Police ask for help solving city man’s slaying in probe involving several forces, locations

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This article was published 14/10/2020 (1788 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four days after Bud Paul, a 56-year-old Winnipeg man, was reported missing, a group of hunters stumbled across his corpse hidden in deep brush on a First Nation an hour south of the city — sparking an elaborate mystery that’s entangled multiple police services and crime scenes.

“This is a complex investigation that involves three police forces, dozens of officers and multiple locations of interest,” said Supt. Michael Koppang, the officer in charge of Manitoba RCMP major crime services.

Paul, a middle-aged man who worked for a furniture company in the city, was reported missing to the Winnipeg Police Service on Aug. 7. Three days later, his burned-out car was found on Queen Street — ratcheting up concern for his safety and well-being.

The following day, the hunters discovered human remains on Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, located about 100 kilometres south of Winnipeg, leading the RCMP to begin combing through missing person reports in Manitoba.

That led investigators to zero in on Paul.

On Tuesday, the RCMP returned to the location where his body was discovered to comb for additional evidence.

Investigators have begun to piece together a critical timeline in the case, but there are still “significant gaps” that need to be filled in — something they’re hoping the public will be able to help them do.

Paul’s last known whereabouts was at a liquor store in Neepawa on Aug. 1, where he was seen with two people. The RCMP has released photographs of them.

Police also released photos of two individuals seen with Paul’s car in the area where it was found burned on Aug. 10, including a man who “discarded evidence… in a garbage bin” at the scene of the fire.

“Investigators believe that those responsible for the murder of Paul continued to access his bank account and use his cellphone after his death,” Koppang said Wednesday.

It’s not clear what connection, if any, Paul had to either Neepawa or Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation. Koppang would not reveal Paul’s manner of death, or the locations where his cellphone and bank cards were used after he was killed, when questioned by reporters.

Instead, he focused on reiterating the need for anyone who had contact with Paul, or the people he was seen with in early August, to contact police.

“We steadily continue to put the pieces together in this complex investigation…. We know there are people who have important information and have yet to come forward to police,” he said.

Investigators believe a considerable amount of effort was spent attempting to hide Paul’s corpse in the remote location where it was found, but exactly when and where he was killed is not clear.

Anyone with information about Paul’s disappearance and death, or the people he was with, is asked to contact an RCMP tip line at 431-489-8551.

While Koppang seemed confident Wednesday that Paul’s killer, or killers, would be brought to justice, he made clear there was still work to do on the case.

“We need the public’s help,” he said.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe