Man who killed his common-law wife arrested on Canada-wide parole violation

File photo of James Gary Urbaniak being escorted into court by police in handcuffs on Thursday, May 7th, 2009.

A man who killed his common-law wife in 2009 has been arrested on a parole violation.

James Gary Urbaniak pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for strangling his long-time partner Jessica Martel and was sentenced to life in prison.

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During the trial, court heard he beat, stabbed, and strangled Martel after he discovered she planned to leave him.

Urbaniak was granted full parole last August.

The parole board determined that he had taken part in a significant amount of programming and intervention during his sentence, and had obtained a full-time job while on day parole.

Urbaniak was arrested on Feb. 21 in Sherwood Park by Strathcona County RCMP.

An RCMP spokesperson says the Canada-wide parole violation warrant was issued by Corrections Canada and the organization did not specify what the violation is.