The Regina Police Service held a news conference today, Saturday, August 7, 2010, to provide an update on the death investigation which began with the discovery of three deceased persons at a residence in the 300 block of Oakview Drive on Friday, August 6, 2010.
The chronology of events is as follows
- Police received a call at 4:22 p.m. on Friday, August 6, 2010, reporting deceased persons discovered in a dwelling at 323 Oakview Drive.
- The call came from the property manager of the building who entered the residence after concerns from the neighbours about an odour emanating from the townhouse.
- Police entered the residence and found three deceased persons inside. There was a search done of the building to determine if there was anyone else inside. There was not.
- Police secured the scene and called for Forensic Identification, Major Crimes and the Coroner to attend. Patrol members began preliminary neighbourhood inquiries.
Police are currently holding the scene and will do so until after autopsies are completed. The Coroner’s Office has ordered these for Monday, August 9th. Until the autopsies are complete, there are no conclusions as to cause and manner of death, however; at this time, the Regina Police Service has sufficient cause to treat these deaths as homicides. There will be no discussion of any evidence at the scene that supports this theory.
The deceased persons have not yet been identified. Police have confirmed that they are one adult male, one adult female and one male child. Identification will take some time, due, in part, to the state of decomposition of the bodies. Police do not know exactly when the deaths occurred, but it is believed the bodies were undiscovered for several days. Investigators do know who the tenants of the dwelling are and they have not been accounted for as of this time, but it is important to emphasize that this fact, by itself, is not confirmation of the identities of the deceased. Without confirmation police have not been able, at this point, to contact next of kin in order to make notifications.
The Regina Police Service has dedicated considerable resources to this investigation and police are working around the clock to find answers. If the theory holds true that these are three homicides associated to a single place and event, this would be the worst incident of multiple homicides in Regina in recent history. The Regina Police Service is taking this very seriously and will assign the resources necessary to carry out the numerous investigative tasks ahead.
It is important that anyone who may have seen or heard anything unusual in that area in recent days, to contact police. Anyone with information that could assist in this investigation is asked to contact the Regina Police Service at 777-6500 or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).