Dog brought Woodlands human remains home: RCMP

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This article was published 01/04/2022 (1296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RM OF WOODLANDS — The dog brought back a bone to the farm near the corner of roads 79 North and 11 West, having found it in a nearby ditch.

A few days later, the animal brought back more.

Manitoba RCMP announced the discovery of human remains on Thursday. Police were originally called to the scene west of Highway 6 near Warren, 25 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday.

On Friday, RCMP spokeswoman Tara Seel confirmed the remains were found by a dog that had dug them out of the melting snow.

At the scene, forensics and major crimes units were working with a civilian anthropology team to comb through the sparsely populated area’s snow-covered farm fields, patches of trees and ditches for any further remains.

Sgt. Paul Manaigre said the bone the farm dog first brought home didn’t initially arouse suspicion.

“(However,) within a couple of days, some more items came back that alerted the owner there was a concern and they called the police,” Manaigre told the Free Press.

“The remains were located in the ditch here, just down the road from the property, not far away. So we’ve closed off the whole area.”

RCMP asked the farm family to stay elsewhere during the investigation, Manaigre said.

The driveway to a house on the property was taped off, while an RCMP vehicle was parked nearby and the anthropology team clad in white jumpsuits, along with police in blaze orange, mingled on the gravel road. At a nearby house, where no one answered the door, an RCMP business card was wedged in an entrance to the garage.

The major crimes unit is handling the investigation, Manaigre said. There will be an autopsy to determine the cause of death; police have not yet determined the identity of the remains.

Area residents the Free Press spoke to reported all hearing the same story: the dog had found a human head.

Sahib, who lives nearby the intersection of Highway 6 and Road 79 North and declined to give his surname, said he heard about the discovery Friday.

“Their dogs, the people who lived by that ditch, the dogs grabbed the head and took it to the owner,” he said.

“Ever since the ice has been melting, the snow — the body would’ve been there a few months ago, then it started melting off — that’s what we’ve heard.”

At the North Warren Inn, not far from the police gathering, a trio clad in work clothes playing pool in the barroom said they had heard the same story about the dog, but not much else.

Rural Municipality of Woodlands Reeve Lori Schellekens said she had little information to provide about the discovery in the area, mostly used for grain and cattle farming, but hopes the family of whoever was found gets closure.

Schellekens said she thinks people in the RM feel unnerved, but hopes they know the RCMP are working the case as best they can.

“It’s been sitting there in the snow all this time, nobody knew about it until it melted. You hope it’s not a local, either. You never know, somebody could’ve been wandering (in a) storm,” Schellekens said.

“I think it’s traumatic for everybody — the family of the deceased, the people that it was found around, people on the case.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera