Mexican national charged with 1996 murder in Vancouver's West End

A Mexican national has been extradited to B.C. and charged with the 1996 murder of Canada Post worker Muriel Lindsay in her West End apartment.

Vancouver Police announced Thursday that officers had escorted Juan Manuel Rueda Salud, now 68, from Mexico to Canada on Wednesday and that he is being held in jail on one charge of second-degree murder.

Rueda Salud lived in the same building as Lindsay, a 40-year-old cancer survivor, at the time of her death on Feb. 16, 1996.

Her late mother, Marjorie, found her daughter fatally beaten on Feb. 17, 1996 after she had missed work.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

VPD Insp. Ryan Smith, who spent 12 years on the cold case, said Lindsay’s surviving family members were “overjoyed” to hear that someone had finally been charged.

“She was deeply loved by friends and family, and she is sorely missed to this day,” he said. “While it is a relief to see a charge finally laid in this matter, it marks the start of another sad chapter for Muriel’s loved ones. Our thoughts are with them now.”

Smith said Rueda Salud was identified as a person-of-interest in the case, but left for Mexico a month after the killing. Investigators found him in Oaxaca in 2015.

“The case is now before the courts, so I can’t discuss specific evidence, but I can say that our forensic investigators gathered a considerable amount of evidence at the crime scene. We worked diligently for decades with other agencies in Mexico and the United States, as well as Canadian law enforcement agencies and our forensic science and technology partners at BCIT, and we were able to identify Rueda Salud as a suspect,” Smith said.

Rueda Salud was charged on Nov. 2, 2024, and arrested under a provisional warrant in Mexico on Jan. 22, 2025, Smith added. He tried to fight his extradition, but was finally handed over to VPD officers this week.