Megan Gallagher case: two people who pleaded guilty are sentenced
Two people charged in connection with the death of Megan Gallagher pleaded guilty and were sentenced on Wednesday. (File photo)
Two people charged in connection with the death of Megan Gallagher were sentenced in Saskatoon Provincial Court on Wednesday. John Wayne Sanderson and Jessica Faye Badger both pleaded guilty to unworthiness of human remains.
Megan Gallagher was last seen in Saskatoon on September 19, 2020. In an Agreed Statement of Facts she read to the court, Crown Attorney Tyla Olenchuk says 44-year-old John Wayne Sanderson , used his truck to transport the body of Megan Gallagher out of town.
He first drove the body of the young mixed-race woman to the bridge Gabriel Dumont, when another car approached.
For fear of being caught, John Wayne Sanderson drove to the Saint-Louis bridge and dumped Megan Gallagher's body in the water.
He was sentenced by Judge Sanjeev Anand to three years in prison. Deducting his period of detention, John Wayne Sanderson will still have to spend two years and a month in prison.
As for Jessica Faye Badger (43 years old), that's her who provided John Wayne Sanderson with the $120 needed to buy the fuel, according to the Crown prosecutor.
Jessica Faye Badger receives a community sentence of two years less a day, followed by 18 months probation. During the first year of her sentence, she will be subject to a 24-hour curfew.
Mr. Sanderson and Mrs. Badger are to have no contact with others charged with Megan Gallagher's death.
Although John Wayne Sanderson and Jessica Faye Badger were not directly involved in the murder of Megan Gallagher, their actions and especially their silence afterward caused immeasurable pain to the victim's family members.
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Indeed, it took more than two years to find the remains of the young woman. In November, police confirmed that the remains found in October 2022 in the South Saskatchewan River, 130 kilometers northeast of Saskatoon, were those of Megan Gallagher.
Lindsey Bishop, Megan Gallagher's sister, described the two years between her sister's disappearance and the discovery of her remains as endless hope and despair.
He was a beautiful human being whom you threw away like you would trash, she said. There will always be a piece missing in my life, and it was you who threw it off the bridge, Megan Gallagher's aunt, Wendy Sekulich, told the convicts.
A total of nine people have been charged in connection with the murder of Megan Gallagher. Four are charged with first degree murder: Summer-Sky Henry, Roderick William Sutherland, Robert James Thomas and Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce.
Thomas Richard Sutherland and Robin Tyler John are charged with forcible confinement and blows and wounds. John Wayne Sanderson, Jessica Badger and a third person, Ernest Vernon Whitehead, were charged with unworthiness over human remains. Mr. Whitehead has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on May 17.
With information from Hannah Spray
