Body of suspected murder victim found on Coquitlam nature trail currently, suspected, because, nature, public

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Body of suspected murder victim found on Coquitlam nature trail
IHIT investigators are currently on the scene


METRO VANCOUVER — The body of a suspected murder victim has been found on a nature pathway in Coquitlam.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team was called to the scene off Spuraway Avenue, near Ranch Park Way.

Sgt. Peter Thiessen said the body was found in the public area about 7 a.m. and B.C. Ambulance Services was immediately called.

Emergency workers called in IHIT because of the suspicious nature of the death. He said the body is not associated with any house in the area.

Sgt. Jennifer Pound confirmed the victim is a male. The B.C. Coroner's Service is on the scene.

The popular nature trail leads to an elementary school and is surrounded by older, well-kept homes.

Several neighbours told The Vancouver Sun they neither saw nor heard anything suspicious over the last day or so.

But one neighbour said they heard two popping sounds about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Another area resident said crack users frequent the nature trail in the evenings.

The body remained at the scene into the afternoon, as a dog team and forensic identification units pored over the site.

A large RCMP truck that appeared to be a mobile lab arrived just before 2 p.m. The truck, with the Lower Mainland District Tactical Troop, was being used to conduct neighbourhood inquiries.

Neighbour Tara Caldwell, who has lived in the area for 11 years, said it is a quiet, friendly place to raise kids. She said she didn't hear or see anything unusual last night, though did hear the police cars arriving early Wednesday morning.

"It is the kind of neighbourhood that when you walk down the street, you wave to people and say hi," she said.

"It is a nice, established neighbourhood."

Like any place, there have been problems, though.

A meth lab was discovered a few blocks away some time back.

And Caldwell said she wouldn't walk her dogs alone on the pathway where the body was found as there is dense bush.

Police are expected to release more information this afternoon

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IHIT investigators are on the scene of Spuraway Avenue looking into what is being described as a suspicious death


Police investigate after a body was found on a pathway in the 3000-block Spuraway Ave leading to Meadowbrook School in Coquitlam, B.C. on July 6, 2011


Police investigate after a body was found on a pathway in the 3000-block Spuraway Ave leading to Meadowbrook School in Coquitlam, B.C. on July 6, 2011.