One of two people convicted of killing a Labrador woman in Halifax seven years ago over outstanding rent has been denied day parole.

35-year-old Victoria Lea Henneberry is serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Loretta Saunders. Henneberry’s then-boyfriend, 32-year-old Blake Leggette, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is not eligible for parole until the year 2039.

Loretta Saunders, a 26-year-old Inuk woman from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, was a student at Saint Mary’s University when she was killed. She was completing her thesis on missing and murdered Indigenous women at the time.

Saunders was subletting a room of her apartment to Leggette and Henneberry when they attacked her there on February 13, 2014. Evidence at trial indicated they killed her over $430 that they couldn’t pay.

They then hid her body in a hockey bag, put it in the trunk of Saunders’ car, and drove to Ontario, dumping the hockey bag along the highway through New Brunswick. They also continued to use Saunders’ cellphone and bank card, which led the police to them.

Henneberry will be eligible for full parole in 2024.