Victim identified, arrests made in London suspicious death

Arrests made in London suspicious death A victim has been identified and two people have been arrested following a suspicious death in London. CTV's Reta Ismail reports.

The victim has been identified and two people have been arrested following a suspicious death investigation in London.

Forensics officers remained on scene Monday, focusing on a wooded area behind Mildred Barons Park.

Around 6:00 p.m. Friday, police responded to a welfare check at the park, which is located off Kathleen Avenue, a dead-end street off of Dundas.

That's were police say they found a deceased male - who has been identified as 39-year-old Matthew Lindsay Harp, from london.

CTV News spoke with a neighbour who lives on Kathleen Avenue, who wished not to be identified. He said a homeless encampment moved into the woods about three months ago. "Last few years, it was, you know, the kids would come down here to play baseball. It was kind of kind of nice, you know, dead end street. People could walk their dogs and stuff. Now that the encampment people moved down here, everybody was afraid to come down here because they don't know if they're their dog would pick up drugs or what they're going to get into."

The encampment is visible along the rail tracks, behind a baseball diamond and playground at the park. The unconventional settlement raises concerns with ward two councillor and deputy mayor Shawn Lewis. "This is absolutely a tragic example of why we cannot just accept encampments as the new normal, and why we have to have rules in place that we enforce around them."

Lewis says that there are several problems when it comes to enforcing encampment safety protocols including the volume of calls, and not enough resources to put into them. "We are playing a game of whack-a-mole where they move from one park into another park. And so, the complaint has been resolved at one location, but the next day they have to go and start the process all over again at a second location."

Police have arrested two people in relation to this death.

29-year-old Broady Daniel Dax Salmon from London is facing a second degree murder charge, and 30-year-old Ashley Taylor of London has been charged with manslaughter.

According to court documents, Salmon has outstanding charges and a criminal record.