Man sentenced to two years for manslaughter after burying ex-partner’s mother on Burke Mountain

Carson Saul MacKay has been sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the death of Jodine Millar, the 57-year-old mother of his former partner. Millar’s body was buried in a wooded area on Burke Mountain in Coquitlam.

MacKay was originally charged with second-degree murder in October 2023, nearly a year after Millar’s November 2022 death. He pleaded guilty to the lesser offence earlier this year. B.C. Supreme Court Justice David M. Layton sentenced him in New Westminster last week, accepting a joint Crown-defence submission for a sentence of two years and 99 days, with credit for 99 days already served.

According to an agreed statement of facts summarized in Layton’s decision, Millar moved from Manitoba to B.C. in July 2021. She later lived in the basement of a Coquitlam home shared with her daughter, Sara Millar, and MacKay. Sara Millar ended her relationship with MacKay in August 2022 and moved out the following month, while her mother remained in the basement.

In November 2022, Millar was in a manic state and had overfed her dog, which vomited on the basement stairs. MacKay was cleaning the mess when Millar emerged from her bedroom holding a knife used to cut her pills, became paranoid and angry, and yelled at him. During a physical altercation, MacKay pushed her hard into the bedroom. The judge found he was acting out of frustration rather than self-defence.

MacKay returned about 10 minutes later and found Millar dead in her bedroom. The decision says she had fallen onto the steak knife she was holding when he pushed her. Fearing he would be accused of intentional murder, MacKay wrapped and bound her body, drove her vehicle to a vacant lot on Burke Mountain and buried her. He reported her missing the next day; her body was found about six months later, in May 2023.

Layton found aggravating factors included the danger posed by the push, the fact Millar died in her home, and MacKay’s efforts to conceal what happened and dispose of her body. The judge also noted the lasting grief caused to her family. Mitigating factors included the brief incident, the significant element of chance in Millar’s death, and MacKay’s early guilty plea, which gave up potential Charter and delay-based arguments.

MacKay was also ordered to provide DNA samples, prohibited from possessing firearms and barred from communicating with Millar’s family while incarcerated.