Secret Burke Mountain burial results in two-year manslaughter sentence in Jodine Millar case

B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Layton sentenced Carson Saul MacKay to two years in prison on Sept. 15 after MacKay pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Jodine Millar, a 57-year-old Coquitlam woman. Millar died in November 2022 and her body was buried in a clandestine grave in a forested area on Burke Mountain.

MacKay was originally charged with second-degree murder in October 2023, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in January 2026. Crown and defence counsel jointly proposed a sentence of two years and 99 days, including 99 days’ credit for time already spent in custody.

Millar moved from Manitoba to B.C. in 2021 to live with her adult daughter, Sara Millar. In May 2022, Millar, her daughter and MacKay moved into a Coquitlam house. Millar lived in the basement while the couple lived upstairs. Sara Millar ended her relationship with MacKay in August and moved out the following month, while her mother remained in the home.

According to an agreed statement of facts set out in the sentencing decision, Millar was experiencing a manic episode on Nov. 26, 2022, and was behaving in a paranoid and erratic way. MacKay was cleaning dog vomit outside her basement bedroom when Millar opened the door carrying a steak knife she used to cut up medication and began yelling at him. A physical altercation followed, and MacKay pushed her hard enough that she fell backwards into her bedroom.

The court found MacKay was not acting in self-defence, but “out of frustration,” making the push an unlawful assault. He went upstairs and returned about 10 minutes later to find Millar dead on the floor. She had fallen onto the knife she was holding, which became lodged in her body.

Instead of calling police, MacKay wrapped Millar’s body in blankets, bound it with tape, rope and a dog collar, put it in his Hyundai and drove to an empty lot on Burke Mountain. He buried her there before later reporting her missing. Her remains were found on May 16, 2023, nearly six months later, in an advanced state of decomposition with signs consistent with animal scavenging.

Layton cited aggravating factors including that MacKay was significantly younger, taller and heavier than Millar, and that she died in her own home. He was especially critical of MacKay’s actions after her death, writing that they desecrated her body and made determining the exact cause of death difficult. The secret burial also denied her family the opportunity to promptly bury and properly mourn her.

The judge also identified mitigating circumstances. The fatal encounter was brief and unplanned, MacKay did not use a weapon and pushed Millar only once, and there was a “significant element of chance” in her death. MacKay’s relatively early guilty plea spared Millar’s family a contested trial and her daughter from testifying.

MacKay also gave up what Crown and defence agreed was a “very strong” Charter application concerning trial delays, as well as other potentially viable arguments challenging Crown evidence and identification. Layton said those circumstances gave the guilty plea unusually significant mitigating effect.

Manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and Layton noted that most cases fall within a range of four to 15 years. He found the circumstances justified a sentence below that range. MacKay also received a 10-year firearms prohibition, a lifetime prohibition on certain restricted and prohibited weapons, and a DNA order. While imprisoned, he is barred from communicating with Sara Millar, other members of Jodine Millar’s family and another named individual.