A Saskatoon resident, Dillon Singler, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the city’s initial homicide of 2024 and is headed directly to trial. Singler, along with Edin Vrazalica and Chantal Lee McLaren, are accused of the murder of Lee Perkins in February 2024.
During Singler’s preliminary hearing at provincial court, defense attorney Kimbal MacMillan chose to skip the preliminary process and proceed straight to trial. MacMillan expressed consent to move the case to King’s Bench for trial, acknowledging that there is sufficient evidence for the trial to proceed.
Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss confirmed that Singler’s co-accused, Vrazalica and McLaren, are also opting for a direct trial at the Court of King’s Bench. Vrazalica faces charges of first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a body, while McLaren is charged with being an accessory after the fact and offering an indignity to a body.
Allegations state that the act of offering an indignity to Perkins’s remains involved mutilating and distorting his body to fit into a Rubbermaid tote for disposal. The police discovered Perkins’s body while executing a search warrant at a residence on Lisgar Avenue in Saskatoon’s Pacific Heights neighborhood on February 3, 2024. During the operation, Vrazalica was injured by officers, prompting the province’s Serious Incident Response Team to join the investigation.
The decision to proceed directly to trial was made following the discovery of Perkins’s body at the residence.