Three murders in a year were enough for Yukon’s crime severity statistics to spike dramatically in 2014.

Statistics Canada released its numbers on police-reported crimes last week.

They show that in the Yukon, the severity index jumped 11 per cent – the highest increase of anywhere in the country.

The crime severity index doesn’t just look at the number of crimes; it also considers how serious those crimes are.

In 2013 the territory had zero murders. In 2014 the RCMP investigated three.

In May 2014, Allan Waugh was found dead inside his home on McCrimmon Crescent. No one has been charged with the murder yet. The 69-year-old’s family has made multiple pleas for someone to come forward with information.

In July, 27-year-old Tanner Sinclair was stabbed in Copper Ridge. Michael Macpherson, 32, is facing a second-degree murder charge.

In December, 17-year-old Brandy Vittrekwa was found dead on a walking trail in the McIntyre subdivision. A 15-year-old has been charged with second degree murder.

“Some other places, that have a bigger population and they more criminal incidents, three might not have as much of an impact,” said Jillian Boyce, an analyst with Statistics Canada. “But because you went from zero to three, it did have a big impact.”

The territory’s crime rate, which looks into the number of crimes overall per 100,000 people, did not change.

The Yukon is one of only three jurisdictions, along with B.C. and Alberta, that saw its crime rate either stay the same or go up.

Nationally, both the 2014 crime rate and the crime severity index went down three per cent over 2013.

Contact Ashley Joannou at

ashleyj@yukon-news.com