Officers from the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team are calling on the public to help provide clues to a homicide after a badly burned body was discovered in a shelter along a trail near Lynn Creek in North Vancouver Monday.
The homicide team was called out after the grisly discovery was made off Bridgman North Trail in a densely wooded area near East Keith Road and Mountain Highway by a regular trail user Monday morning around 10 a.m.
So far there’s little information about the discovery, including whether the body is that of a man or a woman. Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy to confirm a cause of death, said Cpl. Meghan Foster, spokeswoman for the RCMP’s IHIT team. “It’s pretty early in our investigation,” she said Tuesday. “What I can confirm: our victim is a victim of homicide.”
“Our priority right now is to identify the victim,” she said. “We need to locate their family and support them and piece together what events led up to this.”
Until the victim is identified – through dental records, fingerprints and/or missing persons reports – it’s difficult to know what might have led up to that person’s death, said Foster. “We have a lot of unanswered questions right now and we’re in a holding pattern. Once the identity’s been confirmed, we’ll know a lot more at that time.”
Foster said further crime scene analysis is needed to determine if the homicide happened at the location where the body was discovered or somewhere else. Officers are hoping to speak with anyone who was on the trails in that area between Nov. 25 and Nov. 28.
“It’s frequented by people who do walk their dog or run and it’s frequented by the same people on a regular basis,” she said. “Those are the people who would know if there was something wrong or out of the ordinary.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the IHIT information line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448), or by email at [email protected]. Anyone who wants to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
