‘Focus is narrowing’ in search for Gods Lake Narrows killer: RCMP

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2017 (3034 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Significant advancements have been made in the investigation of the January 2013 murder of Leah Anderson, a 15-year-old girl from Gods Lake Narrows, the RCMP said Tuesday.

“Our focus is narrowing,” said Todd Doyle, a staff sergeant with the police force’s major crime services unit. “We believe Leah knew her killer.”

Through the use of investigative techniques such as polygraph tests, interviews and analysis of DNA samples given voluntarily by members of the isolated community about 550 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, the RCMP were able to rule out several initial suspects — and, Doyle said, they are now confident the suspected killer is a man.

Leah went out to go skating at the local rink with a friend on Jan. 4, 2013, around 7:30 p.m. The friend didn’t arrive, but Leah sent her a message to let her know she was going to go alone.

“The last Leah’s friend heard from her was a quickly typed ‘ttyl,’” according to a post on the Manitoba RCMP’s Facebook page.

“Somewhere between her door and the arena, Leah met her killer,” the post continued. “The popular, funny girl with so much potential was gone.”

Leah’s body was found on a snowy trail two days later, and the investigation has been ongoing for the 4 1/2 years since.

“Not only was the community dealing with the grief of losing Leah, they had to come to terms with the brutal manner of her death and the fact that in their isolated community, where the ice road in and out was closed, the killer was still there,” the RCMP said.

Gods Lake Narrows is accessible only by air when the winter ice road is closed.

Police confirmed Leah had defended herself before she died, and she was later mauled by dogs — leading to several stray dogs being rounded up and shot on God’s Lake First Nation, an area with some 1,400 residents.

Gods Lake Narrows, where Leah lived, has a population of 89, according to the 2016 census.

In response to the advancements made in the investigation, the RCMP launched a social media campaign to get any more information from the residents of Gods Lake Narrows. “We want them to think back to 2013,” Doyle said.

Police are “aggressively following up” on the newest advancements, and they hope to reach a position where an arrest can be made. “The investigations have led us to this point,” Doyle said.

RCMP officials are asking anyone with information to provide to call Manitoba Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or the Gods Lake Narrows RCMP detachment.

“We need the community to come together to help bring justice to Leah by sharing info with us about who did this,” the RCMP tweeted Tuesday.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca