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Clues lead police to body near Fisher Branch

By: Melissa Martin

Posted: 08/30/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Gord Wevursky said the weekend's discovery could be the answer so many in Fisher Branch were looking for in Nancy Swenty's disappearance.

FISHER BRANCH -- As the day began to fade, the civilian search party stumbled on the clue they had longed for.

But it may lead to the answer they had dreaded to find.

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Nancy Joyce Swenty

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Tape marks the spot where clothing and remains were found on Highway 17B. (PHOTOS BY PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS )

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On Saturday, searchers near Poplarfield -- 20 kilometres south of the Interlake community of Fisher Branch -- stumbled onto what police would later call "items of interest," things lying in a wet and grassy ditch on a wooded stretch of Highway 17B.

There was a tarp. There was also a black-and-navy jacket, emblazoned with the Co-op logo.

On July 27, the day she disappeared, Nancy Swenty was wearing a jacket just like that one.

Chilled, searchers flagged the find and called police. The next morning, RCMP search teams made the discovery that residents of this close-knit community have feared for weeks: near the jacket, there was a body.

An autopsy will be conducted this week to determine the identity of the remains. Before then, little is official. "There are about a thousand questions right now that we need to fill in the blanks," RCMP Sgt. Line Karpish said Monday. "We don't know right now how long that body had been there. But a body tells a story. Obviously we'll have to see where it takes us."

In Fisher Branch, a community of about 300 people where most have known Swenty since childhood, residents struggled with the news. To help them, municipal councillor Gord Wevursky is inviting counsellors to the community to help residents cope. "It's thrown the whole community for a loop," he said, noting that the weeks ahead could be painful as police learn more about what happened to the cheerful young woman.

That pain has already lasted for weeks. On July 28, when Swenty failed to show up for a regular coffee date with her mother, loved ones immediately knew something was wrong. Swenty had no reason to cut ties from her family, friends and workplace.

Concerns about her safety only escalated on July 31 with the puzzling discovery of her empty red 1990 Chevrolet S10 pickup truck in Fraserwood, about 80 kilometres south of Fisher Branch. RCMP have remained tight-lipped about the details of the vehicle discovery, including what condition it was in.

If the weekend's discovery was grim, Wevursky said, it could also be the beginning of closure -- the answer he sought when he helped organize the 200-person civilian search party that discovered the Co-op jacket in the ditch.

Originally, organizers "didn't know where to look," Wevursky said. But after thinking about the bush-covered terrain and likely routes that someone might have travelled, he had a gut feeling about that stretch of Highway 17B.

The instinct paid off. "With searching, we found a clue. If it's just a clue, then we have a direction," he said. "But if it is what we were afraid of, then the community can start healing."

Swenty's case has generated plenty of discussion and rumours within her community. Just days after she disappeared, there was talk Swenty might be with another Fisher Branch resident, 51-year-old Russel Gordon McDiarmid, who had also seemingly vanished and had talked about going on a road trip to British Columbia.

RCMP issued a public alert, including McDiarmid's name, only to hear directly from him hours later. He had no idea where Swenty was.

Swenty's family members are declining to comment at this time on the advice of RCMP investigators, a family friend told the Free Press. The RCMP Major Crime Services, the RCMP Forensic Identification Section along with Fisher Branch RCMP Detachment continue to investigate. To submit an anonymous tip to Manitoba Crime Stoppers, call toll free at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com

-- With files from Mike McIntyre

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 30, 2011 A3

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