Nanaimo teen’s killer to be sentenced in April

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 11 for Steven Michael Bacon, who has pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of 16-year-old Makayla Chang

Steven Michael Bacon will be sentenced next year for the murder of a Nanaimo teenager five years ago.

Bacon, 61, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to the second-degree murder of Makayla Chang. The 16-year-old disappeared in March 2017.

Makayla’s body was found two months later.

The sentencing hearing has been scheduled for April 11.

Bacon, 61, was initially charged with first-degree murder of the teen he called his “Dearest Baby Bird” and “the most precious person he has ever known.” He reported her disappearance to Nanaimo RCMP.

Under the Criminal Code, first-degree murder is a homicide that is planned and deliberate. It carries an automatic life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Second-degree murder is generally a deliberate killing that occurs without planning.

The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no parole for 10 years, but sentences can be as long as life in prison without parole for 25 years.

The issue at sentencing will be how much time Bacon must serve before he is eligible for parole.

An agreed statement of fact has been prepared for the court. Crown and defence lawyers are expected to make a joint submission.

In April 2017, Nanaimo search-and-rescue crews combed through the ravine area of Colliery Dam Park and Cat Stream Park looking for clues to Makayla’s whereabouts.

The RCMP and a tactical team executed search warrants twice at 609 Bruce Ave., where Bacon lived in the basement suite and where Makayla was known to stay. Police searched both inside and outside the property.

They also did a grid search of a vacant property at 601 Bruce Ave.

Bacon was arrested in Fredericton, N.B., in September 2019 after Nanaimo RCMP made a Canada-wide appeal for help locating him as a person of interest in the case.

He was charged with Makayla’s murder in September 2020 and pleaded not guilty to the crime in October 2020.

Bacon was brought to Nanaimo from the Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene, Ont., where he was being held on other charges.

ldickson@timescolonist.com