Port Alberni RCMP are waiting for an autopsy to be completed on human remains discovered last Thursday before an identity can be determined.
Port Alberni RCMP Cpl. Amelia Hayden said Friday a body discovered in a wooded area along Rogers Creek between Glenwood Centre and Canadian Tire in Port Alberni on Thursday (July 14) was a male, but no identification was made.
Port Alberni RCMP, the RCMP Air Services and the BC Coroner removed the remains from the woods behind the Alberni Valley Exhibition Grounds around 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
An autopsy had been scheduled but the coroner’s office had not completed it by Friday evening, Hayden said.
Gidget McLeod was out riding her bike and saw the RCMP helicopter circling over the same area for nearly half an hour.
“We have no reason to believe that the public is at risk,” Hayden said.
She added that RCMP continue to search for two people missing from the Port Alberni area: William Patrick Charleson and Shelly Jean Hofmann.