Don Wrightman has seen a lot of things since moving into his comfortable rural Langley home on Robertson Crescent 47 years ago, but says having a dismembered body dumped outside his front driveway is beyond belief.
As his driveway was sealed off with police tape, Wrightman, 81, said on Wednesday the discovery early in the day of the man’s body cut into pieces has deeply shaken everyone on his normally quiet street.
“I have been here since 1969 and there has never been anything like this,” he said. “It is normally a quiet neighbourhood. This is shocking.”
Instead of going out for groceries on Wednesday morning, Wrightman had to wait for the homicide investigators to take down the tape and allow him to leave his home.
“The police forensics tent is set up and they still have the tape across my driveway,” he said.
Late Wednesday, homicide investigators continued to comb the rural area in Langley looking for clues after a resident finding the body at the side of the road at about 8 a.m.
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RCMP evidence experts used rakes to comb the roadside for clues.
Homicide investigators closed down Robertson Crescent between 240 and 244 streets for much of the day, and indicated they could be in the area for some time.
One radio station was criticized in a Tweet from the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team for posting a picture “showing body parts” on its website. The photo was later removed.
Image may be NSFW.
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Other neighbours in the Langley Township community said there are a number of marijuana grow ops in the area, and they wondered if the gruesome murder is connected to organized crime or the recent slaying of high-ranking Hells Angel Bob Green.
“It has been awful for us,” said resident Laura Newcomb. “There are all these guys with hoodies on coming and going all night long,” she said of the suspected drug houses in the area.
And what residents saw at the side of the road, she said, is stomach-turning. “You could see the body at the side of the road, the legs and arms were cut off — it was awful.
“You never expect something like this to happen here.”
One suspected grow-op along the street, she said, has been in operation for about seven years and it has been the bane of their existence. “Our quiet, peaceful five acres has become a madhouse,” she said.
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RCMP Cpl. Megham Foster released few details of the discovery of a body cut in pieces in a Langley neighbourhood.
At an afternoon press conference, IHIT would say little other than to confirm they are investigating the slaying of a man.
“It was targeted and associated with gang activity,” said IHIT Cpl. Meghan Foster.
Foster would not say if the death was connected to the death of Green. “Currently we have not established a link to any other homicide in the Lower Mainland,” she said.
And she said they are hoping people who know something contact them.
“I can’t speak to the state of the body,” she said. “It was a gruesome scene and I can’t speak to the evidence collected.”
Foster said they have not confirmed the victim’s identity, no one has been arrested and they have no suspects.
“It is still early in the investigation and our primary focus right now is to identify the victim.”
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RCMP on Robertson Crescent near 240 Street in Langley after a resident found a dismembered body.
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RCMP on scene at Robertson Cr and 240 St. in Langley, October 26, 2016. Mounties say a body has been discovered on the side of the road with few other details available.
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