Justice has finally been served in the murder of an Edmonton man gunned down 18 years ago.
Michael Joseph Desmarais, 52, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 11 years on Friday, after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 44-year-old Gordon Mills.
Mills ventured out on a sightseeing trip through the Rockies in July 1992, telling family he’d be gone a few days. His body was found at a historical site east of the Crowsnest Pass in August of that year.
An investigation revealed his credit card had been stolen and used in Saskatchewan and then the United States.
During the same period, American authorities arrested Desmarais for murder in North Carolina, after an elderly man was discovered shot dead and robbed at a highway rest stop in North Dakota.
Desmarais was driving Mills’ vehicle at the time of the arrest.
He was convicted of William Menz’s murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Mounties interviewed Desmarais twice during his incarceration about Mills’ death, though he refused to talk.
In November 2007, three RCMP officers travelled to Oregon, where Desmarais admitted he shot the Edmonton man to death.
After he finished his sentence in June, he was immediately deported to Canada to face a new set of murder charges.
“He was the primary suspect. We were biding our time,” Crowsnest Pass RCMP Sgt. Scott Howard said.
