Onion Lake Cree Nation residents in court for life sentencing of murderer

EDMONTO N Dozens of people travelled to Edmonton to see a man sentenced Friday for the murders of two women from Onion Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan.

Gordon Rogers, 61, was given life in prison and won’t be eligible for parole for 17 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of Jeanette Chief and Violet Heathen. He was handed two sentences, but they will be served at the same time.

When he pleaded guilty to the murders in September, court heard that although the women’s deaths were two years apart — Chief was killed in 2007 and Heathen was killed in 2009 — Rogers met both of them at the same Lloydminster hotel.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Rogers said after meeting both women at the Alberta Hotel, he took them back to his trailer and killed them.

Chief, 48, died of blunt force trauma after Rogers hit her in the head with a beer bottle. Court heard he wrapped her body in plastic and tossed it off a bridge north of Lloydminster, where it was found floating in June 2007.

Nearly two years later, on May 15, 2009, Heathen, 49, was last seen alive leaving the hotel with Rogers.

In November 2009, a hunter discovered a human skull in a rural area near Kitscoty, Alta. The remains were identified as Heathen through X-rays and dental records.

Both women — described by survivors as “kind-hearted and helpful” — left behind children and grandchildren.