EDMONTON — An Alberta woman has pleaded guilty in the death of her husband, who had been missing for six years before police found his body in a slough.
Helen Naslund, who is 58, pleaded guilty on Thursday in an Edmonton courtroom to manslaughter for the 2011 shooting of 49-year old Miles Naslund on a farm near Holden, Alta.
The couple's 28-year old son, Neil Naslund, pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to human remains.
The mother and son were initially charged with first-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman accepted both guilty pleas.
Sanderman, calling the couple's marriage a tumultuous one, also accepted an agreed statement of facts that showed there had been a domineering pattern of abuse.
The document says Helen Naslund shot her husband twice in the back of his head with a 22-calibre pistol when he was in bed in September 2011.
It says she and her son put his body in a metal truckbox and used a boat to dump it in a swampy area. They threw the gun in another slough and buried his car in a farmer's field, the document says.
Court heard the mother and son then contacted two other sons in the family to tell them what had happened. They all agreed that they would say Myles Naslund was missing.
One of the sons later told friends that he had a family secret and explained what really happened to his father, says the statement of facts.
Police had initially treated Myles Naslund as a missing person, but began a homicide investigation after receiving a tip.
Investigators, with the help of a dive team, found his remains on the farm southeast of Edmonton in 2017.
Helen Naslund and Neil Naslund, who are out on bail, are to be sentenced on Oct. 30.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 20, 2020
The Canadian Press