Two men each face a manslaughter charge nearly two years to the day a young man was killed in a Williams Lake stabbing.
Michael Bauer, 26, and Garrett Shirey, 25, were arrested and charged with manslaughter May 3 in the 2022 death of Richard ‘Richie’ Todd, a release from North District RCMP said Saturday (May 4).
Bauer was arrested in Williams Lake, while Shirey was arrested in Houston, B.C. Both remain in custody and will appear virtually at Williams Lake court on Monday.
It was on May 5, 2022, around 11 p.m., that Williams Lake RCMP responded to the fatal stabbing of 19-year-old Todd. He was critically injured and died in hospital.
In the days that followed, friends and family of the young man gathered in the 300 block of Midnight Drive to hold a vigil for Todd, who was originally from Tl’etinqox First Nation.
Lenny Billy, Todd’s mom, told Black Press Media at the time that her son had just turned 19 in March and was “really kind-hearted, always happy and outgoing.”
As a child he lived at Tl’entiqox First Nation with his mom, but later went into the care of the Ministry of Children and Family development.
He loved camping and fishing with his foster parents and was an outdoors person, she said.
“He never liked being inside. He was always outside walking and visiting friends.”
Billy moved to Kamloops and said her son, who also went by Richie Billyboy, had returned to live in Williams Lake and was trying to go back and finish high school.
She was appealing at that time for witnesses to come forward to advance the investigation into his death.
READ MORE: Vigil held to honour young homicide victim in Williams Lake neighbourhood