Senator pleads with police to follow up on homicide tip
Nick Sibbeston says he knows the name of someone who threatened Billy Cholo's life prior to his death in January 2014
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, August 4, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
On two occasions before his death, Billy Cholo confided in a friend the name of someone who had threatened to kill him.
Sen. Nick Sibbeston says he knows the name of someone who threatened to kill Billy Cholo, just prior to his death. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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With the help of Sen. Nick Sibbeston, that friend - whose identity is not being revealed - told the RCMP what Cholo had said to him.
Cholo was reported missing in December 2013, and his body was discovered by RCMP in a Fort Simpson gazebo in January 2014. His death was soon ruled a homicide and handed over to the RCMP's major crimes unit out of Yellowknife.
Now, more than two years after Cholo's friend and Sibbeston went to the RCMP, Sibbeston is speaking out about what he fears is a lack of action on the part of RCMP.
Sibbeston says he visited the friend shortly after Cholo's body was discovered.
"This person said on two occasions, (Cholo) came to visit him. He was very down. He was scared. He said, 'This person said he's going to kill me.'"
Sibbeston says he knows the name of the person who threatened Cholo's life, although he declined to reveal the name due to the sensitive nature of the information. However, two years later neither he nor Cholo's friend have been contacted by RCMP for a follow up.
He noted when officers with the major crimes unit came to Fort Simpson in January 2015 to fly a drone over the scene where Cholo's body was found, they still did not contact Cholo's friend.
"Is this the way police function? Is this falling between the cracks? Or am I way off? Maybe they have some other leads that are so much more relevant than this. But to me and to other people, there's a feeling in the community that the police aren't doing anything," Sibbeston said.
"Come on guys, just interview this guy. What's so hard about it? I can't understand it."
Sibbeston brought his concerns to the Dene National Assembly in Fort Simpson last month, where he asked RCMP to "please, please do (their) job."
It's the second assembly in a row where he has addressed Cholo's death.
Last summer, at the Dene National Assembly in Deline, Sibbeston says he related his story about Cholo's friend.
"In the end, I said, 'Why aren't the police interested? Why aren't they doing something?' . I said that to them last summer - 'Aren't you going to investigate it?'" he asked.
"That's a year ago. So another year happens, (and) police never came to interview this person."
RCMP declined an interview about the case but Staff Sgt. Bruce McGregor stated in an e-mail that the major crimes unit is following up on Sibbeston's remarks. "Nothing further will be released at this time as the investigation is active and ongoing," he stated. However, in the past, investigators have appealed to the public for information related to Cholo's death.
Sibbeston said he is open to the idea that RCMP are busy pursuing other relevant info in regard to the case. But, he said, the information Cholo's friend could provide could be essential to the case.
"I could be naive - I don't know all the details," he said.
"Still, the reality exists that there's this information. And the police haven't made any arrests."
