin notification had yet to be completed before they would release his name.
In addition, the sudden weekend work load also held up autopsy results.
"Due to the number of incidents in the last little while, we've had some scheduling issues," Collins said.
Both Tubrett and Gill were set to appear in court on January 3rd.
No information about the female tenant of the home was provided by police.
Victim identified
On January 4th, 2012, police said an autopsy had been completed and that 35-year-old Jamie Francis Vickers of Whitless Bay, Newfoundland, was Edmonton's 46th homicide victim of the year.
Cause of death was being withheld, investigators said.
The two men charged with Vickers' death were set to appear in court again on January 5th.
Vickers with his nephew Jayden Cobby-Vickers
In a twist of irony, it was Vickers who had hired Tubrett and Gill back in Newfoundland. He even helped them make their way to Alberta so they could work together – read more »
A cousin said Jamie had worked with the men last summer in his home town of Witless Bay, population 1,100 and about an hour's drive south of St. John's on Newfoundland's east coast.
"For me – Jamie grew up with me, right – he was like a little kid brother," Ken Vickers said.
"Jamie must have figured they were pretty good workers – he took them away with him. Paid their way up, looked out for them, rented the house."
According to Tubrett's sister, Ada Chippett, the three men and a woman had left for Alberta in two vehicles. Somewhere along the way, one of the vehicles broke down.
Leaving the vehicle on the side of the road, the four continued in Jamie's vehicle to Edmonton. Their plan had been to go to Fort McMurray where they had work lined up to build a 33-unit project. However, they stayed in Edmonton and did local work instead.
Vickers had split his time working in Newfoundland and Alberta for the past 14 years, Jamie's younger sister Tracey Vickers said.
He made his living building homes. After advertising for labourers to work in Witless Bay, he hired Tubrett and Gill.
They worked for Vickers for months, helping him build few homes in the Witless Bay area. Jamie was impressed enough with their work ethic that he paid for the two men to travel with him to Edmonton – even offering them a place to stay once they got there.
Tracey said her family was shocked to learn that the two men accused of murdering her brother were the same ones he had recently hired.
"We were stunned and devastated ... couldn't believe it. One of them sat at my mother's table and had Sunday dinner with them," she said.
"Jamie was so good to them. He paid their way to Alberta. He kept them employed for the past while."
Tracey said her brother had been working to pay for a new home he was building on his grandfather's land near Witless Bay. He hoped his parents would live with him there. He was halfway to that goal, she said.
"Nice place there and we was planning on putting an apartment in the basement for his family. He was gonna go up top ..." Ken said.
"Wasn't meant to be I guess."
Times are often tough on the East Coast. And for many young men living in Newfoundland, better times would be had if they could make their way west to the oil patch.
"Jamie was a little bit more ambitious. You had to give the man credit," Ken said.
"Worked hard ... and when work got scarce around here he didn't just fold his hands and say 'I'm not do anything.' He packed up and went to Alberta.
"There's no way for anybody to prepare for something like this," Ken said. "This was going to be his dream home. That's why he was going to Alberta – to make some money to put the next step on the house."
Jamie's death also meant several other homes around Witless Bay remained unfinished.
And for his family, many questions remained unanswered.
"They are all pretty shook up. They are just huddled around the kitchen table for now, trying to comfort each other," Ken said.
"He'd do anything for anybody. He made you smile. He always had a joke to crack or a story to tell," Tracey said.
"He did not deserve this. He didn't deserve to be treated like this."
"He was a good young fella. He was a fun loving, funny guy. He certainly wasn't lazy," Ken said.
"He was getting on his feet. He was a happy person," Tracey said.
"He was getting his head out of the clouds and he knew he had to settle down. He was only 35 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him."
The family said they planned to complete the home in his memory.
"We're going to build that house and my mother and father are going to live in it. That's what he wanted to do."
Whatever happened in Edmonton wasn't seen coming.
Tubrett's sister, Ada Chippett, said her aunt had invited the three men to her Edmonton home for dinner on Christmas Day. Only Tubrett showed up, staying with her for a few days before going back to work.
The aunt was too upset to speak to media about later events.
Police never said how long Vickers had been dead before being found.
All the information presented on this page has been compiled primarily from published media reports and should not be interpreted as having legal bearing or other prejudice against the individuals named on this web site.
The Last Link on the Left practices fair presentation and the disclosure of relevant interests.
Mouseover for image credits.
