New BrunswickA 51-year-old man from Sussex has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of a 54-year-old man in Saint John last spring.Andrew Ryder, 51, of Sussex, is accused in the killing of Mark Lynch, 54Saint John Police announced Thursday that they had arrested a 51-year-old man on Oct. 2 in connection with a May 2024 homicide. (Roger Cosman/CBC)A 51-year-old man from Sussex has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of a 54-year-old man in Saint John last spring.Andrew Alexander Ryder is accused in the killing of Mark Lynch “on or about May 9, 2024,” according to court documents.Ryder appeared in provincial court Oct. 3, when he was charged and released on conditions.The Saint John Police Force announced details about the homicide for the first time in a news release Thursday. The delay was due in part to a year-long wait for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, according to Staff Sgt. Shawna Fowler.The news release said officers responded to a call about a deceased person who was found inside a residence in the 650-block of Brunswick Drive in the city’s centre on May 14, 2024, at around 11 a.m. “As a result of the postmortem report and the investigation [led] by the Major Crime Unit, it was determined that the death was a homicide and that the victim and suspect were known to each other,” Fowler said in the release.Initially investigated as sudden deathAsked about the delay in making the homicide public, Fowler told CBC News the case was initially treated as a sudden death.”And that’s how it was treated up until May of 2025, when the post-mortem had come in with the cause of death,” she said. It was blunt-force trauma.After that, Fowler said investigators “knew that they had to switch gears to look into this as a homicide.”Andrew Ryder has been released on conditions and is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 31. (Roger Cosman/CBC)Fowler could not comment on whether a year is the typical wait for autopsy results in a police investigation.The Department of Justice and Public Safety, under which coroner services falls, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.As to why police didn’t inform the public in May 2025, once the case was deemed a homicide, Fowler said “a decision was made that a release wasn’t necessary.” She could not say by whom.”We weren’t asking the public’s help for anything at that time,” Fowler said, and “it had already been a year since it had happened.” The six days to announce an arrest and charges in the case was “just a delay in the information coming to me,” she added.Body discovered by friendAccording to his obituary, Lynch is survived by his siblings and several nieces and nephews. He “will forever remain in the hearts of those touched by this precious presence in their lives,” it says.Fowler said a friend who went to check on Lynch discovered his body and called police.Ryder has been released from custody on conditions that he check in weekly with police, report any change of address or employment within 24 hours, surrender his passport, and have no contact with the victim’s family and several other individuals.He is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 31 at 9:30 a.m. for election.
Man charged with manslaughter in 2024 Saint John death after long delay for autopsy results
