Woman charged with manslaughter in 2024 Halifax-area encampment death

A woman has been charged with manslaughter in the 2024 Boxing Day death of a man in a Halifax-area tent encampment.

The body of a 56-year-old man was found in a tent on Dec. 26, 2024, on Geary Street in Dartmouth. Halifax Regional Police said the victim was later identified as Jeffrey Alexander Emmerson.

Police also said that officers had previously responded to the encampment four days earlier for a report of a man who had been assaulted by a woman.

However, at the time, the man “declined medical attention and further police investigation.”

Police confirmed the incident involved the same man.

Six months later, the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service ruled the man’s death a homicide based on the autopsy’s findings.

Halifax police said in June 2025 that the investigation was being led by their force and the RCMP’s Integrated Criminal Investigation Division, and they were looking for a woman who was involved in the initial assault call. 

In a Tuesday update, police said 22-year-old Kiara Marie Organ was arrested and charged with manslaughter, nearly two years after Emmerson’s death. She is scheduled to appear in Dartmouth provincial court later Tuesday.

At the time of Emmerson’s death, the Geary Street location was one of five designated outdoor sheltering locations in the municipality.