N.S. RCMP confirm rumours of grisly find more than three weeks after discovering dead body

More than three weeks after a man’s dead body was discovered in the Debert area of Nova Scotia, Mounties have gone public with his death, which they believe to be criminal in nature.

In an area still scarred by the April 2020 mass shootings that left 22 people including a pregnant woman and a female RCMP officer dead, police officers appear to have been going door-to-door for quite some time asking about the human remains discovered on July 22. But until they sent out a news release Thursday, the RCMP wouldn’t provide any detail on the matter, or even confirm that they had found a dead body.

“Since the man’s remains were discovered, extensive searches have been conducted in the area,” Cpl. Mandy Edwards said in the news release.

“We understand there’s been rumour and speculation within the community, and that this may’ve caused distress. However, our primary responsibility is to protect our ability to investigate.”

Indeed, social media was rife with rumours about the grisly find.

“It would be really nice to know what the hell is going on in our backyards,” one resident said on Facebook days before the Mounties officially confirmed finding a dead body.

“Been wondering about this for weeks,” said another.

The “RCMP should be letting people know,” said yet another.

“They have learned nothing over the past six years,” said another commenter. “Secrecy continues to breed distrust. Shame on them.”

Mounties released few details about the body Thursday other than it was male and that “criminality is believed to be a factor in the death.”

Investigators are working with the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service to confirm the dead man’s identity and determine the circumstances surrounding his death, said the RCMP.

“The investigation is in the early stages. No more information can be released at this time.”

In an interview Thursday before police confirmed they were investigating a dead body, Colchester North MLA Tom Taggart said he hadn’t heard about the find. But he acknowledged that the community is still on edge when it comes to police officers, given that Gabriel Wortman, the Dartmouth denturist responsible for the 2020 mass killings, dressed up like a Mountie and drove a replica RCMP patrol car during his shooting rampage that started in Portapique on April 18, 2020, and ended the next day when a Mountie dog handler shot him dead at the Irving Big Stop in Enfield.

“People around here continue to be apprehensive about police coming to their doors given the events of Portapique,” Taggart said.

He suspects the dead body is somehow tied to organized crime.

“Like every other small community, there’s a history of talk of violent drug dealers living in some of these rural communities,” Taggart said. “It’s convenient for them … they’re a long way from police out here.”

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