The man accused of killing Langley City’s Naomi Onotera will be going directly to trial, skipping a preliminary hearing.
Obnes Regis, Onotera’s husband, was charged last December with manslaughter and offering indignity to human remains.
Onotera disappeared around Aug. 28, 2021, sparking a large public search effort to find the elementary school teacher.
Friends and family of Onotera covered Langley and surrounding areas with missing persons posters, and searched the woods and fields near her home.
In September, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was called in to work with the Langley RCMP on the case, and by the end of that month they had begun an intensive search of Onotera’s home. A second search followed in December.
Regis was arrested in December shortly after the second search, and has been in custody since then, after being denied bail in February.
The Crown counsel prosecuting the case have now decided to proceed by direct indictment, according to Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel for the B.C. Prosecution Service.
Direct indictment means there will be no preliminary hearing.
Regis’s case has been moved from Surrey Provincial Court, where he had made his first appearances before a judge, to B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. Most major trials involving murder and manslaughter in the Langley area are heard in New Westminster.
Regis will next be before a judge again on Jan. 25 in New West for a pre-trial conference.
READ ALSO: No bail for accused in Langley woman’s death
READ ALSO: Supporters rally against bail for accused killer of Langley woman
Have a story tip? Email: matthew.claxton@langleyadvancetimes.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.