 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
 Staff Sgt. Mike Jeffrey of RCMP V division, left, and Const. Joe Baines of the Iqaluit RCMP conducted a bilingual English-Inuktitut press conference March 25 to announce they've charged Iqaluit resident Mark King Jeffrey with the murder of Jennifer Naglingniq. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo |
RCMP announced March 25 that they have charged Mark King Jeffrey, a 22-year-old Iqaluit man, with first- degree murder.
Jeffrey is the second man to be charged in the 13-year-old girl's Dec. 6 death.
The first murder charge -- last December against Ivan Kilabuk Joamie -- was stayed nine days after Joamie was arrested.
As they have from the beginning four months ago, the police are saying little about the case, except to say this time they think they have their man.
"The RCMP are very confident we have raised probable ground that Mark King Jeffrey is the person responsible for the murder of Jennifer Naglingniq," said RCMP V division Staff Sgt. Mike Jeffrey.
RCMP arrested Jeffrey March 24 and formally charged him the following day. He is currently being held at the Baffin Correctional Facility in Iqaluit.
Ron McCormick, director of corrections with Nunavut Department of Justice, would not say if Jeffrey was being segregated from the rest of the prison population.
"That's a security issue I am not prepared to comment on," McCormick said.
"We consider his safety a primary concern. He will be assessed the same as any other prisoner."
Security will also be top of mind for the RCMP when Mark Jeffrey appears in Iqaluit court, April 8.
Police refuse to offer insight into how or why Naglingniq was murdered for fear of jeopardizing the case, Staff Sgt. Jeffrey said. Events leading to the arrest are also being kept secret.
The arrest was the result of many hours of investigation and the community's co-operation, police said, as well as a U.S.-based police agency that police will not identify.
"From the onset, this investigation has challenged the RCMP and the community of Iqaluit to come together to solve this unfortunate crime," Staff Sgt. Jeffrey said at the press conference.
