A once-aspiring teacher has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years in the grisly slaying of a Bolivian immigrant.

Chelsea O’Hanley, 26, is one of four people sentenced to prison terms in the June 2020 murder of 27-year-old Gerhard Reimer-Wiebe.

Reimer-Wiebe was tortured for days in a Winnipeg home before he was killed. His body was transported to Portage la Prairie, where his killers burned and buried it on the edge of a field.

O’Hanley was convicted after trial of second-degree murder, accessory to murder after the fact and indignity to human remains.

Jonathan Narvey, 27, a drug dealer and O’Hanley’s then-boyfriend, and Kyle Sinkovits, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced last summer to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years.

Bobbi-Lynn Hall, 28, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact and was sentenced last year to four years in prison.

Seated in the prisoner’s box Monday, O’Hanley stared ahead blankly, her arms across her chest, as King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne reviewed the “horrific” details of Reimer-Wiebe’s death.

Reimer-Wiebe and his wife immigrated to Canada from Bolivia in 2015, settling in Mitchell, where he worked on a farm.

Reimer-Wiebe fell into drug use and, after a couple of failed attempts at residential treatment, retreated to Winnipeg to feed his addiction. In the week prior to his death, he was staying at an Alfred Street drug house, where his four killers all lived.

Court heard at trial Narvey and Sinkovits tortured and ultimately killed Reimer Wiebe after Hall told Sinkovits (her boyfriend) she had awakened in bed with Reimer-Wiebe and believed he had sexually assaulted her.

Reimer-Wiebe was tortured for three or four days in the basement of the house, and suffered an array of brutal injuries, including multiple stab wounds to his back, severed fingers and major skull trauma.

Court heard evidence O’Hanley took pictures of Reimer-Wiebe’s battered body on her cellphone and, with her three co-accused, drove his body in her car to a field in the Portage la Prairie area where it was burned and partially buried.

O’Hanley claimed at trial she had no knowledge of Reimer-Wiebe being tortured or killed, telling court Narvey told her Reimer-Wiebe “took off.”

Support letters provided to court described O’Hanley as a bright, thoughtful and caring person and frequent volunteer who was looking forward to her first job as a teacher.

But her life took a downward spiral when she met Narvey, her first serious boyfriend, an abusive and violent drug dealer, Champagne said.

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O’Hanley stood by Narvey and “it cost her a life sentence,” Champagne said.

Champagne rejected a call by the Crown that O’Hanley be ordered to serve 17 years in prison before she can apply for parole, saying she had good prospects for rehabilitation.

“What will be more difficult for O’Hanley is to acknowledge her involvement in this horrific murder,” Champagne said.

“She may choose to continue to fool herself and her family by denying her involvement, that is her choice. I suspect doing so will mean ongoing nightmares and compromised well-being.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.

   Read full biography