Subject of Manitoba manhunt charged in neighbour’s homicide

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This article was published 10/09/2021 (1461 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What began as a missing persons case in June, leading to a week-long manhunt across provincial lines, ended this week with a first-degree murder charge.

Just days after Clifford Joseph, 40, was reported missing June 7 from the Rural Municipality of St. Clements, RCMP identified neighbour Eric Wildman, 34, as a person of interest in the case, following the recovery of Wildman’s abandoned car in Winnipeg.

Wildman was arrested June 18 in Belleville, Ont., for weapons and attempted murder charges, after an armed standoff where shots were fired at police.

Human remains found July 18 near Stead (some 75 kilometres north of Winnipeg) were identified July 27 as those of Joseph.

On Friday, Manitoba RCMP announced they had charged Wildman with first-degree murder.

“This started as a missing person investigation, and over the next week or so this went from a missing person report — which we get literally thousands of a year — to suspicious missing persons, and the next weekend, we ended up getting Mr. Wildman’s car,” said Supt. Michael Koppang, officer in charge of Manitoba RCMP major crime services.

“It was at that time really that this changed from a suspicious missing person, and we went out the next day and named Mr. Wildman as a suspect in the homicide.”

Officials reported finding several firearms, police-style tactical equipment, police patches, red-blue car lights and other police paraphernalia in Wildman’s car. Combined with interviews and other evidence, Koppang said, Wildman quickly became a leading suspect in the investigation.

“What happened on that weekend was that the finding of the weapons and the police paraphernalia, this changed the public safety assessment and risk,” he said.

“That, in conjunction with Mr. Wildman not coming in or engaging with our investigation and really starting to go on the run at that point, that really changes things in terms of our involvement with the media and the public.”

RCMP released an alert describing Wildman and his vehicle, warning the public not to engage him and encouraging tips. What followed were a series of “credible tips,” including a sighting by an off-duty RCMP member who placed Wildman in the Lac du Bonnet area and sparked a “concentrated search” of the Whiteshell.

In co-ordination with Ontario Provincial Police, investigators later received a credible tip Wildman had entered a home outside the city of Belleville. After an armed standoff where shots were fired at officers, Wildman was arrested June 18.

“At the end of the day, those tips were key,” said Koppang. “We had tactical teams on standby, covert surveillance teams on standby, we’ve got everybody waiting until we get some type of credible sighting and then we can deploy all of those resources.”

Over the next month, RCMP continued the search for Joseph and building their case. In total, more than 100 officers joined the manhunt and homicide investigation; search and rescue officers spent more than 1,050 hours on the file, Koppang said.

“Both personally and on behalf of the RCMP, we offer our deepest condolences to the Joseph family,” said Koppang. “The family is now starting the court process and we try to support them the best we can, but this process is arguably even harder than the investigation process.”

Wildman remains in custody.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers