Deborah Belyea (right) has been found guilty to two counts in connection to the death of her husband in 2021. (Photo: CHAT News Today)

By Eli J. Ridder, Regan Tate

Southern Albertan found guilty of second-degree murder

Jan 30, 2024 | 9:29 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Warning: This article includes details that can be considered violent or gory.

A woman from southern Alberta has been found guilty of second-degree murder and indecent interference of a dead body in connection to the 2021 death of her husband and former Cypress County councillor Alfred Belyea.

The verdict in the judge-only trial was given at the Court of King’s Bench in Medicine Hat on Monday, January 29, 2024 — with Deborah Belyea and her daughters in tears as the justice outlined his reasoning for the ruling.

The verdict came after seven trial days that only featured Crown witnesses concluded January 17.

Justice Dallas Miller said he did not find that Belyea’s version of events held up to cross examination. Though Belyea herself did not testify, other witnesses said she did not go anywhere during the 2021 Thanksgiving Day weekend.

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“I conclude that Deborah Belyea committed an unlawful act by stabbing [Alfred] four times,” Miller said.

Miller determined that Belyea had the intent to kill her husband and that she committed an indecent act to the body of Alfred Belyea by removing his arms.

Belyea was painted by the prosecution as a woman who was physically capable of killing her husband, placed by DNA at a crime scene in Piapot, Sask., and shown to have the resources to carry out the homicide.

A map Belyea drew led directly to the body in Piapot, according to RCMP officers who testified, and blood was detected in her home and vehicle.

Belyea’s husband Alfred had just been acclaimed for another term as a Cypress county councillor and had an active social life filled with golfing and darts when he was reported missing by his wife on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving weekend in 2021.

Alfred’s body was discovered stuffed in a garbage bin without arms and wrapped in bloody garbage bags and blankets that Friday.

Deborah Belyea was arrested one day later.

Andrea Nistor was the forensic medical examiner who worked with the coroner to figure out how Alfred Belyea may have been killed.

She was the final witness called by the Crown.

Alfred’s body had four wounds on his chest and three on his neck, Nistor told the court on the sixth day of the trial.

One of those wounds on his neck and three on his chest were the result of being stabbed.

Any one of those stabbings could have caused his death, but it was impossible to determine which one was ultimately fatal.

The other injuries were lighter slashes that ran along the surface of Alfred’s skin. Those slashes likely occurred after he was already dead, Nistor told the court.

The Crown argued Alfred was killed in the living room of the Belyea’s Suffield residence before his arms were removed and his body was dragged down the stairs over Rubbermaid bin lids and into a grey garbage bin.

Alfred’s body was wrapped in plastic bags secured with duct tape to his body. He was wearing pajama pants.

Belyea placed the bin in her Volkswagen Golf and drove it to a rural property in Piapot where she left it, the Crown argued through witness testimony.

The prosecution in its case narrowed down the timing of the murder and disposal to sometime between Oct. 7, 2021, a Thursday, and Oct. 9, 2021, a Saturday.

Belyea told her three daughters she didn’t know where Alfred was while concern over his whereabouts grew at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend in 2021, according to testimony.

Belyea reported her husband missing the Monday evening of Thanksgiving weekend amid pressure from her daughters.

That kickstarted an investigation by the RCMP Redcliff detachment and the major crimes division.

Alfred’s body was found in Piapot, Sask. on Oct. 15, 2021.

RCMP officers Sgt. Alan Rivard and Const. Anthony Colestone testified they went to the site of the body following a map drawn by Deborah Belyea.

Belyea was sitting in the living room near her daughter Trina Belyea when she wrote a letter to the daughters that included a map to the decrepid property in Piapot.

Trina, after picking up and reading the letter, contacted police.

Following the issuing of the verdict, Belyea was remanded into custody, where she will remain until sentencing.

The charge of second-degree murder typically comes with a life sentence.

The upcoming sentencing hearing, scheduled for February 12, 2024, is also expected to determine when she will be eligible for parole.

Parole eligibility can range from 10 to 25 years for second-degree and is at the discretion of the court.

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