A teenager pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Brandy Vittrekwa on Thursday in Yukon territorial court.

The male teenager, who was 15 when he was arrested last December, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.

A publication ban prohibits the reporting of any information that could identify him because of his age.

The boy was arrested on April 28 of this year and appeared the following day in court.

Vittrekwa was found dead on the evening of Dec. 8, 2014 on a trail in the McIntyre subdivision.

Three days later, the youth was arrested a first time and considered a suspect, but wasn’t charged in connection with her death.

He remained in custody for unrelated offences.

“It’s a relief in a sense for her family; they’re not going to have to go through a long trial,” Doris Bill, the chief of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (KDFN), told the Star.

She noted the plea came at a difficult time for the Vittrekwa family, a little more than a week after the one-year anniversary of the young woman’s death.

“Our community will be thinking about them,” said Bill.

Vittrekwa was a Gwich’in citizen from Fort McPherson, N.W.T.

She moved to Whitehorse with her family in 2012.

“I’m glad he has taken responsibility for his actions but I guess I’ll have to wait until more details come out,” Bill said.

In cases of guilty pleas, facts of the case are read during the sentencing hearing.

So far, little is known about what happened that night.

“I have some deep concerns about this young individual; I will have to wait and see what his sentence is,” said Bill.

She expressed some concerns a youth sentence may not deal appropriately with potential issues of violence the offender might have.

“Particularly to how it relates to missing and murdered indigenous women, this has always been a concern in cases of homicides and manslaughters that these underlying issues are often not addressed by the justice system,” she said.

“When it comes to indigenous people, the solutions have to be hollistic.”

Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie has filed a notice of intention to seek an adult sentence.

“Seeking an adult sentence is effectively a two-step process though, where an assessment is usually sought/obtained before the application actually proceeds,” McWhinnie told the Star Thursday afternoon.

“Today, the court was asked to order a Section 34 assessment, so the required notice has been given, but not all the evidence which may affect the decision is yet known.”

The Youth Criminal Justice Act contends a youth can be sentenced for up to three years for manslaughter, but only part of that sentence is to be served in custody.

If the young man was to be sentenced as an adult, the Criminal Code sets a maximum sentence of life in prison, but no minimum.

A couple of months before Vittrekwa’s death, another McIntyre resident was killed.

Allan Waugh was found dead at his home on May 30, 2014.

Nobody has been charged in Waugh’s death, despite repeated pleas by his family for anybody with information to come forward.

The two deaths prompted the KDFN to implement measures aimed at improving safety in the community.

On Monday, the First Nation announced an anonymous tips line for residents to report potential crime concerns (see Thursday’s Star).

The boy is scheduled back in court Jan. 28 to fix a date for sentencing.