By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

NNN’s top 10 of 2017: Three homicides in one year raises anxiety levels in Nanaimo

Dec 29, 2017 | 5:16 PM

NANAIMO — Homicides aren’t commonplace in Nanaimo, but the community was on edge with three of them in 2017.

It was the first sign of fatal violence in the Harbour City since the Nanaimo mill shootings, which claimed the lives of three men in 2014.

A 34-year-old man was shot and killed in the lobby of the Howard Johnson Hotel in April.

The body of 16-year-old Makayla Chang was discovered in May.

42-year-old Richard Sitar’s body was discovered at a south-end apartment Sept. 11.

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Nanaimo RCMP Cpl. Jon Stuart called three homicides in such a short time frame very concerning.

“Each of these is individual and on its own. It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances they all happened within the same year.” 

Murder charges have been laid in two of the cases, which are winding their way through the court system. However, the Makayla Chang investigation, while still considered active, has not produced an arrest or any charges.

A man once considered a person of interest in Chang’s disappearance turned himself in to Nanaimo Mounties, but was released without charges. Steven Bacon was believed to have knowledge on where Chang may have been after she vanished.

Chang’s was found about two months after her disappearance at an undisclosed location.

It was unsettling to see this level of violence in Nanaimo in a single year. The mill shooting at the now-closed Western Forest Products site more than three years ago shocked the community, but justice was served. There will continue to be unrest until an arrest and conviction is made in relation to the Makayla Chang murder.

This story came in at number 2 on our top 10 list of biggest stories we covered this year. NanaimoNewsNOW is counting down our top 10 local stories of 2017, with the top two stories named on New Year’s Eve. Be sure to check back and offer your thoughts on the biggest stories of 2017.

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