The last time Lucette Lemaire saw her youngest brother, it was at a family reunion for their parents' 50th wedding anniversary, some 12 to 15 years ago.

The next the Florida resident heard about her brother Germain Gaulin was that he'd been shot and killed April 20 outside a small Yukon community.

'We knew he was in Yukon, but we didn't know exactly where,' she said in a recent telephone interview from where she's currently living in Florida.

'I don't think he kept too much in touch with anybody. I really don't know why.'

The last she'd heard, Gaulin was in the construction trade. She was surprised to learn he'd been making a living as a bartender near Watson Lake at the time he was killed.

'That wasn't his style,' Lemaire said, though she noted she doesn't know if there's much work in Watson Lake.

She found out her baby brother was dead after the RCMP tracked down one of her other brothers in Quebec.

Gaulin had gone north for the work prospects as a very young man, at about age 21 or 22, leaving his home with his parents on the family farm in Quebec.

Gaulin had done some seasonal work in Ontario, working with his brothers in tobacco fields after high school.

'He used to laugh a lot,' she recalled.

At the time of his death, he was in the process of buying a home, said Lemaire.

Since she learned her brother was shot, she's been searching for information about Gaulin and the area of Watson Lake on the Internet, she said.

The same day Gaulin was shot to death at a cabin some 25 kilometres northwest of Watson Lake, a 64-year-old man from that community surrendered to the RCMP tactical unit surrounding the cabin.

A firearm was seized at the scene and alcohol was involved, police have said.

An autopsy confirmed Gaulin died from a gunshot wound, but the Yukon's coroner isn't saying where the 43-year-old was shot nor how many gunshots he suffered.

Edward (Bruce) Mason, 64, is charged with second-degree murder, using a firearm in the commission of an offence and possessing a firearm while prohibited.

Lemaire is the only sibling to live in the U.S. Through physical distance and events in her life that kept her busy, they lost contact, she said.

'We are nine of us, he's the baby,' said Gaulin's older sister.

In total, there are six brothers and three sisters. Lemaire is the third-oldest behind two older brothers, and she's 13 years older than Germain Gaulin.

'I was like a mother to him,' said Lemaire. 'Actually, I'm his godmother.'

Their father died seven years ago, but the family was unable to reach Gaulin, she said.

'I don't know to this point if he knew his father passed away,' said Lemaire. However, one of her sisters may have tracked Gaulin down to let him know after their father died.

All nine siblings were born and raised in Quebec at the family farm near a tiny village about 140 kilometres south of Quebec City.

'They're OK,' she said of how her family is doing now. 'It's hard to describe. We never thought that this could happen.'