Charges have been laid against a 32-year-old man, in connection with the death of 65-year-old Sherry Shelley in Nanaimo in late 2025. (Image Credit: Submitted photo)

By Alex Rawnsley

serious crime unit

Murder charge laid in connection to Nanaimo woman’s disappearance

Jul 21, 2026 | 8:33 AM

NANAIMO — Charges of second-degree murder and indignity to human remains have been laid against a man in connection to the disappearance of a 65-year-old woman.

Investigators from the Nanaimo RCMP’s Serious Crime Unit recently forwarded the charges for Crown approval against 32-year-old Cameron Alexander Compton for his alleged involvement in the disappearance and death of 65-year-old Sherry Shelley.

Charges were officially approved by the B.C. Prosecution Service on Monday, July 20, with Compton arrested a short time later.

Compton also faces two counts of breaching a non-communication order and attempting to pervert, defeat, or obstruct justice from around the time Shelley went missing, although it’s unclear of their connection to the investigation.

He is also expected to start a trial in Nanaimo provincial court on Wednesday, July 22, on charges of assault, assault by choking, and assault with a weapon, from March, April, August, and November of last year.

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Compton remains in police custody ahead of further court appearances on Tuesday.

The investigation into Sherry’s mid-November 2025 disappearance was classified a homicide by police in December of last year, after her remains were found inside a burned vehicle in a wooded area on College Dr. in Nanaimo the day she went missing.

A focal point of the investigation was to determine how her vehicle came to be found along College Dr. after she was last reported being in north Nanaimo.

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by Alex Rawnsley

Murder charge laid in connection to Nanaimo woman’s disappearance

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