UPDATE: Man charged with Second Degree Murder for East Preston homicide

October 9, 2024
East Preston, Nova Scotia

News release

The Special Investigations Section of the RCMP/HRP Integrated Criminal Investigation Division has charged a man with Second Degree Murder in relation to a homicide that occurred in East Preston.

On August 30, 2022, at approximately 6:45 p.m., RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment responded to a report of a suspicious van parked behind a strip mall in East Preston. Inside the vehicle, RCMP officers discovered the body of 47-year-old Barry Angus Studley of Middle Sackville. His death was ruled a homicide.

Through the course of the investigation, with the assistance of RCMP Forensic Identification Services and with tips received from the public, investigators identified Patrick James Denny, 29, as the person responsible for Studley's death. Denny and Studley were known to one another.

Denny, who's currently serving an in-custody sentence in relation to an unrelated incident, has been charged with Second Degree Murder and Indignity to Human Remains. He'll remain incarcerated and will be escorted back to Nova Scotia to appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court on October 21, at 9:30 a.m.

At this time, investigators do not anticipate further arrests.

File # 22-107140

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Contact information

Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay
Public Information Officer
Nova Scotia RCMP
rcmpns-grcne@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

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