Hours after the proceedings nearly ended with a mistrial, a jury has found Curtis Healy guilty of first-degree murder in the 2015 death of Dawns Echoes Baptiste.

When the trial was convened on Friday morning, Healy's defence lawyer said that a number of the jurors who had been sequestered on Thursday night had met in the hotel lounge and there was the possibility of a mistrial because of news coverage of the trial begin show on television.

On Friday afternoon, Justice Charlene Anderson dismissed the idea of a mistrial and the jury was sent back to deliberate the case, much to the relief of many members of Baptiste's family who were in attendance.

After few hours, they returned with a guilty verdict for the charge of first-degree murder.

Members of Baptiste's family are relieved after hearing of the guilty verdict.

"We finally got the verdict. We've been standing up here for my sister everyday and here for other murdered and missing Indigenous women," said Alex Baptiste. "It was a rollercoaster ride, but we all stuck it out."

He says that all of the members of Dawns' family sat together, stayed strong and prayed.

"It's beautiful. We all stuck it out and represented for her."

Verlyn Baptiste, one of Dawns' cousins, says the whole situation has hurt their family deeply and now, with the verdict, they can start to heal.

"I am so glad he was found guilty of first-degree. I am shaking all over; I am just so glad that this is over and that we can all move on and we can begin to heal as a family because this has affected our family so deeply. We will never, ever forget forget that."

Baptiste’s body was found outside a home in Whitehorn on February 12 and officials determined that her cause of death was due to blunt force trauma.

Healy was arrested and charged with first-degree murder a few days later.

During his trial, the jurors heard that Healy and Baptiste had met each other on the CTrain just a few hours prior to her death.

The victim was on her way to a friend’s house and the pair left the train together at Whitehorn Station, walking into the community.

The trial heard that Healy suddenly attacked Baptiste, pushing her to the sidewalk, stomping on her head and hitting her with a bottle before dragging her into a back yard to rape her.

Healy then struck her in the head with a large rock and left her for dead.

Baptiste died of her injuries a short time later and her body was found by a passerby approximately 36 hours after the incident.

In closing arguments, the Crown said that Healy should be convicted of first-degree murder because of the series of events that led up to her death.

The defence never disputed that Healy raped and killed Baptiste, but say the sequence of events is unclear and he should be found guilty of second-degree murder instead.

Alex Baptiste adds that the familes of all other missing or murdered Indigenous women need to hang on and not give up on seeking justice.

"Just believe that the justice system will turn around and protect the women. Nothing like that should ever happen at all."

Healy now faces a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

(With files from Ina Sidhu and the Canadian Press)