A deceased person was found at a local motel on Nov. 1, but Sgt. Brent Sawatzy of the St. Paul/Saddle Lake Detachment stresses the death is non-suspicious and no foul play is suspected at this point.
On Monday afternoon at 12:40 p.m., St. Paul RCMP arrived at the Lakeland Motel, where they found a woman’s body.
Sawatzky has heard the several rumours of rape and murder that began swirling in the wake of the death, and had seen an Edmonton Sun article in which a person at the scene described certain contents of the room as upset and the body as partially exposed.
“It’s frustrating for us, absolutely,” he said of the rumour mill and misinformation, adding that the RCMP follow evidence and work with the medical examiner who conducts an autopsy. “There was no sign of forced entry or any sign of trauma to her body.” Although there was water in the room, it was not six to eight inches of water as reported in the Edmonton Sun article, but water overflowing from a tap left running, he said.
The body was transported to the medical examiner’s office in Edmonton. The medical examiner did the autopsy on Nov. 3 and found no evidence of foul play that caused the death.
According to a press release, both the medical examiner and the St. Paul RCMP continue to follow up on the case, but the death has been deemed non-criminal.