Almost decade-long prison sentence for woman involved in death of Saskatoon mother

Chelsey Crowe pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of being party to an assault in the case of Taya Sinclair in March 2022.

A woman has been sentenced to just over nine years in prison in connection to the death of a 24-year-old mother.

Chelsey Crowe was sentenced Friday morning in King’s Bench Court.

She pleaded guilty to being a party to an assault and unlawful confinement of Taya Sinclair, whose body was found burned at a snow dump by Prince Albert’s Alfred Jenkins Field House in March 2022.

Sinclair, who was reported missing a day before her body was found, was the mother of two boys, ages four and six at the time.

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“Taya was a young Indigenous woman - a granddaughter, a mother, a child and a dearly loved family member and friend,” her family said in a statement following her death. “Life may take us down different paths, but the family would like to remind everyone that Taya mattered. She was a warm person with a spirit, a heart, and a voice that was valuable to many people.”

Stephanie Halkett-Stevenson is serving an 18-year sentence for manslaughter in connection to Sinclair’s death. Another of the accused, 59-year-old Michael Smillie, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and is currently on trial.