Osborne murder investigation officially closed
Last Updated: Friday, November 10, 2000 | 11:53 PM ET
CBC News
More than 27 years ago the native teenager was brutally beaten, stabbed, sexually assaulted and left for dead just outside The Pas. The search for her killers was frustrated by a wall of silence within the white community.
Four men were implicated in the murder, but only one, Dwayne Archie Johnston, was ever convicted. It took 16 years for that to happen.
Two years ago Johnston agreed to participate in a native healing circle with the Osborne family. During that meeting he told his version of the events of that night in Nov. 1971, for the first time.
That was enough to get the RCMP investigation underway again, looking for evidence against others.
But now the RCMP say Johnston's story just isn't credible, that he can't be believed.
It will bring an official end to the tragic murder. But for the Osborne family it won't end. "We need some closure," her sister Cecelia told CBC News. But without Johnston's evidence it now appears unlikely the others who participated in the murder will ever be charged.
As for Dwayne Archie Johnston. He's been granted full parole.
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