UPDATE: Jan 8, 11:00 a.m.
Creston RCMP in partnership with the BC Coroners Service have confirmed that the suspect in the double-homicide, is the man that was found dead Thursday morning in Salmo.
The BC Coroners Service will continue to investigate the cause of the death but they do not suspect it to be criminal.
We can appreciate this is not the outcome the victims’ families may have hoped for but we hope this news brings them comfort in their grief,
said S/Sgt. Scott Ashenbrenner Unit Commander of the Southeast District Major Crime Unit.
The identities of the victim’s and the suspect will not be released by either police or the Coroners Service
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UPDATE: Jan 7, 1:03 p.m.
Salmo RCMP have located another deceased man and police say they have not ruled out a connection to the stabbing incident the night before.
“At approximately 9:40 this morning a frontline officer from Salmo RCMP was called to investigate a man passed out near a local area motel,” said Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey. “When the officer arrived they discovered a man who was clearly deceased.”
According to Cpl. O’Donaghey the BC Coroner’s Service has been called to the scene to begin their own parallel fact-finding investigation.
“While we have yet to confirm that the man is connected to own homicide investigation, we are certainly alive to that possibility,” Cpl. O’Donaghey added.
Both investigations are ongoing.
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Jan 7, 10:15 a.m.
The RCMP Southeast District Major Crime Unit has been dispatched to the Creston area to find a suspect involved in the fatal stabbing of a man and woman on Wednesday night.
The RCMP said officers are searching for a man they consider to be a homicide suspect.
Creston RCMP and emergency medical first responders were called out just after 7 p.m. to a Highway 3 pullout near the Summit Creek Bridge on a report of a man and woman in need of immediate medical assistance.
At the scene, officers learned that both victims had been stabbed by a suspect who fled the area in a vehicle belonging to one of the victims.
Officers attempted first aid on the 40-year-old man from Calgary, but despite their best efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The second victim, a 25-year-old woman from the West Kootenay, was rushed to the hospital by BC Emergency Health Services with serious injuries. Police said the woman succumbed to her injuries later on.
“This investigation is in its infancy, as major crime investigators and forensic specialists deploy to the area to assist in gathering and analyzing evidence,” said Sgt. Scott Aschenbrenner, Unit Commander of the Southeast District Major Crime Unit. “Investigators have reason to believe the suspect and the victims were known to one another.”
The victim’s vehicle has since been recovered near Salmo and remains part of the investigation.
RCMP are continuing their search as the suspect remains at large.
Any additional information can be reported to the Creston RCMP at 250-428-9313 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
