Decades Later, Trial in Death of Winnipeg Teen Begins

Candace Derksen was 13 when she disappeared from a busy Winnipeg street in 1984.

Mark Edward Grant goes on trial today, 26 years to the day since the schoolgirl he is accused of killing was found dead inside a supply shed beside a Winnipeg road. Her killer bound her hands and feet and left her to freeze to death after snatching her as she walked home from school on Nov. 30, 1984. Her murder launched a massive police investigation and the formation of a new child protection agency, but a suspect in the case wasn’t arrested until after the Winnipeg police formed a cold case unit in 2006. In 2007 police arrested Grant, now 46-years-old, for the crime, and in 2009 he was committed to stand trial. He has pleaded not guilty.