BATTLEFORDS – Only four of the 10 people convicted in the torture and murder of Tiki Laverdiere haven’t been released from federal prison, while others have been released on parole or after serving provincial sentences.
Soaring Eagle Whitstone, Nikita Cook, Nicole Cook, and Jesse Sangster haven’t been granted parole. Three others – Danita Thomas, Shayla Orthner and Brent Checkosis – were paroled, though Thomas and Orthner have since been returned to custody.
Three others – Mavis Takakenew, Samuel Takakenew, and Charles St. Savard – weren’t sent to federal prison and instead received lighter provincial jail sentences. All three have since been released.
Whitstone, sentenced in 2022 to life with no parole for 25 years, is serving her sentence in a Quebec prison. Nikita Cook received a similar sentence in 2021 and is incarcerated in Ontario. Nicole Cook was handed a life sentence in 2023 with parole eligibility beginning in 2029. She is currently in a British Columbia facility. Sangster was sentenced in 2024 to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 10 years. His current location is unknown.
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Laverdiere’s remains were discovered in July 2019 in a rural area outside North Battleford, months after she was reported missing. The investigation spanned Alberta and Saskatchewan and involved more than 120 witnesses, ultimately leading to the conviction of 10 people.
From July 2019 to August 2020, police arrested 10 people and charged them in Laverdiere’s murder.
Court heard Lavierdiere’s murder was a gang-related killing and Soaring Eagle Whitstone, the “queen” of Westside Outlawz street gang, ordered her murder.
The five-year publication ban on the case was lifted on April 26, 2024, after Sangster, the 10th person to be convicted was sentenced. During trial proceedings, North Battleford Senior Crown Prosecutor Chris Browne described the murder as a “real-life horror movie.”
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
