Police focused on finding Megan Gallagher on a stretch of the South Saskatchewan River near St. Louis

Searchers are scouring the South Saskatchewan River northeast of Saskatoon for the remains of Megan Gallagher on the same day an eighth suspect was charged in connection with her disappearance.

The announcement comes the same day police charged an eighth suspect in Gallagher’s disappearance two years ago. The body of the 30-year-old woman has not been found.

On Thursday, Saskatoon police said about 50 searchers would scour the shoreline and landscape near St. Louis. The search should last four days.

« I’m confident that the area we’re focusing on is the area where we know we have the greatest chance of success, » said Master Sgt. Grant Obst with the Major Crimes Unit.

« The working theory of the investigation indicated that the murder took place in Saskatoon, the disposition of the body took place in the area we will be searching. »

The latest suspect to be charged is 34-year-old Robin Tyler John, who is serving time at a Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation correctional facility. He has now been transferred to a cell in Saskatoon.

John, who is charged with forcible confinement and aggravated assault, is the second suspect in the Gallagher case linked to a high-profile drunken fatality in Saskatoon.

He pleaded guilty in 2014 to impaired driving causing death in the collision that killed Quinn Stevenson, a Saskatoon teenager. Stevenson had graduated from Centennial High School in 2013 when a car John was driving crashed into Stevenson’s car on his way to work.

John was sentenced to two years in prison and two years probation, and a three-year driving ban.

Cheyann Peeteetuce, 29, who is charged with first-degree murder in the presumed death of Gallagher, killed two teenagers in an accident in 2014. Police say she was intoxicated at the time and that ‘she had driven a stolen truck through a stop sign, hitting another vehicle. She pleaded guilty in 2015 to two counts of dangerous driving causing death.

The crash killed JP Haughey, 17, and his passenger, Sarah Wensley, 17. A third girl in the vehicle survived.

Obst says police anticipate more arrests and charges in the Gallagher case.