Warning: This article contains details that may be distressing for some readers.
Two suspects in a homicide and arson case in the County of Wetaskiwin in the summer of 2021 have been convicted and are now awaiting sentencing.
On June 23, 2021, just after 7:30 a.m., the Wetaskiwin RCMP were called to a structure fire on a rural property in the Usona district.
The following day the remains of the property owner, Clifford Stauffer, were found. Following an autopsy the assistant chief medical officer ruled the cause of death as blunt trauma to the head.
According to court documents Stauffer was dead before the house was set on fire, and he did not die of smoke inhalation.
Three suspects were arrested and initially charged with second degree murder and arson with disregard to human life.
Details of the case are outlined in the trial judge’s, Hon. Justice W.N. Renke’s, written decision, which is publicly available.
In the early morning of June 23, 2021, a group of individuals drove onto the rural property in the County of Wetaskiwin. Not long afterwards, Stauffer was killed and his house was burned to the ground.
A fire investigator determined there were three unconnected fires on the acreage that morning: the home, a shed and a vehicle.
The car the group arrived in was also burned. The victim’s blue Dodge Caravan minivan was stolen along with some other property.
In the written decision, Renke stated he’d found “beyond a reasonable doubt,” based on the evidence of the case, that Stauffer had been a victim of culpable homicide (manslaughter), as he’d been the victim of an unlawful assault that caused his death.
However, he said the lack of evidence and the evidence of intoxication did not leave a reasonable prospect of a murder conviction. The evidence also did not provide the ability to identify which suspect actually committed the assault.
“My finding of manslaughter leaves open the issue of the identity of the perpetrator,” said Renke.
“The failure of the evidence to permit the identification of the member of the group who killed Mr. Stauffer does not prevent attribution of responsibility for his death. There was no dispute that the group that went to the acreage shared a common unlawful purpose.”
He concluded the people at the acreage at the time of the fires were not aware of whether Stauffer was dead or alive when the first fire that consumed his home was started.
Renke delivered his verdicts on Oct. 2023, at the Wetaskiwin Court of King’s Bench.
He found Donovan Lightning of Wetaskiwin, 30, guilty of manslaughter and arson and Linden Buffalo of Maskwacis, 33, guilty of manslaughter.
While he found Lightning had committed the arson, he determined both Lightning and Buffalo “should have known that a probable consequence of carrying out the group’s common purpose was the risk of bodily harm to Mr. Stauffer.”
A third defendant was found not guilty on both charges.
Lightning and Buffalo are to appear on Jan. 29, 2024, at the Wetaskiwin Court of King’s Bench to set a date for sentencing.