A 48-year-old man was sentenced June 23 to an additional seven years and eight months in prison for the 2020 death of Crystal Chambers, with whom he had been having an extramarital affair.
Jason Troy Getty was arrested Dec. 17, 2021, and charged with second-degree murder.
In B.C. Supreme Court in Prince George, Getty pleaded guilty to the lesser included offences of manslaughter and indignity to a human body.
Justice Ronald Tindale accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence, sentencing Getty to 11 years for manslaughter and two years — to be served consecutively — for dumping Chambers’s body in a creek. Getty received credit for time served in custody since his arrest.
Second-degree murder is defined as a deliberate, but unplanned, killing. Manslaughter is a homicide committed without intent.
Tindale imposed a lifetime ban on Getty from possessing firearms or explosives, and ordered him to provide a DNA sample.
The court heard that Getty and Chambers’s relationship resulted in the birth of a child in 2016. Getty and his wife shared custody of the child, but by 2020 were living separately. That year, Getty travelled with friends to Campbell River on a camping trip. He returned early after receiving concerning messages from Chambers, who was experiencing psychosis linked to methamphetamine use.
At the time, Getty had begun a new relationship with a woman he met on a dating website. After leaving her on July 21, 2020, he arranged to meet Chambers at Pine Centre Mall. The two then travelled together to Shasta Lake, southwest of Prince George.
They used methamphetamine, and Chambers expressed concern that their child may have accessed her drug stash during a recent visit.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Getty became angry and frustrated. He placed Chambers in a chokehold, and she stopped breathing. The mother of three died two weeks before her 34th birthday.
Using items from his vehicle, Getty wrapped her body in a sleeping bag secured with a strap from a yoga mat. He drove to the Willow Creek Bridge, off Highway 16, and dumped her body in the creek.
The next day, July 22, 2020, Getty reconnected with his new girlfriend. Over the following days, he confessed what he had done to Chambers — though he initially described it as a hypothetical situation.
A hiker found Chambers’s partially submerged body on Aug. 1, 2020.
Getty, who had no prior criminal record, was arrested shortly before Christmas in 2021 and remained in custody.
He had been scheduled for a six-month trial, with the Crown preparing up to 57 witnesses. His guilty plea was considered a mitigating factor, as it spared court time and resources. Also taken into consideration was his difficult upbringing.
The son of an Indigenous mother, Getty suffered physical and sexual abuse and neglect throughout his childhood. He lived in 106 foster homes between the age of 18 months and when he aged out of government care.
He left school in Grade 9 but later earned certification as a forklift operator. He also worked as a McDonald’s manager and a bouncer.
Getty struggled with alcoholism and addiction to crack cocaine, at one point spending up to $1,500 per day. He also endured the grief of losing his first wife, who died in 2008.
A tearful Getty expressed remorse in court, telling Tindale: “It’s heartbreaking. I never wanted this for anybody.”
The court also heard a victim impact statement from Chambers’s mother, who described the effect of her daughter’s murder as “like a pebble thrown into a calm body of water with anger.” The loss, she said, brought tears to all who knew Crystal, and left three children grieving “a mom who loved them dearly.”
