A man and woman from southeastern P.E.I. have been sentenced to three years in jail for actions they took after the death of 27-year-old Summer Kneebone more than a year ago.
About 20 of Kneebone’s family members and their supporters were at the Georgetown courthouse Thursday as Donald Roy Holmes and Samantha Jemima Parlee-Buell received their sentences.
The pair are both from Pembroke, just north of Murray Harbour. They were arrested in New Glasgow, N.S., more than a month after Kneebone was last seen alive in Charlottetown on Aug. 7, 2023.
At the time, police said the two had been arrested under Section 182(b) of the Criminal Code of Canada on charges of interfering with a dead body or human remains.
Holmes and Parlee-Buell pleaded guilty to those counts in October, in addition to one charge each of misleading police.
Before Thursday’s sentencing, court heard that Holmes and Parlee-Buell initially lied to police about how much they knew about Kneebone’s whereabouts after she was reported missing.
The pair eventually admitted to investigators that Kneebone had died while she was with them, and that they had concealed her body in a rural area of eastern P.E.I.
Holmes apologizes to family
On Thursday, Judge Nancy Orr accepted a joint sentencing recommendation from the Crown and defence lawyers.
Both Holmes and Parlee-Buell were sentenced to three years for interfering with human remains as well as six months for misleading police. They will serve those sentences concurrently.
They had spent 419 days in jail already, so each was credited for 628 days of pre-trial custody, which will be subtracted from their sentence.
After serving their jail time, the pair will be on probation for three years. They will also have to provide a DNA sample and are prohibited from contact members of Kneebone’s family.
Four of Summer Kneebone’s family members read victim impact statements in court Thursday, including her mother, Irma Hughes. (Submitted)
Four of Kneebone’s family members read victim impact statements in court Thursday.
Parlee-Buell did not speak when given the opportunity, but Holmes addressed Kneebone’s relatives, saying: “I apologize to the family, community and the province for my actions.”
Vehicle identified using surveillance footage
After Kneebone was reported missing, Charlottetown police asked homeowners and businesses to preserve any surveillance video they had from the evening of Aug. 7.
Social media posts begged for information on the young woman’s whereabouts, including a post submitted to the Aboriginal Alert Facebook page that flags when Indigenous people have gone missing.
Police, relatives and friends issued pleas for any information about Kneebone’s whereabouts after her disappearance in August 2023. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)
According to an agreed statement of facts read in court last month, surveillance footage from a Charlottetown business showed Kneebone getting into an SUV in the Value Village parking lot on Aug. 7. Police weren’t able to discern the vehicle’s make, model or licence plate.
On Sept. 5, investigators determined that the vehicle they were seeking was registered to Holmes.
Charlottetown police say this is the vehicle, shown in surveillance footage from a Charlottetown business, that Donald Holmes used to pick up Summer Kneebone and later drive her to Kings County. (Charlottetown Police Services)
Holmes told police he had met Kneebone unexpectedly at Value Village and had given her a ride to a private residence on Queen Street.
The court heard that, in an effort to divert suspicion from themselves, Holmes and Parlee-Buell told police they didn’t see Kneebone after that. But according to the agreed statement of facts, Kneebone had decided to go to Kings County with them.
At some point, Kneebone became unresponsive and died. The pair did not call the police.
The next day, Aug. 8, Holmes and Parlee-Buell drove Kneebone’s body to DeGros Marsh in rural Kings County and buried her remains.
Summer Kneebone’s gravestone marks the day of her death as Aug. 7, 2023. (Submitted by Irma Hughes)
Police later got an anonymous tip that the two were in New Glasgow, N.S., trying to sell a vehicle matching the description of the SUV seen in the Charlottetown surveillance footage.
The two were arrested, and Parlee-Buell eventually led police to Kneebone’s remains, on Sept. 15.
A Nova Scotia-based medical examiner could not determine how Kneebone died, but reported evidence of “numerous nervous system stimulant drugs” in her system.
“The contribution of these stimulant drugs to the cause of death cannot be ruled out,” the medical examiner’s report said.