A 43-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of his ex-wife in her home in northwest Calgary more than 16 years ago.

The body of 24-year-old Terrie Ann Dauphinais was found in a home in the 100 block of Citadel Peak Circle N.W. on Monday, April 29, 2002 and an autopsy deemed her death a homicide. Dauphinais’ three young children were found alive in the home by officers.

Police believed that the suspect was familiar with the home but the case went cold in 2005.

Acting Staff Sergeant Ken Carriere of the Calgary Police Service Homicide says Terrie Ann's estranged husband was identified as a person of interest following the discovery of the body. “Ken Dauphinais was known to investigators from the onset of the investigation.”

At the time of the 24-year-old's death, 27-year-old Kenneth Dauphinais was not living at the residence.

Last August, the case was reviewed after police received new information and Kenneth Dauphinais was arrested on Monday at the Calgary International Airport.

“Information came forward that was not known back in 2002 to 2005. As that information was received by the Calgary Police Service, it was evaluated for its veracity, placed in the file that was evaluated by the cold case detectives and placed in the queue for investigation,” said Carriere. “Those little pieces of information that the public has that finally come forward and, once we receive that, it often pushes the file to a great place and that’s what happened here.” 

Kenneth Dauphinais has been charged with second-degree murder and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, May 25.

According to Carriere, Dauphinais had relocated to Winnipeg, Manitoba and witnesses who assisted the murder investigation are scattered across Canada. The Calgary Police Service received help from the Winnipeg Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Saskatoon Police Service and the RCMP in the investigation into Terrie Ann Dauphinais' death.

On the 10 year anniversary of Terrie Ann's death in 2012, her parents confirmed to CTV that Kenneth Dauphinais had moved to Saskatoon and had custody of his children.

On Tuesday, Acting Staff Sergeant Carriere confirmed that two of the three children removed from the Citadel home in 2002 are now adults and all three of the children are currently in a safe space.