In Calgary courts: Sundre man pleads guilty to manslaughter for Calgary teen's 1976 slaying

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A photograph of Pauline Brazeau, 16, is seen during the announcement of an arrest in connection with her death in 1976, during a press conference in Cochrane on November 8, 2023. Ronald James Edwards, 75, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter on March 3, 2025. Gavin Young/Postmedia file

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For nearly half a century, Sundre resident Ronald James Edwards escaped punishment for the 1976 stabbing death of Calgary teen Pauline Brazeau.

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Monday was his day of reckoning.

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Edwards, 75, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in connection with the Jan. 9, 1976, death of Brazeau, whom he repeatedly stabbed before leaving her to die by a rural road west of the city.

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He was arrested Nov. 7, 2023, and charged with non-capital murder in connection with the 16-year-old’s killing, after DNA technology caught up with him, Crown prosecutor Patrick Bigg told court.

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Calgary Court of King’s Bench Justice Robert Armstrong accepted a joint submission from Bigg and defence counsel Pawel Milczarek for a sentence of 6½ years minus credit for time already served, leaving Edwards with about 4½ years in custody.

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Reading from a statement of agreed facts, Bigg detailed the events leading to Brazeau’s death just a few weeks after she had moved to Calgary from Yorkton, Sask., with her infant daughter, Tracy.

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Bigg said Brazeau was employed at Peppe’s Ristorante on 17th Avenue S.W. and had gone there around 3 a.m. on the day of her death to unsuccessfully look for a pair of lost gloves.

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“Pauline was last seen alive leaving through the front door of Peppe’s,” the prosecutor said.

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About five hours later, two hunters discovered her frozen body on Jumping Pound Road, about 35 kilometres south of Cochrane.

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He said Edwards had mistaken Brazeau as a prostitute and had consensual sex with her before drunkenly attacking her.

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Bigg said an autopsy performed by pathologist Dr. John Butt determined she had defensive knife wounds on her hands and was stabbed four times in the back and five times in the front of her body.

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She died as a result of blood loss caused by stab wounds to her heart and lungs, he said.

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A swab taken from her vaginal area contained seminal fluid.

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DNA technology didn’t exist at the time, but in 1995 the exhibit was sent for genetic testing. No profile could be created from the sample, Bigg said.

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However, a decade later, another attempt was made and this time the profiling was successful.

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“In the spring of 2022, Cpl. Daryl Charron of the (RCMP) historical homicide unit retained the services of Othram Inc., an American lab that specializes in forensic genealogy testing,” Bigg said.

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By December 2022, two genetic genealogists working with the Calgary Police Service were able to identify seven potential candidates, with Edwards as the “most likely contributor.”

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