Investigators at the scene July 3rd following discovery of a male body off the bypass. 250News photo

Prince George, B.C. – Prince George RCMP are very actively investigating the discovery of a male body in the bushes off Highway 97 near the Massey Drive on ramp earlier this month but have little information to release publicly as that work continues.

Corporal Craig Douglass says the detachment’s Major Crime section is handling the investigation but adds that nothing should be read into that.  “Our Homicide Unit is investigating it, which is not unusual in suspicious deaths.  That’s normal until we can rule out criminality and then it becomes a Coroner’s case.”

Cpl. Douglass stresses that at this time the case is still classified as a suspicious death.  Asked if it, then, is not a homicide case Douglass says “I’m not saying it’s not a homicide, I’m saying we don’t know.  It is still a suspicious death.  We haven’t been able to determine if it’s a homicide or otherwise at this point.”  He adds “as in the previous release that came out, it is a suspicious death, looking for information.”

An autopsy was conducted during the week following the discovery July 3^rd but, pressed for the autopsy report finding on the cause of death, Cpl. Douglass says “it’s not as easy as you see on TV, right?  There’s a lot of things, we’re still waiting on reports, still waiting to confirm identity, like there’s lots of things going on that we’re not able to say anything further.”  “I realize that it’s a long time but sometimes these investigations take that time, and a lot of times it’s a lab report and things that we’re waiting on from experts.”

Asked if the pathologist performing the autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death Cpl. Douglass responded “I’m not saying that.  I’m saying there’s no update, there’s nothing more we’re saying about that.  Autopsy has been done, but we are still involved in the investigation and there’s nothing further that we can say publicly yet.”

AN RCMP media release issued following the discovery said police responded to the scene after receiving information that a male had been assaulted near that location.  Asked how that information came to police Douglass says “I can’t give you that, people talk to us all the time.”

It’s still unknown whether the deceased male was a local person, to which Douglass says “we haven’t even confirmed identity, so we can’t say that until we confirm identity.  We have a hunch, have a pretty good idea, but we need scientific evidence to back that up, so those are things that we’re actively working on.”

Police earlier indicated that the area in question had been used as a homeless camp and was being accessed by a small number of people.  Asked whether the male was living there or whether the discovery of the body there was completely coincidental Douglass says “right now we are trying to determine things.  We have to try to determine and corroborate, so those are questions that we will ask during the investigation and hopefully we’ll get all the answers to.  But if it does come back to criminality then obviously we have to assume that it will and protect the information so that it comes out in court before it comes out in the media.”