Gallagher murder suspect makes court appearance in Saskatoon

Megan Gallagher’s family was back in Saskatoon Provincial Court on Tuesday for an appearance by the second person charged with first-degree murder in connection with Gallagher’s death.

Cheyann Crystal Peeteetuce, 29, was formally charged with first-degree murder this week. Robert (Bobby) James Thomas, 27, was handed the same charge last week, and made his first court appearance Monday.

A total of six people have been charged in connection with Gallagher’s disappearance and death, as four others were charged with committing an indignity to human remains back in June. Gallagher’s remains have not been located.

Outside the courthouse, Brian Gallagher, Megan’s father, spoke about what it was like to see Peeteetuce in court.

Megan Gallagher. (Facebook)

“She didn’t look at us. In fact, she hid behind one of the beams so that there was no eye contact,” Gallagher said.

“When they said, ’caused the death of Megan Gallagher,’ that had the biggest impact,” he added.

Peeteetuce is no stranger to the justice system. She was sentenced to six years in custody in 2014 after causing a fatal car crash when she stole a truck and collided with another vehicle carrying three teenagers. Two of the teens died, and one survived with serious injuries.

Peeteetuce was freed in 2018 on statutory release with about a year left on her sentence.

Brian said things could have been different if Peeteetuce was still in custody.

“There is a strong possibility that most of this could have been avoided if the justice system – I don’t know if it’s the justice system or anybody in particular – but if different steps had been taken so the people that are doing this were being treated differently, or there was something different going on with the justice system to intervene with these actions,” Gallagher said, adding there are parallels to what happened on the James Smith Cree Nation.

In that case Myles Sanderson, the suspected killer of 10, was also let out on a statutory release before completing his prison sentence.

Megan Gallagher has been missing for two years, and Saskatoon police recently started searching an area of the South Saskatchewan River for her remains.

Sitting in the courtroom isn’t the hardest part, Brian said. For him, the hardest part comes when he leaves court and goes home, still not knowing where his daughter is.

“There’s obviously multiple people involved in this, and there’s multiple people involved in this against one woman. It takes me down some very dark holes and I have to force myself out of there and wait for the process to unfold,” Gallagher explained.

“It’s the way we resolve these things. Keeping the silence isn’t doing anybody good. Breaking the silence works.”

Through it all, he said, there will never be any closure, but there could be steps taken to prevent this from happening to anyone else. But, Brian said, he will never forget his daughter.

“I’m going to carry Megan in my heart for the rest of my life,” he said.