In the quiet farmland near Petrolia, Ontario, the death of a working man has drawn back a curtain on something deliberate and organized. Andrew Chute, a 45-year-old boilermaker, was found shot near a nature trail in April — a targeted killing, police say, not a random one. Two men from Sarnia now face first-degree murder charges, but investigators believe the conspiracy runs deeper, and the search for at least one more suspect continues to cast a long shadow over the case.
Police hunt third suspect in targeted killing of Sarnia boilermaker
Andrew Chute, 45, was killed in a targeted shooting attack near Petrolia, Ontario on April 14, 2022.
Police are still looking for whoever else may have been part of the conspiracy
Mark
Why does the court document matter so much here? Why mention the "unindicted co-conspirator" language specifically?
Mimi
Because it's the only public evidence we have that police know there's someone else involved. Without that language in the charging document, we'd have no way of knowing the investigation wasn't finished.
Mark
The article mentions Chute had criminal charges that were dropped after he died. Does that suggest something about why he was killed?
Mimi
The source doesn't connect those dots, and neither should we. But it's worth noting—it's there in the record. Whether it's relevant or coincidental, we don't know yet.
Mark
What strikes you about the drug bust connection to Armstrong?
Mimi
That it happened in December, and then four months later he's charged with murder. The timeline is clean, but the connection between the two cases isn't spelled out. It raises questions the reporting doesn't answer.
Mark
Why is Nahmabin's background—the hunting, the First Nation membership—included in the story?
Mimi
Because it's part of who he is, and because the source included it. It's not sensational; it's just context. He's not a cipher.
Mark
The article says this is the second homicide in the township in four months. Why doesn't it explore that?
Mimi
The source doesn't provide details about the first one, so we can't. But it's worth noting—it signals that something is happening in that place, even if we don't fully understand what.
The Pulse
- A boilermaker's body found at the edge of a nature trail in a small Ontario township marked the beginning of a murder investigation that would reveal a coordinated, deliberate killing.
- Two Sarnia men — Jason Nahmabin and James Armstrong, both 43 — have been charged with first-degree murder, but charging documents openly reference an unnamed co-conspirator still at large.
- Police have declined to confirm or deny whether an active manhunt is underway, leaving the public and the victim's community in uneasy uncertainty.
- Armstrong's arrest connects the murder case to a separate drug trafficking investigation, with over 187 grams of cocaine and nearly $19,000 in street value seized from a hotel room months earlier.
- Both accused appeared in video remand court with their cases adjourned, while the investigation itself remains visibly unfinished — the machinery of justice turning, but not yet complete.
In the quiet farmland near Petrolia, Ontario, the death of a working man has drawn back a curtain on something deliberate and organized. Andrew Chute, a 45-year-old boilermaker, was found shot near a nature trail in April — a targeted killing, police say, not a random one. Two men from Sarnia now face first-degree murder charges, but investigators believe the conspiracy runs deeper, and the search for at least one more suspect continues to cast a long shadow over the case.
Andrew Chute, a 45-year-old member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 128, was found dead near a nature trail on Marthaville Road in Enniskillen Township on the morning of April 14. Lambton provincial police quickly characterized the killing as targeted — deliberate, not random — and opened tip lines as they worked to identify those responsible. It was the second homicide in the small township in just four months.
Two men have since been charged. Jason Nahmabin, 43, of Sarnia, was arrested in late April and charged with first-degree murder. Days before this story was published, James Armstrong — also 43, also from Sarnia — was charged with both first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Both appeared via video in Sarnia's remand court, their cases adjourned to the following week.
Yet the investigation is far from closed. Charging documents obtained by The Sarnia Observer refer to Armstrong and "an unindicted co-conspirator" acting together to murder Chute — language that strongly implies at least one more person remains unaccounted for. When pressed, Lambton OPP offered only that further details would be released when available.
The case carries additional threads. Armstrong had previously been arrested in a December drug bust near Sarnia, where a hotel room search turned up more than 187 grams of cocaine and over $3,500 in cash. He now faces drug trafficking charges alongside the murder counts. Nahmabin, a former construction worker from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, had pleaded guilty just one day before his murder arrest to unrelated firearm offences, receiving a nine-day sentence. Chute himself had faced unrelated criminal charges from 2021, which were dropped after his death.
The two accused sat before a justice of the peace in standard jail clothes, their appearances brief and procedural. The court process moves forward — but somewhere beyond its reach, police believe, is at least one more person who knows what happened on that April morning.
Andrew Chute, a 45-year-old boilermaker and longtime member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 128, was found dead near the entrance of a small nature trail on Marthaville Road in Enniskillen Township near Petrolia on the morning of April 14. The discovery set off what Lambton provincial police would describe as a targeted killing—a deliberate act, not a random act of violence. It was the second homicide investigation in the tiny township in just four months, and it prompted police to open dedicated tip lines in hopes of identifying whoever was responsible.
Two men have since been arrested and charged in connection with Chute's death. Jason Nahmabin, 43, from Sarnia, was taken into custody in late April and charged with first-degree murder. A week before this article was published, a second suspect emerged: James Armstrong, also 43 and also from Sarnia, was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Both men appeared in Sarnia's video remand court on Thursday, their cases adjourned to the following week.
But the investigation is not closed. Court documents obtained by The Sarnia Observer reveal language suggesting police believe there is at least one more person involved. The charging document against Armstrong states that "Armstrong and an unindicted co-conspirator did conspire together to murder Andrew James Chute or cause Andrew James Chute to be murdered." When asked directly whether police were still searching for another suspect, a Lambton OPP spokesperson declined to confirm or deny, writing only that "police will release further details when they become available."
The case has also pulled in threads from a separate investigation. Court documents show that one of the two men now facing murder charges is also accused of drug trafficking. In early December, during a traffic stop near Nelson and Maxwell streets, officers arrested two suspects after witnessing what they believed were drug transactions. A subsequent raid on a hotel room yielded more than 187 grams of cocaine with a street value of approximately $18,700, along with more than $3,500 in cash. James Armstrong was among those arrested in that December bust and was initially released with a mid-January court date. He is now back in the Sarnia Jail, facing the new murder-related charges alongside a count of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Nahmabin's background adds another layer to the case. He is a former construction worker and avid hunter from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. Just one day before his arrest in the Chute killing, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm without a licence and possession of a banned weapon—charges stemming from unrelated incidents—and was sentenced to nine days in jail. Chute himself had been facing a pair of unrelated criminal charges from 2021, but those were dropped shortly after his death.
Appearing in court Thursday, Nahmabin wore standard-issue orange jail clothes and no mask, appearing via video from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London. Armstrong appeared similarly dressed, adding a blue mask and displaying long brown dreadlocks. Both men sat before a Sarnia justice of the peace whose role was simply to adjourn their cases to the following week. The machinery of the court moved forward, but the investigation itself remains incomplete. Police are still looking for whoever else may have been part of the conspiracy that ended Chute's life.
Notable Quotes
Police will release further details when they become available— Lambton OPP spokesperson Jamie Bydeley, declining to confirm whether a third suspect is being sought
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Crime & Justice