Body found in burnt-out vehicle

August 1, 2009

Rafe Arnott/TIMES

Abbotsford police and Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) members swarmed a blueberry field Thursday and Friday in the 400 block of Gladwin Road after the grisly discovery of a body in a burnt-out car.

Farmers had reported a suspicious vehicle Thursday afternoon and Abbotsford Police Major Crime and Forensic Identification Units were dispatched after an officer on scene determined the automobile had been torched and there were human remains inside.

Several APD patrol cars, and black, unmarked IHIT vehicles along with a large, black RCMP special investigations RV-type truck were on scene as investigators combed over the area for evidence.

Investigators had the scorched, blackened vehicle under a large white tent with supports as they photographed what was left of it and took evidence samples away in bags.

As of late Friday afternoon, the body and car still remained in place and a helicopter could be seen circling the area above the crime scene.

Const. Ian MacDonald with the APD said the fact that the roofline of the vehicle was below the level of the rows of blueberry bushes it was found between was part of the reason it was initially thought to be a stolen and/or abandoned vehicle, and said that whoever reported it to police and had only seen it from afar.

The attending officer had no idea that this call would lead to the discovery of a body, and thought it was just a routine call for a an abandoned vehicle, said MacDonald.

“After arriving on scene, and after closer inspection the [dispatched member] determined there were in fact, clearly, human remains inside the car,” adding that finds of this sort were unusual. “It was, obviously, a very rare discovery,” he said.

Cpl. Dale Carr, the spokesperson for IHIT, reached for comment on Monday, said no new details were being released at this time, and the investigation was ongoing.