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Sentencing for Checkosis delayed due to COVID-19

Sentencing for a North Battleford man charged in connection to the murder of Tiki Brook-Lyn Laverdiere was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Checkosis
Sentencing for Brent Checkosis, 18, charged in connection to the Tiki Laverdiere murder, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Averil Hall photo)

Sentencing for a North Battleford man charged in connection to the murder of Tiki Brook-Lyn Laverdiere was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent Checkoisis, 18, pleaded guilty in December 2019 to accessory to murder and was to be sentenced March 25 in Battlefords Court of Queen’s Bench.

He was arrested July 25, 2019, and charged with accessory after the fact to murder, improperly interfering with a human body and theft of a vehicle. He hasn’t entered any pleas for the charges of improper interference with a human body and theft of a vehicle.

Laverdiere, 25, was last heard from on May 1, 2019, after she sent a text from North Battleford to her family saying she wanted to return home to Edmonton. She was reported missing to the Battlefords RCMP on May 12, 2019. On May 17, 2019, police said her disappearance was suspicious. On June 12, 2019, RCMP found human remains in a rural area near North Battleford. The remains were later identified as Laverdiere.

Seven other people were charged in connection to Laverdiere’s murder. Over a three-week period during July and August, police arrested all eight co-accused in North Battleford and Edmonton.

Shayla Orthner, Danita Thomas, both of North Battleford, Jesse Sangster, Nicole Cook and Nikita Cook of Edmonton, and Soaring Eagle Whitstone of Onion Lake Cree Nation, are all charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping. ­­

Mavis Quinn Takakenew is charged with accessory to murder after the fact.

The court imposed a publication ban on sentencing hearings for Checkosis and Takakenew until the trials of the six remaining co-accused are finished.

The cases against Nikita Cook and Nicole Cook were also adjourned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nicole Cook is from Edmonton and is the mother of Tristen Cook-Buckle, 20, whose funeral Laverdiere travelled to North Battleford to attend on April 27, 2019. Cook-Buckle’s body was found in a burned vehicle near Vegreville, Alta. on April 5, 2019. Police later determined, through DNA evidence, that blood found behind a house in Edmonton near 92 St. and 100 Ave., was that of Cook-Buckle. An autopsy revealed that Cook-Buckle’s death was homicide. Police haven’t released the cause of death.

Numerous weapons charges against Checkosis were dropped by the Crown in February 2020. The charges, stemming from incidents unrelated to the Laverdiere murder, included three counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, three counts of carrying a concealed weapon, unauthorized possession of a weapon, careless use of a firearm, failing to comply with conditions and failing to appear in court. 

Checkosis’ sentencing hearing for accessory to murder was re-scheduled to May 6, 2020, in Battlefords Court of Queen’s Bench.