A body found on the side of the road near Balzac’s CrossIron Mills mall and the Nexen gas plant on March 20 has been deemed suspicious in nature.
At about 10 a.m., Airdrie Rural RCMP, Airdrie EMS and the Rocky View County Fire Services were alerted by a passer-by of a body on the side of Township Road 261, between Dwight McLellan Trail and Range Road 292.
The body was described by police as a non-white male, approximately 25 to 35 years of age.
“Although emergency medical services (staff) did work on this male, he was pronounced dead at the scene,” said RCMP Sgt. Patricia Neely.
“He was located at a remote area on the side of the road. It wasn’t concealed as far as I’m aware. As far as I know, he has not been identified. That would be something that would be part of the investigation and once the identification is made, we’d have to do the next of kin notification before we could release anything.”
An autopsy will be schedule for as soon as March 21 to determine the cause of death, she added.
“We don’t know how long he had been there. The injuries will be determined by the medical examiner. We have notified our RCMP Major Crimes Unit and our Forensic Identification Unit is on scene as well,” Neely said.
“Our investigation is very early in its commencement here and we don’t have much more information than that at this time. If somebody has any information that would assist us on this investigation, we would be very eager to hear from them.”
A man has been arrested in relation to numerous commercial break and enters that occurred in Airdrie between July and November of 2011.
“It is believed (the suspect) worked alone,” said Airdrie RCMP Cst. Meagan Fillion.
Thirty-eight-year-old Christopher Lywood of Airdrie has been charged with 15 counts of break and enter.
The first court appearance for these charges has not yet been set.
“The RCMP investigate break and enters to their fullest and we tend to be successful in doing so,” said Fillion.
Lywood is currently in custody for unrelated matters.
On March 18 at about 7:30 p.m., the Airdrie RCMP responded to a complaint of a suspicious man.
The caller said he saw a male running back and forth across Highway 2 near Airdrie. The man jumped the fence near a motel on Edmonton Trail and then laid on the ground for a short period of time before making his way to a stationary fire truck that was responding to an unrelated incident.
Upon arrival, police determine that the 26-year-old resident of Airdrie had a fracture in his leg and was treated by Emergency Medical Services on scene and transported to a Calgary hospital for further treatment. The cause of the injury is unknown, but is not believed to be a result of a criminal act.
“It is not known what caused his injuries but (the possibility of the man being hit by a car on Highway 2) is not what we are investigating,” said Fillion.
Fillion said the Airdrie RCMP would like to thank all parties who assisted with this call, including the 911 caller, Airdrie Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, Airdrie Integrated Traffic Services, the Airdrie Rural RCMP and any other people who may have assisted in working together as a community.
“If we keep working together as a community, it helps us to do our job,” she said.
- With files from Stacie Snow
If you have information on any unsolved crime, call Airdrie RCMP at 403-945-7200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
