'There was no other option for her': son of woman serving 18 years for killing abusive husband speaks out

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Neil Naslund is quick to answer when asked if he has any positive memories of his late father Miles.

“No,” said Naslund. “I don’t have one positive thought or feeling or memory of any kind. He never even once held any of his kids. Didn’t change a diaper. He said it many times: ‘Kids are to be seen not heard.’ We were there as slaves. We were there to get work done.”

In September 2011, Neil’s mother Helen shot and killed Miles while he slept after a hellish day on their central Alberta farm. According to court documents, Miles spent Sept. 4 drunkenly ordering Helen and Neil around with a gun, hurled tools at Helen when a piece of farm equipment broke down, and swept a fully set kitchen table to the floor when Sunday dinner was not to his liking. After 27 years of such abuse, Helen snapped. Neil, the youngest of three Naslund brothers, helped her hide his father’s body at the bottom of pond.

Now, as Alberta’s court of appeal weighs whether the 18-year sentence imposed on Helen Naslund is just, Neil Naslund is speaking out.

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“I don’t think she deserves to spend one second in jail, in my opinion,” said Neil, who was recently paroled after being sentenced to three years for helping hide Miles’ body. “She has spent just about 30 years in jail. That’s what that household was like.”

The Naslund family lived on a cattle and grain farm near Holden, a small community about 100 km southeast of Edmonton. Helen, 56, married Miles when she was 19, and had three sons: Wesley, born in 1984; Darrell, born in 1988; and Neil, born in 1992. They moved to the Holden farm in 1985.

An undated photo of Helen Naslund, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison Oct. 30, 2020, for killing her abusive husband.
An undated photo of Helen Naslund, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison Oct. 30, 2020, for killing her abusive husband.

According to court documents and interviews with Helen’s sons, the abuse started soon after the marriage. The farm was often in financial trouble, and Miles had an explosive temper. Helen could not go anywhere or see anyone without reporting to Miles what she did and talked about. The patriarch would order her and his sons around with guns. Violence was a constant threat.

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“It was the most violent, dangerous upbringing I’ve ever heard of,” he said. “Broken bones and cuts. Lots of blood was shed.”

At the time of the killing, Neil and his brother Darrell slept in the basement of the farmhouse. Neil had left home for about a year but came back to protect his mother.

Helen, who worked as a manager at an equipment company in Wetaskiwin, coped with alcohol. On the few occasions she tried to leave, she was convinced she or her sons would be killed. She attempted suicide several times.

After Helen shot Miles, she and Neil hid the body in a truck toolbox, which they weighted down, drilled full of holes and sunk in a dugout. They used an excavator to crush and bury his car, burned evidence from the home and tossed the guns in other bodies of water. They reported Miles missing, suggesting he’d taken his own life. Helen occasionally criticized the police, feigning frustration with the lack of progress on the investigation.

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Eventually, Darrell Naslund let slip what happened to his father, and gave a statement to police. Helen and Neil were charged with first-degree murder.

Neil Naslund pleaded guilty to offering indignity to human remains.
Neil Naslund pleaded guilty to offering indignity to human remains. jpg

In 2020, Helen and Neil agreed to a deal with the Crown. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter and accepted an 18-year prison sentence, while he admitted to helping hide the body and received three years.

This year, however, Helen launched an appeal of her sentence, which is one of the longest in a homicide committed by an abused woman. Her lawyers are asking the Alberta Court of Appeal to shorten the sentence, arguing the Crown coerced Helen into taking an unduly harsh punishment that fails to properly account for the dynamics facing abused women. A three-judge court of appeal panel heard the case Tuesday and will issue a decision in writing at a future date.

Neil said he is speaking out so the public understands “how bad it really was and how little options she had.”

“There was no other option,” he said.” I don’t look bad at her for making the choice that she made whatsoever. In my mind, I’m astonished that she held out as long as she did.”

jwakefield@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jonnywakefield

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