Alberta man accused of murder in 1976 death of Calgary teen retains a lawyer

Ronald James Edwards, 73, is accused of killing 16-year-old Pauline Brazeau in early January 1976.

COCHRANE, Alta. -

The family of a teen killed in 1976 sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery Tuesday as the man accused in her death had his second appearance.

The daughter of Pauline Brazeau and her grandchildren were among the family members who attended the court appearance for Ronald James Edwards in Cochrane, Alta., west of Calgary.

Brazeau, a 16-year-old Metis mother from Saskatchewan, had relocated to Calgary with her infant daughter in the fall of 1975.

A few months later, on an early morning in January 1976, she was seen leaving a restaurant.

Her body was found hours later west of the city.

Edwards, who is charged with non-capital murder – an offence in the Criminal Code at the time of Brazeau's death – has retained Calgary defence lawyer Pawel Milczarek and is scheduled to be back in court Dec. 5.

Brazeau's family declined to talk about the case except to say they were happy that a suspect has been charged.

Edwards, 74, was excused from attending court.

Police said the arrest came as a result of a partnership between the RCMP historical homicide unit and Calgary police's cold case homicide unit.

Brazeau's case was reopened in 2021 in an effort to reanalyze historical homicide investigations from the Calgary area dating back to the 1970s. –

Alberta RCMP used genetic genealogy to help identify leads. In 2022, investigators sought the assistance of Othram Inc., a private lab in the United States. They then worked with two genealogists from Convergence Investigative Genetic Genealogy, which led to the arrest.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023.