Alberta Provincial Court

By Sheldon Spackman

August 2025 Incident

Preliminary hearing scheduled in central Alberta homicide

Feb 6, 2026 | 2:11 PM

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for a man accused in a homicide on the Louis Bull First Nation last year. 

Ashton Deschamps, 20, a resident of Louis Bull First Nation, is scheduled to appear in Wetaskiwin Court of Justice on June 3 and 29, 2026, to see if his case has enough evidence to go to trial. 

He’s charged with second-degree murder in the death of a male on the Louis Bull First Nation last summer. 

It was on Aug. 13, 2025, at approximately 2:30 p.m. when Maskwacis RCMP were dispatched to a firearms complaint at a residence on the Louis Bull First Nation. Mounties say EMS also responded, and upon arrival, a male was located deceased.  

The Southern Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation, and on Aug. 15, 2025, an autopsy was conducted at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Edmonton, which determined the cause of death to be a homicide.  

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On Aug. 19, 2025, Ashton Deschamps was located and arrested in North Battleford, SK, before being brought back to Alberta. 

Related: UPDATE: RCMP arrest central Alberta homicide suspect in Saskatchewan