By Brook Wagner on August 6, 2026.
Brayan Boucher, 51, sentenced to life, must serve 25 years before he can seek parole in the killing of Joanne Ghostkeeper (pictured), a Cree mother of two.–HANDOUT PHOTObwagner@medicinehatnews.com
A man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 1996 murder of an Edmonton woman nearly 30 years after her death and three years after DNA evidence led to his arrest.
Brayan Boucher, 51, will not be able to apply for parole for 25 years. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Joanne Ghostkeeper, a 24-year-old Cree mother of two. He was sentenced Thursday at the Court of King’s Bench in Edmonton.
Justice Marta Burns said the killing caused deep and lasting harm.
“Sentence cannot repair that kind of loss,” Burns said. “The facts are horrific.”
Ghostkeeper was found dead in her apartment on Christmas Day 1996. Court heard she died from ligature strangulation, which means an object was wrapped around her neck. Boucher was 22 at the time of the offence.
Prosecutors said Boucher had met Ghostkeeper once or twice before the killing. He went to her apartment on Dec. 23, 1996, and there was no signs of forced entry. Court heard an altercation broke out, and Boucher strangled her with her bathrobe belt and a shoelace while sexually assaulting her. He then locked the apartment door and left.
The case went cold for decades. In October 2022, the RCMP forensic laboratory re-examined old evidence and produced a male DNA profile. That profile matched Boucher and police arrested him on June 14, 2023. Boucher denied killing Ghostkeeper throughout the trial.
A publication ban had protected Ghostkeeper’s identity during the trial. It was lifted last week at the request of her two children.
Her cousin Sheila Kirsch read a victim impact statement in court.
“This man took away a beautiful mother, a caring mother,” she said.
Speaking directly to Boucher, she added, “You had over three decades of being free.”
She became too upset to finish, and called him a “loser” as she walked past him.
The daughter’s statement read by prosecutors said the family stopped celebrating Christmas until 2024.
“I will always remember my mom – and now she will rest in peace,” it said.
Ghostkeeper’s parents and both her brothers died before the case ended. Her mother, Mary Willier, told CBC News in 2023 she hoped Boucher would not go free. Willier had long pushed for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Court also heard a Gladue report on Boucher’s background. The judge said the court recognized those systemic factors but that they did not change the mandatory sentence. Burns ordered Boucher to give a DNA sample, banned him from owning firearms for life and placed him on the national sex offender registry. He can apply for parole in June 2048.
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