Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 17/02) - Police say a man wanted after a woman was abducted and attacked with an axe last Aug. 26 has been spotted in Edmonton in recent months.

Ronald Roy Villebrun: Police investigate reports of sightings, plan new search. - NNSL file photo

Yellowknife RCMP Staff Sgt. Terry Scott said there have been several reported sightings of Ronald Roy Villebrun.

"We've had several sightings in Edmonton. We think he's there but we're not 100 per cent sure," he said.

Scott said the entire general investigation section of the Yellowknife RCMP detachment continues to work on the case and plans to conduct another search of the wooded area, which is located about 20 kilometres east of Yellowknife, where he disappeared.

"That's coming up in the near future, as soon as the snow melts enough so that we can get in there."

Scott said the possibility that Villebrun has died has not been ruled out, but said the tips from Edmonton are very reliable.

"These sightings are from people that we think are quite legitimate, but who knows? Stranger things have happened where there has been a misidentification," he said.

Villebrun is wanted on a charge of attempted murder with an axe. He is the suspect in an incident in which a woman was forced into a truck. The woman managed to jump out of the moving vehicle near the four-way stop but was then attacked with an axe in the parking lot of Yellowknife Motors. She was attacked with an axe in the parking lot.

Police found the truck at a cabin along Highway 3 about 20 kilometres from the city. Police searched the area with a helicopter, police dogs and days of foot-patrols, but discovered no sign of the suspect.