Cold Lake RCMP and RCMP’s Historical Homicide Unit close case of missing man

Second man charged in relation to Dennis Cardinal’s death

Almost six years ago Dennis Cardinal (40) of Cold Lake was reported to the Cold Lake RCMP as missing and it was yesterday in a St. Paul courtroom that 30-year-old Tyler Arsenault pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from activities which lead to Mr. Cardinal’s death.

It was in December 2011 that it was reported to police that Mr. Cardinal had not been seen since Christmas 2010.  The initial investigation was not able to locate the missing man nor determine an explanation which could explain his disappearance.

In 2014, the RCMP’s Historical Homicide Unit (HHU), headquartered in Edmonton, assumed carriage of the ongoing investigation and a thorough review of the case was conducted together with the evidence gathered to that point.

HHU Investigators were able to identify Tyler Arsenault as a person of interest.  The compilation of new evidence through the work of the RCMP’s HHU provided the necessary grounds for the arrest Arsenault in July 2014.  He was charged with Second Degree Murder and Indignity to Human Remains after investigations reviewed the evidence and consulted with the Crown Prosecutor. It was after Arsenault’s arrest that the remains of Dennis Cardinal were located by HHU investigators in a rural area north of Cold Lake.  On August 5, 2015 Tyler Arsenault was committed to stand trial on charges of Manslaughter and Indignity to Human Remains in the death of Dennis Cardinal.

Facts established by the investigation revealed that on January 4, 2011, Arsenault and Dennis Cardinal had an altercation over a firearm while inside the Cold Lake residence which they shared.  The firearm discharged, fatally wounding Cardinal.  Arsenault disposed of Mr. Cardinal’s body in the rural area where it was recovered later by police in 2014.

On Monday, December 5, 2016, Tyler Arsenault pleaded guilty to Careless Handling of a Firearm and Indignity to a Dead Body in the Court of Queen’s Bench in St. Paul. Arsenault received a 23 month Conditional Sentence Order and a ten year firearms prohibition.

A second man, Gary Green, had been charged with Accessory After the Fact and Indignity to a Human Body in 2014 in relation to allegations that he assisted Arsenault in disposing of Mr. Cardinal’s body but those charges were withdrawn on August 5, 2015