MBC has learned that an arrest warrant was issued for Jonas Budd yesterday — hours before he allegedly killed a teen on a La Ronge-area reserve and abducted a 17-year-old girl.
It was issued after Budd failed to appear in court yesterday on charges of break and enter and mischief.
Those charges date back to an alleged incident in early October at the home of Natomagan’s mother — Budd’s estranged common-law spouse.
Crown prosecutor Luke Coupal says the arrest warrant was sought because Budd hadn’t indicated in advance that he wouldn’t be in court.
“So when he didn’t show up yesterday — he was expected to be here because we had given him enough opportunity — we issued a warrant for his arrest because he did need to deal with these other two issues.”
A peace bond was issued on October 9 that Budd was to not have any contact with Natomagan’s mother — and Coupal says there is no indication that he had been violating that court order.
An Amber Alert was issued after Kayla Natomagan’s abduction early this morning, but she was located by Cranberry Portage RCMP later in the morning.
RCMP have not released the name of the male killed in her home just prior to her abduction, but friends and family members on social media have identified him as 17-year-old Dustin Bird, Kayla’s boyfriend.
Budd remains at large and is believed to be in the bush of northern Manitoba in the Cranberry Portage-Sturgeon Landing area.
He is considered armed and dangerous.
RCMP from both provinces continue to search for him.