SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - A judge has decided to keep search warrants sealed in the eight-year-old investigation of the killing of Bev Rowbotham.

Portions of the warrants used to search the Rowbotham family home in St. Andrews, Man., and to obtain DNA evidence in the case, served shortly after Rowbotham's death in 2000, were sealed by a court order.

The order expired earlier this year, and the Crown had asked for an extension to keep the information contained in the documents under wraps. The CBC and other media outlets opposed the extension, but lost Thursday in court in Winnipeg.

In her decision, Queen's Bench Justice Joan McKelvey said she agreed to keep the documents sealed because she had learned the RCMP may be close to making a decision on possible charges.

Rowbotham, a 42-year-old mother of two, was found dead in her car at a gas station near Selkirk in October 2000.

Investigators believe she had been beaten to death in the backyard of her home in nearby St. Andrews, then moved to Selkirk.

The RCMP have remained tight-lipped about the progress of the investigation and have not publicly identified any suspects.

Rowbotham, her husband Mark Stobbe and their sons moved to Manitoba from Regina about five months before Rowbotham's death. Stobbe was a top adviser to former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow before accepting a senior job in the Manitoba government.

Stobbe and his sons have since returned to Saskatchewan.

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