In what may be a step toward cracking a five-year-old cold case, three men have been arrested and charged in connection with a shooting death of a prominent figure in the city's drug trade.
Cuyler Richard Aubichon, 26, Kelly Micheal Richet, 37, and Christopher Ryan Russell, 34, are now in custody, each facing a charge of manslaughter with a firearm in connection with the death of Robert Lee Milligan.
On the night of June 15, 2016, Milligan was found shot to death in the driveway of a 3600-block Forest Avenue home. He was 33 years old at the time.
Milligan was perhaps best known for his ties to Jason Alexander Hall. They were partners in a scheme that saw Hall sell $27,000 worth of marijuana in August 2012 to what he thought was a businessperson but turned out to be an undercover RCMP officer.
A former president of the Renegade Motorcycle Club, Hall had fallen on hard times. He had closed the doors on a failed downtown business, Wiseguys Clothing.
The undercover officer was posing as a Toronto interested in selling a clothing line owned by Hall. Unable to close the deal on the clothing line, Hall tried to maintain his association by agreeing to help with some illegitimate business transactions.
In March 2015, Hall, then 45 years old, was gunned down while awaiting trial on the matter. Responding to a report of a man down on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Gillett Street, police found Hall suffering from serious injuries. He was taken to hospital where he died later the same day.
The case remains unsolved.
In August 2015, Milligan was sentenced to one year in jail for procuring a portion of the marijuana.
During a sentencing hearing on the matter, the court heard that Milligan was fearing for his life after Hall was killed and had been on administrative lockdown for 23 hours a day at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre due to concerns about his safety.
Like Milligan, Aubichon, Richet and Russell are all known to the police and courts.
Aubichon gained particular prominence as the target of an March 2016 arrest for which three Prince George RCMP officers now face criminal charges after the apprehension was caught on camera showing an officer using a police dog to pull him out of a stolen pickup truck.
Aubichon has also filed a civil lawsuit in relation to the matter.
In April 2020, Aubichon was banned from coming within 50 kilometres of Prince George for two years for his role in the violent robbery of a couple at a local motel.
As for Richet and Russell, in July 2018 they were respectively sentenced to seven and six years in prison for a 2016 shooting of a man in Mackenzie. Less time served prior to sentencing, Richet had four years and five months left to serve while Russell has three years and 11 months to go at the time.
