HALIFAX — It is an arrest photo like few others: A muscular man in colourful swim trunks, his bare chest covered in sand, his hands apparently restrained behind his back.
The photo, released by Venezuelan authorities Tuesday, announced the arrest of a Nova Scotia man wanted for second-degree murder in a 2011 death in the Halifax area.
Police say former mixed martial arts fighter Steve Skinner of Cole Harbour, N.S., was taken into custody without incident Sunday on a Margarita Island beach.
Nova Scotia RCMP, who confirmed the arrest, had issued an international warrant for Skinner, 43, following the April, 2011 death of 20-year-old Stacey Adams at a home in Lake Echo.
Both the RCMP and Adams' family thanked Venezuelan authorities.
"Words cannot describe the emotions the family has at this time," Kendelle Blois wrote on the Justice for Stacey Adams Facebook page. "We have anticipated this day for five long years and today the promise that was made by Stacey's mother Gloria has been fulfilled and we as a family will take it one day at a time from here."
In her own brief post Tuesday, Adams' mother said she had made a promise to her son, "and now that promise has been fulfilled. Never underestimate a mother's promise to her son."
At the time the warrant was released, RCMP dismissed rumours that Skinner was either dead or in Mexico. In the previous few years before he was charged in Adams' murder, Skinner had a handful of fights as an MMA fighter.
The photo released by Venezuelan authorities shows Skinner staring intently ahead, his arms covered in tattoos, and a tattoo of a crucifix necklace around his neck.
Police say they are working to extradite Skinner back to Canada.
