Man charged with 1st-degree murder in fatal Pinkneys Point house fire

A Yarmouth Countyman has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a man in a house fire last month.

Early on March 17, crews were called to a fire on Melbourne Road in Pinkneys Point, N.S. After the fire was extinguished, investigatorsfound human remains inside.

The remains were later identified to be those of Joseph Wickens, 43, of Stoney Island.

Several RCMP departments, including the major crime unit and the forensic identification unit, as well as the Yarmouth Fire Department, the anthropology department at St. Thomas University, the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner's Office and the Nova Scotia Fire Marshal's Office, have been investigating the incident.

On Thursday, RCMP arrested Dillon Burton Deveau, 30, of North Chegoggin and charged him with first-degree murder. He's scheduled to appear in Yarmouthprovincial court on Friday.