Kentville man charged in October crash that killed boy, grandmother

Nova Scotia RCMP have charged a Kentville man with 10 offences in relation to a five-vehicle crash in Wolfville, N.S., last October that killed two people.

Jeffery Doyle, 52, was arrested on May 16, said an RCMP news release Monday.

Doyle was driving a transport truck that hit four other vehicles, police say. He has been charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death, three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and five counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance.

Doyle was released on conditions, police said, and is scheduled to appear in Kentville provincial court on July 9.

First responders were called to a crash on Highway 101 on Oct. 12 at 8:26 a.m.

Two people inside an SUV — a 62-year-old woman and a child, both from East Kingston — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A 40-year-old woman in the same vehicle was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

According to an obituary, the two crash victims were Elma Naguerlin, 62, and her nine-year-old grandson, Renan Jr. Naguerlin Colimbo.

The RCMP said work done by its collision reconstructionist and digital forensics services led to the charges.

"It did, in this case, take quite a while. There's a lot of factors that go into that," Staff Sgt. Ed Nugent of Kings District RCMP told CBC News in an interview on Monday, referring to the nearly eight months between the crash and the charges.

"In this case, there were a number of vehicles involved. The truck struck four vehicles in a line. So there were a lot of parts to this investigation."

Elma Naguerlin was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada in March 2024 so she could live closer to her daughter. Renan Jr. Naguerlin Colimbo moved to Canada with his parents in 2021 from the Philippines. He was a student at Kingston and District Elementary School.

According to the obituary, the boy "had a love of cooking, especially breakfast in bed, playing Nerf guns, basketball games and had a love for reading books."

A GoFundMe campaign for the family noted Elma Naguerlin "embraced her new life" in Canada, "cherishing every moment with her grandson, Renan, and celebrating the journey her son in law and daughter had built here."

"This was absolutely devastating for the family involved and for the community," Nugent said. 

"This was a shock for all our people and I know our investigators put their all into it."