Halifax Regional Police have charged a Dartmouth man in relation to the disappearance of a woman in February, but haven’t accused him of killing her.
Karen Lee MacKenzie, 40, was reported missing on March 3, six days after she was last seen at 95 Highfield Park Dr. in Dartmouth.
Police said Wednesday evening that they arrested 40-year-old Owen Patrick Nelson on Tuesday afternoon without incident in the Highfield Park Drive area. They charged him Wednesday afternoon with assaulting MacKenzie, interfering with human remains and two counts of breach of probation.
“The investigation and the evidence has led the investigators to believe that Karen is deceased, but we haven’t located her,” Const. Carol McIsaac said. “But, there is evidence to support the charges that the investigators laid today.”
Nelson and MacKenzie were known to each other, McIsaac said, but she wouldn’t say how or if they lived in the same building. She wouldn’t say on what day he is accused of assaulting MacKenzie.
“The investigation is very active and ongoing, and we still want to find Karen, so we encourage anyone with information to contact us,” she said.
She said police aren’t focused on any particular location right now, “but as information comes in we will go wherever the information and the evidence leads us.”
She wouldn’t say whether investigators tracked her movements beyond when she was last seen in February.
She also wouldn’t say if there are any other suspects, just that the investigators would follow up on any information.
Police considered MacKenzie’s disappearance as suspicious from the time she was reported missing.
Nelson, who is known to police, is scheduled to appear in Dartmouth provincial court Thursday morning.
Police want anyone with information in the case to contact them or Crime Stoppers.
