A man and woman who were arrested on Tuesday in connection to the brutal murders of four people earlier this year have now been charged with first-degree murder and accessory after the fact to murder.
Glynnis Fox, 36, Cody Pfeiffer, 25, and Tiffany Ear, 39, were found dead in a burned out car in the Sage Hill area on July 10, 2017.
Two days later, the vehicle’s registered owner, Hanock Afowerk, 26, was found dead in a ditch along Highway 22 and Highway 8.
Police say that the victims and accused were known to each other.
"I can say that all five of these, all six of these people, the four victims and the two accused, were known to one another, they have an association to one another, and that was ferried out during the investigation. The exact nature of those roles, I can’t comment on at this particular time,” said Acting Insp. Paul Wozney of the CPS Major Crimes Section. “As investigations progress and move forward and more information comes to light and we gather more information through court order, investigative theories sometimes change and we are now of the belief, and this is based on the corroboration of records and interviews and other police techniques, that these people are all known to one other.”
Ten days later, a search was launched for a 24-year-old Yu Chieh Liao, who was believed to have information on the homicides and she was arrested in Toronto on July 27.
Investigators say Liao and Afowerk were in a relationship at one time.
Police also identified 25-year-old Tewodros Mutugeta Kebede as a person of interest and he was also picked up in Toronto on unrelated charges.
“We were able to finally locate her in Toronto and she was arrested in Toronto at that time on unrelated charges and brought back to Calgary to be processed on those charges. Since then, she was in the community, living in the community under conditions. Mr. Kebede was also arrested in Toronto and he was remanded in custody in Toronto on unrelated charges and was brought back to Calgary recently,” said Wozney.
On Tuesday, both were taken into custody and arrested in the case.
Yu Chieh Liao, also known as Diana Liao, and Tewodros Mutugeta Kebede have each been charged with one count of first-degree murder in Afowerk’s death and three counts of accessory after the fact to murder in the deaths of Fox, Pfeiffer and Ear.
“For us to lay charges, any sort of murder charge we need Crown approval, we need consent of the Crown before we move forward and we basically present our case to the Crown, the Crown reviews the information, the evidence before them, and they were able to make a determination based on what we presented them and we’ve done that in this particular case. The evidence, thus far, supports a charge of first-degree murder only for the murder of Mr. Afowerk. The investigation into the death of the three people in the vehicle, that is continuing and it is full steam ahead with that investigation," said Wozney.
Liao and Kebede are scheduled to appear in court on November 2.
Police say that the investigation is ongoing and that several people are believed to be involved.
“We mentioned in a previous media release going back several weeks that we’re looking for a location near the Moosejaw air fields. I understand there’s an airport just outside of Moosejaw and there also a Canadian Forces base outside of Moosejaw as well and there’s a location where we believe clothing may have been burned or destroyed and we’re asking for people in that particular area of Saskatchewan, of the province, to take a look in that area, perhaps farmers, if anyone knows that area well, if they could certainly crisscross those roads looking for any burned out locations, looking for that clothing. To this point, we’ve been unsuccessful in finding that location and we’re also looking for any other information with regards to this matter.,” said Wozney. “We believe that there are other people or parties that are involved in this offence and just because charges are laid, as I’m announcing today, this investigation is not slowing, resources are not being directed elsewhere, we are continuing to pursue the truth in this particular investigation and we’ll continue to do that.”
Anyone who may have information that could assist the investigation is asked to contact the police non-emergency number at 403-266-1234, or Crime Stoppers anonymously using either of the following methods:
TALK: 1-800-222-8477
