Saskatoon·UpdatedRoderick Sutherland has been found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the 2020 murder of Megan Gallagher.Sutherland taken into custody following verdict; sentencing set for Dec. 19Dan Zakreski · CBC News · Posted: Oct 17, 2025 5:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoThe jury in Roderick Sutherland’s trial at Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench returned with their verdict on Friday afternoon. (Chanss Lagaden/CBC)Roderick Sutherland has been found guilty of manslaughter in connection with the 2020 murder of Megan Gallagher.A 12-person jury at Court of King’s Bench in Saskatoon returned its verdict Friday afternoon, its second day of deliberations. Jurors also found Sutherland guilty on charges of unlawful confinement and offering an indignity to human remains.Gallagher’s family and friends sat in the front row and gasped, sobbed and hugged as the jurors delivered their verdicts, one by one, to Justice John Morrall. The decision ends a legal journey for her family that began five years ago when the 30-year-old disappeared under suspicious circumstances.Police believed within months of her September 2020 disappearance that she had been killed. It wasn’t until two years later that her remains were found on the bank of the South Saskatchewan River, about 105 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, near the village of St. Louis.During the trial, the jury heard graphic details about Gallagher’s death — she was tied to a chair, assaulted and ultimately killed by a group of people in a Saskatoon garage on Sept. 20, 2020.Nine people were eventually implicated in her disappearance and death.Megan Gallagher is shown in a photo from a family wedding. Roderick Sutherland was the last person who stood trial on charges related to her killing. (Submitted by Gallagher family)Robert (Bobby) Thomas was the first person charged, on Sept. 20, 2022. He pleaded guilty in October 2024 to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.Cheyann Peeteetuce and Summer-Sky Henry were both charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January 2025 and were sentenced to seven years each.Ernest Vernon Whitehead, Jessica Badger (Sutherland) and John Wayne Sanderson pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to human remains.Charges against Robin John (unlawful confinement and aggravated assault) and Thomas Sutherland (manslaughter) were stayed before coming to court.Roderick Sutherland’s trial began Oct. 6. During closing arguments on Tuesday, the defence argued that Sutherland had found himself in a situation that got out of hand, and tried to stop the people in the garage after Gallagher was tied up.The Crown argued that even though Sutherland wasn’t the person who killed Gallagher, it was Sutherland’s garage where she was confined, and Sutherland was involved from start to finish.Sutherland taken into custodyFollowing the verdict, the Crown made a request for Sutherland’s release to be cancelled and for him to be taken into custody.”He was involved in the confinement of a young Indigenous woman who was tortured and suffocated to death,” Crown prosecutor Jennifer Schmidt said.”This is an offence that has shocked the community at the highest level.”Defence lawyer Blaine Beaven argued Sutherland should remain out of custody.”Mr. Sutherland has been on bail release for two years. He has no intention of running away from these charges,” he said.Justice Morrall ruled that Sutherland be taken into custody.Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 19. The defence indicated it will be seeking a provincial jail sentence (the maximum provincial sentence is two years less a day). The Crown said it will be seeking a sentence in the double digits.ABOUT THE AUTHORDan Zakreski is a reporter in Saskatoon.
Jury finds Roderick Sutherland guilty of manslaughter in death of Megan Gallagher
