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Convicted murderer arrested in Abbotsford in June faces sex assault charges

Christopher Maurice Alexander was on day parole when warrant was issued for his arrest
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Linda LeFranc

by Margaret Speirs, Black Press

A man arrested in Abbotsford in June while on day parole for the 1998 murder of a Terrace woman has been charged with two counts of sexual assault.

The charges were laid in June against Christopher Maurice Alexander, 34, according to information contained within a Parole Board of Canada review of his status completed in September and records at the Abbotsford provincial court registry.

Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald confirmed that the charges relate to alleged offences that occurred in Abbotsford in April and May of this year. Both involved the same woman, who was known to Alexander.

Alexander was granted day parole in April 2015, meaning he had to reside in a halfway house and return there nightly.

He was arrested in Abbotsford in June at his halfway house on a warrant issued by federal corrections authorities. At the time, they did not indicate why there was a warrant for Alexander’s arrest.

He has been in custody since then, and the parole board review resulted in his parole being revoked.

He has now been placed in a medium-security prison in the Fraser Valley.

“Having incurred charges for new violent offences, noting the nature and gravity of your [original] offence, coupled with your dishonesty, indicates to the board that your risk has elevated to an undue level,” reads the parole board decision of Sept. 12.

Alexander is due for trial this November on the two sexual assault charges.

He was convicted in 2002 of the second-degree murder of Linda LeFranc. He was 17 years old in December 1998, when he broke into LeFranc’s townhouse, stabbing her 83 times with a knife taken from the kitchen.

He was a neighbour to LeFranc, who was 36 when she was killed. Her seven-year-old daughter was in the house at the time.

Alexander was arrested in late 1999 following an extensive RCMP undercover operation in which an officer posing as the “Mr. Big” of a criminal gang got Alexander to admit to the murder.

He was convicted at trial in 2002, and received an automatic life sentence. Parole eligibility for a second-degree murder conviction can range from 10 to 25 years.

Before being granted day parole, Alexander was living in an aboriginal healing village in the Fraser Valley within the Correctional Service of Canada system and able to go on short-term unsupervised leaves.