burning man found › september crime report › other police matters › deadmonton 2007 › deadmonton › edmonton

Police were summoned to investigate the unusual case of a man's burning body found near the riverbank south of the downtown Oliver neighbourhood. Insp. Teri Uhryn briefed media at the scene.

"It's odd because people don't usually start on fire so we're looking into what it is. We've got the fire investigators, we've got arson coming – that's all we've got at this time."

Around 8:45 p.m. September 26th, 2007 police were called by fire personnel about a suspicious fire. They found a smoldering body below a retaining wall behind the Valhalla Condominiums at 11307 99 Avenue. It was immediately determined the man was already dead.

The discovery left investigators with questions such as: was the fire deliberately set and was the man alive before the fire started?

Officers guarded the scene and searched well into the night along the hillside looking for clues.

Officers did find signs of a homeless encampment near the scene but police weren't in a hurry to make any connections.

The area is overlooked by numerous highrise apartment buildings, posing a challenge for investigators in their door-to-door campaign for witnesses.

The area remained taped off the next day as a good second look was taken.

Results of an autopsy concluded later ruled the death as "non-criminal in nature." The medical examiner's office did not release the name of the about sixty-year-old man.

With the type of death now established it still remained to be determined how the man came to be on fire. The investigation continued under the watch of the medical examiner's office.

"He had no injuries of any kind to suggest that he was murdered,” senior investigator Dennis Caufield told the Edmonton Sun. “We don’t even know who he is.”

Caufield said that while investigators had a fair idea of what caused the death, toxicology tests will be required to make a final determination. A "non-criminal death" ruling indicated the man died either of natural causes, committed suicide or died by accident.

Investigators have not yet determined if the man was already dead before the fire started.

CTV Edmonton interviewed a woman who offered a confirmation the dead man was homeless.

"I talked to one of the women in the building who actually saw the person who expired. She just said she was sure it was one of the homeless guys that were down there all the time," the woman said off-camera.

CBC Edmonton reported that two park rangers work full-time to clean up abandoned camps, and that many sites show signs of fire. In 1999 rangers reported finding 60 camps; seven years later the number grew to 498.

deadmonton 2007 - september crime report - burning man found