Nineteen years later, trial to start for man accused of killing Misha Pavelick

On Monday morning at the Court of King’s Bench in Regina, a man will go on trial for allegedly killing 19-year-old Misha Pavelick nearly 20 years ago.

The accused was a youth at the time of Pavelick’s death in 2006, so despite being in his 30s now, he cannot be publicly named.

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He was charged with second-degree murder in 2023 after years of investigation and following leads by RCMP.

“On behalf of the family, I want to express our sincere and grateful thanks to the RCMP Major Crimes and Historical Case Unit. (They were) always respectful (and) always hopeful. They never stopped communicating with us, sharing what they could,” said Lorne Pavelick, Misha’s father, when RCMP announced the charge.

According to a podcast about the death produced by the RCMP in 2021, 19-year-old Misha Pavelick was attending a weekend-long graduation party on the May Long Weekend in 2006.

The party was an annual event for a high school in Regina, where students would go out to the Kinookimaw campground near Regina Beach. Police said there were about 120 people on the guest list, but as security relaxed, there were around 200 people there.

On the Friday, RCMP said a group of uninvited people had tried to get in, but were turned away. The group came back late Sunday night and got in.

A short time later, tension developed between the uninvited group and Pavelick and his friends. Pavelick and another boy started arguing and then got into a physical fight, but other people intervened.

Then, about 10 minutes later, things escalated again and Pavelick ended up involved in a fight with several people from the uninvited group. Pavelick’s 18-year-old friend Derek Enns tried to help Pavelick, but was stabbed – he survived.

RCMP said several other fights broke out, and at the end of it, Misha had been stabbed and seriously hurt. Someone performed CPR on Misha while others called 911. Pavelick ended up dying from his injuries.

One person was arrested and convicted in 2007 of aggravated assault for the attack on Enns – that person served three years behind bars.

But until 2023, no one was arrested in connection with Pavelick’s death.

Around 170 people were spoken to in the case, and RCMP said after the podcast was released in 2021, dozens of people reached out with a new statement or more to say.

That year, RCMP undertook a new search for evidence at Regina Beach in relation to Pavelick’s case.

On Monday, the trial against the man accused of the killing is set to begin, likely with jury selection. It’s set to last four weeks in Regina at the Court of King’s Bench.