A man arrested in Ontario on Tuesday is the suspect in a nearly three-year-old murder case in Victoria.
On Nov. 5, 2008, the body of Nicholas John Fantasia, 35, was found in the water of the Inner Harbour, underneath the docks at Hyack Adventures’ float plane terminal.
Fantasia was a member of the street community and a drug user.
Victoria police will not release how Fantasia died.
The investigation was transferred to Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crimes Unit soon after the body’s discovery and in May of this year, VIIMCU deemed Fantasia’s death a homicide and issued a Canada-wide warrant for the arrest of Ryan Demorest, 25.
Demorest was arrested by Toronto police in Scarborough Tuesday and charged with second-degree murder.
He will arrive in Victoria by the middle of next week in the custody of sheriffs.
VicPD Insp. John Craig said it’s not out of the ordinary for cases to be solved so long after they happened.
“It’s not really unlikely at all. We don’t put files to bed until they’re solved. This does happen quite often where court cases are becoming more complex, so evidence that is needed to support a charge is becoming more complex.”
The major crimes unit worked on the case with Ontario Provincial Police’s repeat offender and parole enforcement squad.
ecardone@vicnews.com