(File photo)
second degree murder

Man charged with murder in Tofino arrested in Nanaimo

Dec 14, 2022 | 1:29 PM

NANAIMO — A man is charged with second-degree murder in relation to the death of a Tofino man in December 2020.

On Monday, Dec. 12, the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit (VIIMCU) with assistance from the Nanaimo RCMP located and arrested 25-year-old Luke Anthony Sean Priddle in Nanaimo.

A trio of charges featuring second-degree murder were approved by the BC Prosecution Service the same day.

On December 30, 2020, RCMP in Tofino were conducting a welfare check on a home in the 1300 block of Chesterman Beach Rd. where the body of a 47-year-old Tofino man was found.

On top of the murder charge, Priddle, who’s from Tofino, has also been charged with robbery and theft of a motor vehicle.

He made his first court appearance in Nanaimo the following day and has been transported to the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Saanich.

Priddle is scheduled to make his next court appearance in Port Alberni on Jan. 18.

He was arrested the same evening the victim’s body was found, but was released the same evening, RCMP confirmed.

Court records show Priddle has no prior criminal record in the province.

Anyone with additional information on this incident is asked to contact the VIIMCU information line at 250-380-6211.

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