Search for teen suspended after body found
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/05/2023 (882 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The search for a missing Fort Richmond teen was suspended after his family said police had found a body.
Winnipeg police contacted Sethumi Gunathilaka Wednesday morning to notify her that a body had been found, and it may be that of her brother Inuka Gunathilaka, she told the Free Press.
Inuka, 15, has been missing since May 24.
(Supplied)
Inuka Gunathilaka, 15, was last seen leaving his home in the Fort Richmond on May 24. He was spotted shortly after on CCTV footage from inside a Tim Hortons coffee shop near Killarney Avenue and Pembina Highway.
The family is awaiting forensic identification of the body and has suspended the search, she said.
The Winnipeg Police Service would not confirm whether a body had been found.
“We cannot (confirm this). We’re just talking with the missing person’s unit, so we don’t have any further information to provide,” WPS Const. Claude Chancy said.
Inuka was last seen at 8 a.m. as he left home for school.
Footage from surveillance cameras shows him arriving at Fort Richmond Collegiate 10 minutes later. He left his school supplies in the library and walked out of the school toward Pembina Highway,
Video later shows him walking northbound near University Crescent.
“Everybody is shocked. Everybody involved in this was determined to find him,” said Udaya Annakkage, who helped organize the search.
Annakkage said he was present when police delivered the news to the family.
“I arrived half-way through. I heard first-hand from the police,” he said by phone.
Annakkage said the body was found along the Red River, near a business in the Crescent Park neighbourhood.
“Until we get a firm, official statement from police, we don’t know if this is Inuka. This is difficult for us too because our community needs closure, and you can’t get closure until you hear confirmation,” he said.
The Gunathilakas are members of the close-knit Sri Lankan community in Winnipeg. Annakkage taught both Sethumi and Inuka at Sunday school, he said.
“(Inuka) is a very kind, but very quiet kid,” he said.
The search for the teen, which involved hundreds of local Sri Lankans, began last week and continued into Tuesday, Annakkage said.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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History
Updated on Friday, June 2, 2023 10:49 AM CDT: Clarifies status of search in headline