The police tape is gone but questions remain for residents of an East Vancouver neighbourhood at the centre of a missing baby investigation.
Vancouver police believe the newborn baby was murdered, and officers spent days in the 2500-block of Charles Street earlier this week searching for remains.
Investigators say the mother is the same woman whose newborn baby boy was found dead on the same block one year earlier.
One property on the street is linked to both cases. Neighbour Cheryl Sabatino supported the homeowner, Derick Leung, when the first baby was found – but says she doesn't know what to think now.
"They're really nice people," Sabatino said.
For decades, Sabatino has lived a few doors down from the Leung family. After Derick Leung found a dead baby in a bag on his property last April, Sabatino comforted him.
"He said, ‘This is what happens when I turn in something, a baby. Now they think it's our daughter. And the DNA test showed it's our daughter. But they've made a mistake.'"
Sabatino says she saw Leung's daughter Sarah a few weeks before the baby was found.
"It struck me she looks like she's pregnant," Sabatino said.
Police have not confirmed the identity of the babies' mother, but say she is in her late teens or early twenties.
The identity of the father also remains a mystery.
"I'm sick. I'm very disturbed about it," Sabatino said. "Who is he?"
While police are calling the latest case a murder investigation, they haven't found the infant's remains.
On Thursday night, officers hauled a number of bags away from the Leung home. Their search may expand to the Vancouver landfill.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Shannon Paterson
