Homicide investigators announced a break in the case of Michael Scullion, the 30-year-old Chilliwack man who went missing in B.C.'s Fraser Valley almost six years ago.
The Lower Mainland's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says charges relating to Scullion's death have been laid against Richard MacInnes, 45, of Rosedale, a farming-based community also in Chilliwack.
Scullion was last seen outside a pub — the Harrison Crossroads Inn — in Agassiz in the early morning of April 10, 2008. He failed to show up at work and didn't pick up his daughter later that day.
RCMP Sgt. Adam MacIntosh said that within a few days, investigators believed the missing man had been killed, but the case went cold.
IHIT investigators took over the case in 2012 even though Scullion's body has never been found.
"In this circumstance, our Cold Case investigators were able to obtain sufficient evidence to support that Michael Scullion was no longer alive and there was no other reasonable explanation for him being missing other than him being the victim of a homicide," MacIntosh said in a written statement.
On Friday, Richard MacInnes, 45, of Rosedale was arrested and charged with second degree murder and indignity to human remains.
At a press conference in Surrey, B.C. on Monday, Lou Scullion thanked police for the work done on his son's case.
"I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of my family to say thank you to the many people who have shown their love, support and understanding to help us deal with this horrible situation," he said.
"We would also like to give a special thank you to the RCMP and IHIT for never giving up."