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Your Independent Local Newspaper Established in 1918 VOLUME 103: ISSUE 12
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2020
BEAVER FOUNDATION EXPLORING OPTIONS FOR LODGE.
www.tofieldmerc.com
RCMP URGES RESIDENTS TO TAKE PART IN SURVEY.
SEE PAGE 2
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Holden woman sentenced to 18 years for killing husband MOUSH JOHN Editor
On Friday, Oct. 30, Holden resident Helen Naslund, 56, was sentenced to 18 years, while her son Neil Naslund, 28, got three years for assisting her in hiding the body – that went undiscovered at the bottom of a pond for nearly six years – after Naslund pleaded guilty to manslaughter. In 2011, it was the Labour Day weekend, during which the Naslund family came to know their finances would not work out for their farm located in Beaver County, near Holden. According to court documents, on hearing that the haying machine had broken down that weekend, Miles became so angry that he threw a number of wrenches at Helen, who managed the equipment store. At the Sunday dinner table, he was in a rage and cleared the entire table, throwing food and place settings to the floor. Next morning, Helen used a .22-calibre revolver and shot Miles twice in the back of the head while he slept. Preiliminary investigation Tofield RCMP had arrested Helen, and two of
her sons, Neil and Wesley in Sept. 2017 in connection with 49-year-old Miles Naslund’s disappearance in 2011. Wesley was charged with accessory after the fact, and was remanded in custody for a week when he was set to appear in Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench. Later he was released on bail. Miles was reported to the police as missing on Sept. 6, 2011, and was last seen allegedly at his rural home near Holden. She told officers he disappeared in his Chevy Cavalier with a .357 handgun, and suggested he had killed himself. Although the case was originally treated as a missing person file, the investigation by RCMP turned into a homicide investigation and involved resources and assets from the Tofield and Camrose RCMP detachments, RCMP Major Crimes Unit and its Forensic Identification Section. On Sept. 1, 2017, a search warrant was executed on Naslund’s farm after investigators received information that evidence of a homicide may have been found on the property. The RCMP ‘E’ Division Underwater Recovery team from British Columbia were brought
What’s Inside
Unsuccessful attempt to break and enter Tofield Fairgrounds and Curling Rink PAGE 5
in to assist with the investigation and located human remains during the search. Results of an autopsy were completed at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Edmonton, which confirmed that the remains were of Miles Naslund. Helen and Miles Naslund Born in 1964, Helen Naslund was the youngest of eight children and grew up on a dairy farm in central Alberta. At 16, she left home and went to Camrose, where she met Miles, marrying him in 1983 after courting for a few months. It wouldn’t be until two years later, in 1985 when they moved to the farm near Holden where they started a family, having three sons – Wesley, Darrel,
Loose Ends: Burnt offerings PAGE 5
Editorial: Scapegoating law-abiding gun owners PAGE 6
Motor vehicle collision leads to fatality off Hwy. 14 & 834 PAGE 9
TOP: Helen Naslund seen here barrel racing, was sentenced to 18 years for the 2011 killing of her husband Miles. BOTTOM: Their youngest son, Neil Naslund was sentenced to three years for helping his mother in hiding the body. FACEBOOK PHOTOS
and Neil. However, it wasn’t a happy marriage, according to an agreed statement of facts filed with Helen’s guilty plea, which outlines some of
the incidents of physical and emotional abuse during their almost three decades of being married. Continued on Page 2
What’s On Farmer’s Market to be held on Friday, Nov. 13 PAGE 5