(Photo: submitted by RCMP)
Human remains discovered in Saint John in 2012 have been identified as those of a missing Moncton woman
Twenty-seven year old Cheryl Pyne was reported missing to the Codiac Regional RCMP in August 2004. It was later determined she had been the victim of a homicide.
In November 2020, the Major Crime Unit requested a DNA sample from one of Cheryl Pyne’s family members and submitted it to the National Missing Persons DNA Program, which was launched in 2018.
This is the first time this program has been successfully used by the New Brunswick RCMP.
In 2009, David Joseph Ouellette was convicted of manslaughter in Pyne’s death and he was sentenced to life in prison.
Cheryl Pyne’s mother, 45-year-old Kathryn Pyne-Welner, of Moncton, was also the victim of a homicide in 2005, which has never been solved.
“No file is ever closed until it is solved,” says Constable Hans Ouellette of the New Brunswick RCMP. “We realize this has been a very difficult process for Cheryl’s family, with many long years of waiting and wondering. We’re grateful that Cheryl has finally been located after all this time, and we hope the identification of her remains may lead to new information coming forward about her mother’s death.”
Cheryl Pyne’s sister Trudy Welner says, “The family is a little frustrated knowing that Cheryl’s’ remains were found eight years ago, in 2012, and the system has let us down. We’re trying our best to have closure under the circumstances. Because of the weather and what the world is going through right now, laying her to rest has been postponed. At the same time, we are thankful for the officers and detectives who have worked hard to bring us these results.”
A funeral and burial for Pyne will be held in the spring, at Alderwood Cemetery, in Riverview, where she will be finally laid to rest with her mom Kathryn Pyne-Welner.
Welner says, “Even though we have found enormous waves of solace with outpouring love and support from our friends and family, this is still a difficult time, not knowing the events that preceded our mother’s death. We still appeal to the public for information regarding the death of Kathy Pyne-Welner.”
(Photo: submitted by RCMP)
