Jeremy Starblanket had been left on the couch of this home, shot and beaten when it was lit on fire and subsequently blew up. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

First degree charge reduced

Man who cleaned up after gang killing handed 18-month jail sentence

Dec 19, 2023 | 11:16 AM

A charge of first degree murder was reduced to obstruction of justice for Keyano Ahenakew, one of four people charged with killing Jeremy Starblanket in 2021.

Jeremy Starblanket, from Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, was 29 at the time of his death in March, 2021.

Ahenakew, age 26, did not choose to say anything after pleading guilty to that charge and a second charge of breaching his release conditions in Prince Albert Provincial Court today. He was sentenced to 18 months.

No witness or video evidence could specifically show Ahenakew’s involvement in the beating, shooting and subsequent burning of the home in which Starblanket died after it was lit on fire.

In the time leading up to the Starblanket’s death, multiple gang members were partying in the house and the victim ended up passing out on a couch.

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When someone tried to wake him up, Starblanket responded by punching the person and then was beaten by an unknown number of gang members, Provincial Court Judge Daunt heard.

In an agreed statement of facts, the prosecutor said Ahenakew was confirmed to be involved in trying to clean up the scene of the beating with bleach before another gang member – Loretta Sakebow – returned with a jerry can of gas and a lighter.

The home was lit on fire with a resulting explosion that took the building right off its foundations.

Starblanket was in the home when it burned and, despite having broken bones and being shot beforehand, was killed by thermal burns and smoke inhalation.

Sakebow, who rented the home and was hosting the party, also had a charge of second degree murder reduced. She pleaded guilty to arson with disregard for human life in October and was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Ahenakew was given an 18-month jail sentence but will only serve 119 days after his time in custody pre-conviction is considered along with 30 days for breaching his release conditions in November of 2022.

He was supposed to be in a residence on the Ahtahkakoop First Nation and not leave the home but was found in Prince Albert by PAPS.

In that incident, officers were dispatched to a home to which people were going to with knives. When they searched the building, they found Ahenakew hiding behind a furnace.

He has a lengthy criminal history with 22 previous convictions, four of which involve violence and 10 breaches of conditions along with break and enter charges.

Ahenakew is from Sandy Lake and was raised by his mother, never knowing his father.

While his mother successfully got her education degree, Ahenakew told his lawyer she had addiction issues and would often leave him alone for days at a time in the care of his sister.

He started drinking in his mid-teens and then started using drugs, including meth and cocaine.

Daunt did not give Ahenakew a lengthy address, instead telling him about Str8 Up, an organization based in Saskatoon that helps people leave gangs.

One of the people charged in Starblanket’s death still has their charges outstanding. Henry Ratt is the only accused left to face the justice system.

Darren Masuskapoe, who was also charged with first-degree murder, had his matter stayed on Sept. 26.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com