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Lambton County man faces two second degree murder charges after bodies found in Oil Springs and Sarnia

January 6, 2022

Mississauga man with history of drug trafficking only victim identified so far

A 42 year-old Sarnia man is facing second degree murder charges after two bodies were found – one in Sarnia, the other near Oil Springs.

On Dec. 28, police were called to remote wooded area near the oil fields of Oil Springs on Crooked Road in Enniskillen Township about a suspicious person. It was around 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Lambton OPP found human remains there.

Just over an hour later, a second body was found in Sarnia in an apartment on Watson St.

Police identified the man as Lance Robinson, 31, of Mississauga on Jan. 1.

Robinson, who had a criminal record which dated back over ten years, had been arrested in a summer drug raid in Toronto. In October he was released after the crown dropped the charges.

Robinson was in Lambton visiting friends before Christmas according to his lawyer, Stefan Peters. His partner was expecting Robinson would spend Christmas with her and their two year-old son, but he never returned home.

Peters says Robinson had recently called him, concerned about rumours he had traded information about other drug dealers in return for the trafficking charges being dropped. Peters says that wasn’t the case.

Robinson’s partner – deeply concerned he had not made contact since Dec. 23 – had filed a missing person report Dec. 26, two days before his body was discovered in the Sarnia apartment.

When the OPP released information about the incident, officials said one man was in custody.

Nine days later and after a court appearance Wednesday, police announced Matthew Theriault, 42, of Sarnia and a native of Oil Springs, had been charged with two counts of second degree murder and two counts of indignity to a dead body.

Matthew Theriault

He remains in custody after his court appearance.

According to his social media accounts, Theriault’s hometown is Oil Springs. He is a graduate of LCCVI and is a member of the Carpenters’ Union Local 1256.

The Ontario Coroner and the Ontario Forensic Pathology Services have yet to identify the other body which was found south of Oil Springs.

Investigators are still hoping to talk with anyone who may have spoken with Richardson in the days leading up to his death.

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