B.C. man found guilty of killing and burying friend last seen in 1999

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A Lytton, B.C., man has been found guilty of murdering his friend — nearly 14 years after he disappeared.

Rob Smith was convicted of manslaughter and interfering with a body in the death of Sandy Charlie.

Last week, a B.C. Supreme Court jury in Kamloops watched a video of Smith confessing to an undercover officer that he killed Charlie and buried his body.

But in court, Smith said he only knocked Charlie out but didn’t kill the man who was last seen in December 1999.

Charlie’s body was accidentally unearthed by an excavator doing work on Crown land in September 2011, prompting the RCMP to launch an undercover operation targeting Smith, who was arrested in 2012.

Smith’s common-law wife Linda Phillips says her family is relieved about the verdict. (CHNL)