Killer of Katelyn Noble sentenced to life in prison

The man who killed a 15-year-old girl near Radisson in 2007 has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years.

Eduard Baranec was sentenced Friday in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench. He pleaded guilty in May to a charge of manslaughter in the killing of Katelyn Noble.

Baranec also was given a five-year sentence for offering an indignity to a body, a sentence that is to run concurrently to his life sentence.

Noble disappeared from a farmhouse in the Radisson area on Aug. 27, 2007.  She was originally from Mission, B.C.

In September of 2018, the RCMP said Baranec had been charged with first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a body in connection with Noble’s death.

Baranec was arrested at Kent Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary in B.C. where he’s serving a life sentence for the 2007 murder of Amanpreet Kaur Bahia.

At the time of Baranec’s arrest, police said Noble’s body had not been found.

In May, Baranec maintained his not-guilty plea to the initial charge of first-degree murder, but offered a plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter.

At the time, his lawyer, Brian Pfefferle, told 650 CKOM in an email: “We were grateful that the Crown accepted the proposed plea to a lesser offence. As this case involved the somewhat controversial Mr. Big covert investigation method, a protracted trial would have been necessary. This plea saves literally months of potential court time and perhaps most importantly provides closure to all parties involved.”

Baranec is believed to be one of the last people seen with Noble.

Six years after Noble’s disappearance, her mother told 650 CKOM that Katelyn’s boyfriend last saw the teen being embraced by Baranec before she ran away.