A Trail man who was wanted in British Columbia and Alberta has been arrested and will appear in Nelson Provincial Court today.
Joel Hutchinson, 30, was picked up by the Calgary Fugitive Team, which was working with the Kootenay Boundary Regional General Investigation Section. His first appearance in court will deal with charges related to the “Aysia Peters matter,” confirmed Sgt. Mike Wicentowich, who heads the general investigation section out of the Trail detachment.
Hutchinson was located in the Calgary area, where one neighbour witnessed as three SWAT teams, half a dozen unmarked trucks and an armoured vehicle surrounded a house nearby to take him into custody March 30.
Hutchinson was wanted on un-endorsed warrants of arrest for one count of breaching his conditions and two counts for failing to appear in Rossland court in April of last year. He fled the Trail area before his court date, in which he was facing several firearms-related charges that stem from a fatal incident on July 20, 2014, on Faulkner Road near Fruitvale.
Seventeen-year-old Aysia Peters was “found to have life-threatening injuries and was transported by ambulance to the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail” where she was pronounced dead, police reported. Hutchinson was taken into custody by police at that time but for an unrelated event.
“This matter is still before the courts, and I, unfortunately, cannot provide any further detail about the specifics of the investigation,” Wicentowich previously told the Trail Times.
Since last spring, the general investigation section has been actively trying to locate Hutchinson through social media and so has Montrose resident Mike Walsh, who wants to uncover more on his daughter Aysia Peters’ death.
Walsh used social media as a means of spreading the word, which he believes helped lead to Hutchinson’s arrest. His Facebook post prompting the public on the wanted man was shared over 600,000 times and received 97,000 comments.
He feels a sense of relief Hutchinson is off the street.
“I’m happy he’s been arrested and that he’ll face charges that are against him,” Walsh told the Times Monday.
But the news doesn’t provide any closure to his daughter’s death, and he’s hopeful some more information will surface during coming court proceedings.
The general investigative section and Crime Reduction Unit, along with the Nelson Forensic Investigation Section, investigated the cause of her death though nothing has been publicized at this time since the incident is still in the court system.
The case is still active, confirms Sgt. Darren Oelke of the Trail and Greater District Detachment.
“We’re very pleased with the actions of the Calgary Police service and the assistance they gave us in taking a dangerous offender off the street,” Oelke added.