Deborah Belyea, 70, was found guilty on Feb. 2 of second-degree murder in the death of her husband, Cypress County councillor Alfred “Alf” Belyea, 72.
A trial was held in January in Medicine Hat Court of King’s Bench. Deborah Belyea will be sentenced on Feb. 12.
Alfred Belyea’s body was found by the RCMP on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, at an abandoned farmyard near Piapot, Saskatchewan, some 170 Kilometers away from Suffield, Alberta. Alfred Belyea’s body had both arms cut off and they were never found.
It is unclear when he died, but he was last seen by his golfing buddies on Thursday, October 7, 2021, and his wife, Deborah Belyea, says she was with him on Friday, October 8, 2021. Deborah Belyea was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and indecently interfering with a human body.
During the trial, 18 witnesses, nine of which are members of the RCMP, six lay witnesses and three technical or expert witnesses were called.
Justice D.K. Miller said the evidence was largely circumstantial.
On the morning of Oct. 11, 2021, Deborah Belyea had reported her husband, Alfred Belyea, missing and he had been missing, according to her, since the previous Friday, October 8.
An RCMP officer interviewed her on Oct. 12, 2021. At the time, she had an oxygen tank with her and walked slow and unsteady and appeared fragile. While speaking with the officer she became emotional and cried at times during the statement. She told the officer that on the previous Friday, she and Alfred had taken a drive towards Blood Indian Campground.
When they got there, they had a conversation and they discussed that she was wanting to go away for a while and wanted to spend some time with their daughters. The officer’s understanding was that they were having some difficulty in their relationship and she was wanting some time and space to be alone. They returned from Blood Indian Campground, and in the evening, prior to bed, Alfred told Deborah that he planned to go with someone named “Dan” or “Don” for the purpose of looking at some land that this “Dan” or “Don” owned, and that it related to an opportunity for a grant for some gravel that he was hoping to receive.
Deborah Belyea said that when she woke up Saturday morning he was already gone. She did not see him at all on Saturday, and when she went to bed that night, she said that she left the light on in the house.
When she woke up on Sunday morning, she said that the light was off so she had assumed he had come home that night. However, when she woke up on Sunday morning he was gone again. She told Cst. George that she does use sleeping pills so it would not have been abnormal for her not to hear him if he came in late and left early. She did not see him at all on Sunday, and as far as she could tell he did not come home Sunday night. She did not see him Monday during the day and that evening she was speaking with her daughter, Trina Belyea, who strongly encouraged her to report him missing. She said that she intended to wait another day, until Tuesday morning, but at her daughter’s insistence she called the police Monday evening.
The last time she said that she saw Alfred was Friday evening before bed, and while he normally always has his cell phone with him it was left at the house as was his vehicle. This was admittedly unusual she said because he always has his cell phone with him.
She assumed that he had been picked up by “Dan” or “Don” to go look at the land. The reason his vehicle was at the house was because the person that was picking him up was the one that did the driving. This was admittedly an unusual practice for Alfred. She thought all his medication was left in his own separate bathroom and he had not taken it with him and he needed it daily. She did not go into his private bathroom, and she acknowledged that Alfred Belyea was very private about his health and medical matters.
Alfred Belyea was a member of council for Cypress County. He had quite an active social life in terms of golf and darts in addition to his council duties.
