One of two girls stabbed in a St. Albert home has died of her injuries, hours after her alleged attacker — previously charged in a violent home invasion in that city — was arrested following a police manhunt.
Jaeden Chaisson, 17, died Saturday afternoon in hospital, according to a memorial fundraiser.
Chaisson was a “beautiful 17-year-old girl whose life was taken far too soon,” the memorial page states. It said she was loved by many “for her kindness, vibrant spirit, and the joy she brought to everyone around her.”
Chaisson and a 13-year-old girl were repeatedly stabbed at a home in St. Albert’s Riverside neighbourhood around 10 p.m. Thursday.
The alleged attacker, Kaj Alexander Randall, was initially charged with attempted murder.
He is now facing a first-degree murder charge and has been denied bail. Randall is due in court in St. Albert Monday.
St. Albert RCMP in a Sunday news release said the accused and the victims knew each other.
A charge of first-degree murder indicates investigators believe a killing was planned and deliberate.
Suspect charged previously
Police arrested the accused in Edmonton early Saturday after a multi-day manhunt. Investigators said he fled the scene of the attack in a grey Mazda. He was deemed armed and dangerous and police urged the public not to approach him.
It is not the first time Randall has been charged in a double stabbing.
According to to a 2017 RCMP news release, he was previously charged after a violent home invasion in St. Albert in 2016.
In that case, a husband and wife were attacked on Jan. 20, 2016, while they slept in their Woodlands-area home. They were treated for multiple, non-life-threatening stab wounds.
Police said the couple did not know the attacker. He was arrested in May 2017 after a lengthy investigation. He was 21 at the time.
The outcome of his trial was not immediately known Sunday as courts are closed on weekends.