Murder charge laid in death of young father
A 28-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder in Saskatoon’s third homicide of 2016.
Blair Christopher French wore street clothes during a brief first appearance Friday in Saskatoon provincial court.
Friends of the victim, identified as 24-year-old Adam St. Denis, wept in the courtroom gallery.
French was arrested Thursday at about 11:30 a.m. and charged in connection with St. Denis’ death, which happened March 30 in the 100 block of Avenue O South.
Few details are known so far about French, but friends say St. Denis was a young father who was attending university and planned to become a social worker.
In the days after his death, friends remembered him as a lighthearted person who was making it his mission in life to help others.
Police found St. Denis when they responded at about 1 p.m. on March 30 to a report of an injured man in an apartment on Avenue O South. He was taken to hospital with lifethreatening injuries, and he died the next day.
Soon after, police declared the death a homicide.
After the killing, friends and family started a GoFundMe webpage to raise money for a bench and plaque along the banks of the South Saskatchewan River in St. Denis’ memory. So far, the page has raised more than $5,500.
“You could say he was a diamond in the rough,” said Stacey Swampy, who attended the social work program at the First Nations University of Canada with St. Denis, whom he considered his “little brother.”
Other friends expressed shock at St. Denis’ death.
“You wouldn’t think this could happen in a million years. I just can’t believe it,” said Matt Guenther, who had known St. Denis since they went to high school together at Walter Murray Collegiate.