{"id":442095,"date":"2026-01-30T02:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/442095\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T02:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:39:10","slug":"missing-baby-feared-dead-after-moms-remains-found-in-st-albert-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/442095\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing baby feared dead after mom\u2019s remains found in St. Albert apartment"},"content":{"rendered":"

WARNING: This story contains details some may find disturbing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For nearly seven weeks, the remains of a mother sat inside an unsuspecting downtown St. Albert<\/a> apartment and her infant daughter was no where to be found.<\/p>\n

RCMP believe 23-year-old Ayla Egotik-Learn<\/a> was killed on or around Dec. 5, 2025. Police think her missing child, nine-month-old daughter Braylee Beasley<\/a>, is also dead.<\/p>\n

It was only when the property manager of Sturgeon Point Villas went to carry out an eviction last week that the horror of what may have occurred began to come to light.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepresentatives of the building went in to do a check, so to speak,\u201d Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Unit Sgt. James McConnell said.<\/p>\n

He spoke Thursday at a news conference where police detailed what they could about the presumed double homicide in the community directly adjacent to northwest Edmonton.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen they entered the residence, they found this package,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when RCMP were called in. Officers responded on Friday, Jan 23, to reports of a suspicious item in the apartment along Rivercrest Crescent.<\/p>\n

Police arrived and determined they were dealing with the human remains of woman. Her remains were taken to the medical examiner\u2019s office in Edmonton.<\/p>\n

The Alberta RCMP Major Crimes Unit took the lead on the case and help was called in from the Edmonton Forensic Identification Section and St. Albert RCMP General Investigation Section.<\/p>\n

The urgency ramped up when they realized Braylee was missing and her safety was in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cA that time we believed that she was deceased, we transitioned to a homicide investigation,\u201d McConnell said, adding there were over 50 police officers working around the clock on the case.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis investigation saw a rapid deployment of experienced investigators performing hundreds of individual tasks in a short period of time,\u201d said Wayne Stevenson, operations officer of the RCMP major crimes unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese tasks included working with the medical examiner, conducting interviews, gathering forensic evidence, obtaining judicial authorizations and many more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four days later on Jan. 27, officers arrested St. Albert resident Christopher William Beasley, 33, at a hotel in that city. He is charged with second-degree-murder and two counts of indignity to a body.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe charge of second-degree murder pertains to the death of Ayla. The charges of indignity to a body pertain to both Ayla and Braylee,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n

RCMP said he was in a common-law relationship with Egotik-Learn and was Braylee\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

Police said they had lived at the apartment in St. Albert since the spring of 2024.<\/p>\n

Egotik-Learn was from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, RCMP said, but she\u2019d been in Alberta since April 2024, which is when police believe her relationship began with the accused. Braylee was born about a year later.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy understanding is her world was her child and that she spent all the time she could with her,\u201d McConnell said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tUndated photo of Ayla Egotik-Learn, 23, and her daughter Braylee Beasley.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSupplied by RCMP\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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The couple\u2019s relationship had domestic abuse issues, court records indicate. Last July, Beasley pleaded guilty to assaulting Egotik-Learn between mid-February and at the end of April. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation.<\/p>\n

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The accused was also charged twice last year with threatening to kill Egotik-Learn multiple times, but both charges were later withdrawn.<\/p>\n

Beasley was previously handed a probation sentence in 2019 for assaulting a different person.<\/p>\n

The case will go to the court system and thus, RCMP were limited on what they could share\u2013 but the details they could disclose left the officers at Thursday\u2019s news conference visibly upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gravity of investigating the death of a nine-month-old to a young mother in a safe community is immense,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cThe officers who have worked on this file, the impact on the public is tremendous and will be felt by everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tears were seen in many of the officer\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply saddened for this family and extend my heartfelt condolences for all those who love them,\u201d Stevenson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA woman and her child should be planning for tomorrow, not being mourned today.\u201d<\/p>\n

As details of the case become public, St. Albert RCMP detachment commander Insp. Aaron White said it\u2019s important to acknowledge the impact on the local community, as well as the friends and family of the victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are our friends, our neighbours,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve suffered an absolutely tragic loss and I just want to take a moment and acknowledge that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Police said while Braylee\u2019s remains have not yet been found, they have an idea of where she may be and are not asking for the public\u2019s help in searching.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with Ayla and Baby Braylee, and we are absolutely focused on doing right by them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain resolute and firmly committed to continuing all investigative efforts to locate and bring this little one home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beasley remains in custody and his next court date set for Feb. 2 in St. Albert.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WARNING: This story contains details some may find disturbing. For nearly seven weeks, the remains of a mother…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16703,182928,182929,49,48,2169,44,182930,182931],"class_list":["post-442095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta-rcmp","tag-ayla-egotik-learn","tag-braylee-beasley","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-news","tag-st-albert","tag-st-albert-homicide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}