'Suspicious' death not a murder: IHIT confirms case closed into June 2024 investigation at Chilliwack apartment
Many IHIT files seem to linger as unsolved homicides, fall off the radar with no one from media or public following up
Just because homicide investigators are called to the scene of a death where it is deemed to be suspicious, doesn't mean it's always a homicide.
The sudden death of a 50-year-old woman inside a unit at the Radius apartments in Garrison Crossing in Chilliwack almost a year ago on June 2, 2024 triggered deployment of the RCMP’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).
As is the practice, IHIT issued a brief statement about the deployment via Twitter/X with a short news release sent out to media outlets. Depending on the circumstances, IHIT will usually ask for witnesses to come forward. In this case the request was for them to contact the team “immediately.”
As is also usually the case, IHIT releases almost no information unless it can prompt people to come forward to further that investigation. In rare cases there will be a definite suspect in mind who is on the lam so they will release that name. In others, they might have an idea who the killer is and releasing the victim's name can help spur potential evidence. In this case, neither. All that was said was the RCMP officers along with personnel from BC Coroners Service found a deceased woman inside the residence.
“Based on observations made at the scene, the woman’s death was deemed suspicious,” said Sgt. Timothy Pierotti, IHIT media relations officer.
“IHIT investigators will be working with the Chilliwack RCMP’s Serious Crime Unit to advance this investigation and determine what exactly happened. We’re asking anyone who has information or who had recent contact with the victim, to contact IHIT immediately.”
IHIT was on the case with the help of the Chilliwack RCMP, the Integrated Forensic Identification Section and the BC Coroners Service to determine the circumstances that led to the woman’s death.
There was some speculation on social media that it was a domestic violence situation, but there was never any evidence pointing in that direction made public.
So what happend to that?
I have kept track of every homicide in Chilliwack over the last 20 years (big project on this to come), so occasionally I'm spurred to break out my spreadsheet and look up a cold case to see if someone was charged and for some reason it wasn't announced. This is very rare because understandably IHIT likes to brag about the successful conclusion to homicide investigations.
No one was charged in this case, so at about noon on Tuesday (May 13, 2025), I asked IHIT what the status was of the file.
“After a fulsome investigation, the death was determined to be non-homicide,” new IHIT spokesperson Sgt. Freda Fong told me two hours later. “The specific findings including the cause of death cannot be released due to privacy reasons.”
And that, as they say, is that. Nothing to see here. Move along.
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Paul J. Henderson
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