A joint police project has led to an arrest in the death of a woman who disappeared nearly eight years ago.

Myrna Letandre, 36, was reported missing in October 2006. Her remains were found in a Winnipeg rooming house in May 2013.

A suspect was arrested as part of Project Devote, a joint effort from RCMP and Winnipeg police to address unsolved cases of missing and murdered women in Manitoba.

Traigo Ehkid Andretti, who is also known by the name Dylan Harold Grubb, was arrested on May 30, 2014 in British Columbia.

He faces a charge of second-degree murder in Letandre's death, said officers on June 2.

Manitoba Grand Chief David Harper was present at the police press conference Monday.

He said the arrest marks the start of another chapter in the healing process for the Letandre family.

“It’s like opening another wound, reliving the facts of a missing woman. To go through a trial and the questions is opening that wound one more time,” he said.

While thanking the RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Service for their work on this case, Grand Chief Harper also took the opportunity to highlight the wider issue of missing and murdered women in Canada.

“We’re still calling for a national inquiry into missing and murdered women,” said Grand Chief Harper. “Where else in the world are there over a thousand women missing?”

Police said Andretti and the victim were known to each other and had been in a relationship at the time of her disappearance.

According to police, Andretti was questioned shortly after Letandre was reported missing.

Letandre’s remains were discovered in May of 2013 in a house on Lorne Avenue in Winnipeg.

Police said the 38-year-old suspect, who was convicted in the first-degree murder of his wife Jennifer McPherson in British Columbia last month, was arrested in that province and is now in custody in Winnipeg.

Vancouver Island's integrated major crime unit also assisted with the arrest.

Andretti represents the first arrest for Project Devote, the task force assembled to investigate historical homicides involving exploited and at-risk victims.

- with a report from Ben Miljure