A murderer has died in a Fraser Valley prison after spending 45 years behind bars.
The Correctional Service of Canada announced this week Roy William MacGregor died of “apparent natural causes” on Oct. 1 at Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, B.C.
He had been serving an indeterminate sentence for second-degree murder and other convictions since May 2, 1978.
Toronto Star archives from that year show MacGregor received a life sentence in prison for shooting drug dealer Rejean Chenard during a robbery.
MacGregor, 23 at the time, was accompanied by three other men when they tried to recover three pounds of methamphetamine from Chenard, which had been stolen earlier.
He has remained in prison ever since.
The Ottawa Citizen reported in 1984 that MacGregor was stabbed multiple times while staying at Millhaven prison in Ontario.
Court records show he was charged in 1996 after a visitor slipped him methadone at a prison in the Fraser Valley.
“As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) will review the circumstances,” said the agency. “CSC policy requires that the police and the coroner be notified.”
