Gatineau man charged in 2002 cold case of slain Calgary girlfriend

Homicide detectives in Calgary believe they’ve cracked a 16-year-old cold case, with the trail of evidence eventually leading police to charge a Gatineau man in the 2002 death of his girlfriend.

Stephane Parent, 49, was arrested February 17 without incident outside his home in Gatineau. He was flown back to Alberta and charged on February 19 with second-degree murder, 16 years to the day since the body of his then-girlfriend, Adrienne McColl, was found.

The 21-year-old McColl was killed on Valentine’s Day in 2002. Her body was found three days later in a rancher’s field 85 kilometres outside Calgary.

Mounties never stopped looking for her killer. At a press briefing February 19 in Alberta, RCMP Supt. Garrett Woolsey said their investigation ultimately involved 184 officers over the 16-year odyssey. Advances in DNA evidence technology and a steady stream of tips finally led to Parent’s arrest, Woolsey said.

From the beginning of the investigation, police said, Parent, then 33, had been the only “person of interest” in McColl’s death.