Saint John, N.B., police say all suspects in Courtney MacKenzie’s death now charged
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SAINT JOHN – Police in Saint John, N.B., say all the suspects in the death of Courtney MacKenzie have been charged with the recent arrests of three people, five years after the 27-year-old was found dead in the city’s north end.
The Saint John Police Force says its officers arrested two men and a woman this week in what was the first major development in the case since 2023.
“The investigation was extensive, it was highly complex and it required a significant amount of time to complete it responsibly,” Staff Sgt. Shawna Fowler said in a Wednesday interview.
MacKenzie was reported missing on May 8, 2021, and her body was found in a Victoria Street home three days later. Police said at the time her death was suspicious.
Then on Tuesday, a 39-year-old man was charged by police with manslaughter, improperly interfering with human remains, kidnapping, forcible confinement and various counts of assault. The suspect is also facing charges in an incident involving a separate female victim, including robbery, forcible confinement and assault with a weapon.
He made an appearance in provincial court Tuesday and is scheduled to return May 19. He remains in custody, police said.
Another man, 40, was charged with being an accessory after the fact and interfering with human remains in MacKenzie’s case. He was the same person, Fowler said, who was arrested and released without charges three years ago in the death.
A 37-year-old woman was charged with being an accessory in MacKenzie’s death and improperly interfering with human remains. She was also charged in a separate case with forcible confinement, robbery, assault causing bodily harm and theft involving another victim.
The same woman was arrested in 2023 but wasn’t charged, said Fowler. The woman was released Tuesday on conditions ahead of a scheduled July 27 court appearance.
“We believe that we’ve arrested everybody involved in this at this time,” Fowler said.
Police Chief Robert Bruce said the arrests followed a “relentless pursuit of trust and due process” over the past few years.
“Courtney MacKenzie was not just a name on a file folder; she was a vibrant young woman whose life was taken far too soon,” Bruce said in a statement Tuesday.
“The members of the Saint John Police never gave up on getting justice for her, her family, and friends.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2026.
— with files from Devin Stevens in Halifax.