Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper outside the Board of Police Commissioners meeting Thursday. (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM)

By Lara Fominoff, CKOM News

Myles Sanderson autopsy completed, but wait for answers continues

Sep 16, 2022 | 11:48 AM

It’s not yet clear when the public will get more information about the cause and circumstances of Myles Sanderson’s death.

Sanderson, 32, was the prime suspect in the stabbing deaths of 10 people on the James Smith Cree Nation and in nearby Weldon over the Labour Day Weekend.

The RCMP, with the help of several other police departments, searched for him for four days before he was caught in a stolen Chevy Avalanche south of Rosthern on Sept. 7.

Shortly after his arrest, which saw police force the stolen truck off the road, Sanderson went into “medical distress” and died while in RCMP custody. The details of his death have not been made public.

Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper said his department has been tasked with investigating the cause of Sanderson’s death and the circumstances that led up to it.

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“Whenever there’s a death in custody in Saskatchewan, we have a process that we follow, (a) legislative process where a different police service is called in to do a component of the investigation,” Cooper said.

The police chief confirmed Sanderson’s autopsy had been completed, but noted that the department is still waiting for a toxicology report which could take much longer.

As for whether the full report and its findings will be made public, Cooper said that not yet been decided. He says the reports are the property of the provincial Ministry of Justice.

“They are made public in certain circumstances,” he said. “Generally, they’re an in-camera sort of report, but in inquests or procedures, those reports are sometimes public. I’m certain a lot of the details, as they’re found, will become more available and be made public.”

Cooper said the death investigation his department is conducting is also tied to the larger investigation, so his department is in constant contact with the RCMP.