Prosecutions and Seizures

Atlantic Region

CBSA arrests U.S. double homicide suspect

Woodstock, New Brunswick, May 2, 2012 - A man suspected of a double homicide in the United States was arrested by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers while attempting to enter Canada.

On the evening of May 1, 2012, Joseph Wright of Lynn, Massachusetts tried to enter Canada via the Woodstock, New Brunswick port of entry. CBSA officers referred him to secondary examination. While proceeding to the examination area, he abruptly drove away; an action known as "running the port".

Local Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Woodstock Police were contacted to assist, and the RCMP apprehended Wright, who had abandoned his vehicle in a wooded area approximately four kilometres from the border.

Wright was returned to the Woodstock port of entry and the CBSA arrested him under the Customs Act and Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for failing to report.

Upon receipt of a U.S. arrest warrant on May 2, officers from the CBSA and RCMP escorted Wright back to the United States where he was taken into custody by Maine State Police.

The CBSA works closely with our domestic and U.S. law enforcement partners to ensure the integrity of our shared border.

If you have witnessed or are aware of an incident involving suspicious cross-border activity, please contact the CBSA Border Watch Toll-free Line at 1-888-502-9060.

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For more information:

CBSA Atlantic Region Communications
902-426-0900

For information relating to the ongoing homicide investigation please contact: Carrie Kimball Monahan, Office of the District Attorney for the Essex District, Salem, Massachusetts, 978-745-6610 ext. 5079.

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