Man charged in 1996 Vancouver cold-case killing

Vancouver police have laid a second-degree murder charge in the 1996 death of Muriel Lindsay after a 30-year international investigation.

Juan Manuel Rueda Salud, a 68-year-old Mexican citizen, is accused of killing Lindsay on or about Feb. 16, 1996. Lindsay was 40 and worked at Canada Post on Georgia Street when she died, police said.

Inspector Ryan Smith, who spent 12 years on the investigation, said the charge brings relief but also begins another difficult chapter for Lindsay's family and friends.

Police said Rueda Salud was identified as a person of interest but left for Mexico in March 1996. Investigators located him in Oaxaca in 2015 and worked with agencies in Mexico, the United States and Canada, as well as BCIT forensic science and technology partners, to identify him as a suspect.

He was formally charged on Nov. 2, 2024, and arrested in Mexico on a provisional warrant on Jan. 22, 2025. After 18 months in custody while appealing an extradition order, he became eligible for extradition to Canada on July 15. Vancouver police escorted him back from Mexico this week, and he remains in custody.