The discovery of a decomposing body on Bowen Island is opening fresh wounds three years after the unsolved disappearance of a teenage girl.
At around 2 p.m. on Friday, Bowen Island RCMP received a call from a local resident who found the human remains a few metres from his driveway.
A witness told CTV News the head was covered with a plastic bag and the body was wearing dark clothing with black Nike shoes. Police say the body is too badly decomposed to tell whether it's a man or a woman.
Although police say the death is suspicious, it has not been confirmed as a homicide.
"We're having issues of decomposition. So at this point we really need an autopsy to shine some light onto the answers that we're looking into such as the victim's identity, including how long the body might have been there for and really the cause of death," Sgt. Jennifer Pound told CTV News.
The discovery comes three years after 17-year-old Jodi Henrickson vanished from Bowen Island. Police have since ruled her case a homicide, although the teenager's body has never been found.
Investigators say there's no reason to link the human remains with Henrickson's disappearance.
But there are coincidences in the two cases. Henrickson was last seen at a party down the road from where the body was discovered.
Also, the man considered a person of interest in the teenager's homicide – her ex-boyfriend Gavin Arnott – used to live in a trailer on the property where the body was found.
While forensic crews combed the area for clues on Saturday, neighbours say they could smell the decomposing body for days.
"A rotting deer, to me, that's what it smelled like, neighbour Lloyd Harding told CTV News.
Another neighbour, Aaron Hanen, was stunned this could happen in the quiet area where he lives.
"It's totally shocking," Hanen said. "It could be my driveway; it could be my father-in-law's driveway."
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Scott Roberts
