The identity of human remains found in a burnt vehicle on Ahtahkakoop First Nation have yet to be confirmed, but a woman who believes the remains are those of her son is upset RCMP didn’t check the car after the first call reporting the fire.
“They didn’t even try. They could’ve stopped the fire,” Lisa Johnstone told CTV News.
Johnstone said she’s confident the remains are those of her 20-year-old son Brennan Ahenakew.
Ahenakew was last seen Wednesday at about 11 p.m. and reported missing the next evening.
The remains — his, according to Johnstone — were found shortly after she and her husband filed the missing persons report and after the second time RCMP responded to the burning car. The car was her son’s, Johnstone said.
The first call about the car fire came in Thursday at about 10 a.m., but the vehicle was not searched before the responding police left the scene.
The second call, the one after which Mounties found the remains, came in at about 5:30 p.m.
An RCMP news release stated fire was still burning in the surrounding bushes when police responded to the first call, but a spokesperson for the RCMP said he wasn’t sure why the vehicle wasn’t searched during the initial response.
Ahenakew graduated high school last year. He wasn’t involved in gangs or drugs, according to his mother, but Johnstone said she believes he was killed and that the fire was started to cover up evidence.
The RCMP spokesperson said investigators are still waiting for the body’s identity to be confirmed before drawing any conclusions.
“Until we can confirm who the body is, it would be a little speculative to draw a definite link,” Cpl. Rob King said.
