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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Family forced to wait for chance at justice

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 08/3/2012 1:00 AM

Nancy Swenty (CP)

THEY waited several agonizing weeks before learning the fate of their missing loved one, then several more before her alleged killer was taken into custody.

Now the family of Nancy Swenty is going to have to wait a while longer to see how the high-profile case will play out in the courts.

Russell McDiarmid is accused of killing Swenty, 33, in July 2011, then disposing of her body near her Fisher Branch home where searchers found her remains in late August. He was arrested in September in Canmore, Alta., following an investigation and cross-country manhunt.

McDiarmid, 52, is charged with second-degree murder. A preliminary hearing beginning the week of Jan. 21, 2013 was recently set, according to court documents.

If a judge rules there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial, it's likely that wouldn't happen until late 2013 or even 2014. McDiarmid remains in custody without bail.

Police began looking at McDiarmid as a potential murder suspect shortly after Swenty vanished on July 28, 2011. The case picked up steam when her remains were found about a month later, but McDiarmid disappeared before he could be arrested.

One of his friends called police in early September, saying McDiarmid had called him to say he'd left a "present" in his vehicle. The friend, Mike Dudek, discovered a rifle and a plastic bag with bullets inside the truck. There was also a handwritten note. "(It said) 'with all the stuff that you're hearing, none of it's true. I did have her truck, I never did kill anybody, I found it on the side of the road,' " Dudek told the Free Press.

Police said Swenty and McDiarmid shared a "common link" through a friend. RCMP began expanding their search for him when he was spotted leaving a Saskatoon hospital. Police got a tip he might be headed to B.C. in a stolen pickup truck, but intercepted him at an Alberta campground.

Police have never released Swenty's cause of death, saying such information could jeopardize their case.

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 3, 2012 A7