HUNTER: East Coast murder sadly an all too typical low-rent affair

Body of Allan Christopher Lee was discovered along an ATV trail on the outskirts of Saint John

Published Sep 17, 2026  •  3 minute read

MURDER VICTIM: Allan (Al) Christopher Lee. SJPS

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There are typically around 700 homicides per year in Canada.

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Most are not movie-of-the-week ready. Nor will they even capture much attention locally. They are not high-profile mob hits, massacres or part of some knucklehead scheme.

Nearly all are decidedly low-rent.

The murder of Allan (Al) Christopher Lee, 52, of Saint John, NB, was a low-renter. The homicidal equivalent of a flea bag hotel.

Most murders are ‘over nothing’

“That’s the thing,” one former homicide detective told me. “Most people think the majority of murders are like they are on TV. They’re not. Mostly they’re over nothing or come from some hare-brained scheme.”

He added: “But for the families, the pain is just as real as it is for the family of a murdered prom queen.”

Stiletto-thin killer Jinelle Thompson, RIGHT, and Steve Martin captured by CCTV. SJPS

Lee was no prom king. He owned a chimney cleaning business in Saint John. He was a father, a partner and his family misses him very much.

On Aug. 1, 2024, Lee’s body was discovered along an ATV trail near Lorneville on the Saint John outskirts. He had been shot twice in the back of the head with a .22 calibre rifle. For good measure, his killer shot him again on the ground.

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A crippling drug addiction

Cops then began peeling back the layers of grime and landed on former accountant and onetime nurse Jinelle Suzanne Thompson, now 47. Court later heard that our heroine had injured her neck and back and became hooked on painkillers.

And, as things often go, during the pandemic Thompson developed a taste for crack cocaine. Adding to her woes, she was diagnosed with manic depression and borderline personality disorder.

The Jeep Al Lee was murdered in. SJPS

Her truncated excuse for murdering Lee? “They had disagreements.”

The pair had only known each other three months, she testified, but Thompson claimed Lee threatened her and made snide comments about her daughter.

“I ended up going and picking him up and we went for a drive to — under his impression to discuss all of that — and I ended up shooting him,” Thompson told the court.

‘She’s a genuinely good person’

The former nurse was convicted in May 2025 of second-degree murder with no possibility of parole for 10 years.

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Pal Tina McGraw said she “never would have conceived of (Thompson) being involved in anything like this.” She added: “(She’s) a genuinely good person who would do anything she could to help someone out.”

As in the case of many murders, there is a long tail. Two other men — Stephen Martin and Charles Pleasance — are now on trial accused of being accessories after the fact. The pair allegedly helped Thompson clean the blood-soaked Jeep that Lee was shot in and escape.

Martin, 67, is also accused of witness tampering. None of the charges have been proven in court.

But what has been left unsaid and unseen are the survivors. In a criminal-centred justice system they are rarely a consideration until they agonizingly have to go through a parole hearing.

KILLER DRIVER: Duane Nepoose. FACEBOOK

A typical view is that of Alberta Justice Indra Maharaj who admonished a Crown prosecutor for allowing too many victim impact statements. In that case, a career criminal named Duane Nepoose slammed a Dodge Caravan going 170 km/h through a red light into another vehicle, killing nine-year-old Victoria Desjardins on Boxing Day 2024.

He was off his head on meth and adrenalin after a carjacking. But Maharaj says, “enough about the victims.”

Outside the Saint John courthouse at Thompson’s sentencing, Lee’s mom Lorraine Jessome was relieved but nonetheless painted a portrait of grief murder survivors can relate to.

“I’m just going to carry on. That’s all I can do,” she said.

[email protected]

@HunterTOSun

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