Sask. coroner to reveal how spree killer Myles Sanderson died in police custody

A coroner’s inquest into the death of Myles Sanderson is set to start on Monday.

Sanderson killed 11 people and injured 17 others in the communities of James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, Sask. in a violent rampage in September 2022.

The killings triggered a three-day manhunt that ended with Sanderson going into medical distress and dying in a Saskatoon hospital almost immediately after being driven off the highway by RCMP.

The coroner’s inquest is expected to include testimony from a forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on Sanderson and will describe his cause of death.

This is the second inquest related to the mass killings.

Last month, a jury at an inquest into the 11 stabbing deaths heard detailed accounts of Sanderson’s incarceration history and psychological profile, and made recommendations including reforms to prison programming and changes to conditions of supervised release.

In this second inquest police are expected to tell the public what they know about Sanderson’s activity in the days following the massacre, his arrest and hospitalization.

In a presentation designed to serve as a transition into the upcoming coroner’s investigation, RCMP Sgt. Evan Anderson told the Melfort inquest that police now know Sanderson was camped out in a wooded area for several days while police searched far and wide for the fugitive.

Anderson said it appeared Sanderson arrived in Crystal Springs shortly after leaving Weldon — the site of his last murder — and did not leave.

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“Myles Sanderson had in fact set up a camp near the residence from which he stole the Avalanche on September 7 of 2022,” he said.

“At this location, investigators located food, beverages and bedding which have been taken from the female’s garage.”

The inquest saw photos of the black Nissan Rogue parked at the edge of a poplar bluff, covered in dust, and heard the gas tank was empty. Anderson also shared photos of food scraps, a pillow and a blanket from the site of Sanderson’s camp.

The second inquest is schedule to run from Monday to Friday in Saskatoon.