A Sault Ste. Marie man charged with murder in Los Angeles — in connection with the death of a Canadian woman — will now answer to criminal charges in another state.
Records from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department reveal that Jeffery Primeau, a former insulator and asbestos worker in Algoma Steel’s utilities department, was released from custody Oct. 31 after his case was dismissed.
Primeau has since been extradited to Arizona, where he has been charged with second-degree murder and abandonment or concealment of a dead body.
The 50-year-old is currently being held in custody by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office, SooToday has confirmed.
Primeau was initially arrested by police in Los Angeles on Feb. 9, 2024 in connection with a murder that allegedly occurred three months prior.
At the time, police said Primeau admitted to investigators that he was “in a fight with his girlfriend” and killed her in an act of self-defence.
He then directed detectives to a location just outside the L.A. International Airport, where a badly decomposed body was discovered inside a vehicle, said the LAPD.
The new charges suggest that authorities believe the murder occurred in Arizona, not Los Angeles.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and Primeau is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Primeau was held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility — the largest mental health facility in the U.S. — prior to his recent extradition.
The timeline of events between the alleged murder and Primeau's surrender to police remains unclear.
His Facebook account, which included photos and video alongside a woman he had been travelling the U.S. in an RV with, suddenly went quiet in November 2023 — around the same time as the alleged murder.
Primeau’s last public post to social media occurred on New Year’s Day, when he appeared to be visiting Salvation Mountain near Niland, Calif.
His Facebook account has since gone dark.
In the days that followed his arrest, police in Los Angeles believed the unidentified woman Primeau had been travelling with died on or around Nov. 22, 2023, but were unsure of where the death happened.
Primeau's criminal charges in Arizona are being heard in Pinal County Superior Court.
A longtime local resident, Primeau was featured in a SooToday story in 2022 when he fell just two signatures short of becoming a mayoral candidate in the municipal election.
He waited until the final day to collect the mandatory 25 signatures on his nomination form. When the deadline passed, Primeau had 23.