RCMP search home on First Nation
Published Wednesday November 4th, 2009
Investigation Warrant executed near store where 16-year-old girl last seen
Police began searching a residence at the Esgenoopetitj First Nation on Tuesday, looking for evidence in a "criminal investigation."
Insp. Roch Fortin, the District Commander for the RCMP in the Acadian Peninsula, said a team of officers arrived at the scene in the morning and will likely remain for several days.
Police brought in tow trucks and removed two vehicles from the yard and forensic experts wearing white suits placed items from the house into black bags. Officers were searching outside the residence as well.
"We have just begun,'' Fortin said.
The home is near the convenience store where 16-year-old Hilary Bonnell was last seen on Sept. 5.
The inspector would not confirm that the investigation was linked to the teen, who disappeared shortly after sending a text message early that morning - "Oh my God, I am so scared-" to a friend.
"All I can say is that we are looking for evidence related to a criminal investigation,'' Fortin said. "We had enough evidence to get a warrant authorizing entering someone's residence."
The house that is being searched belongs to Hilary Bonnell's uncle, Christopher Bonnell, a band councillor at the Esgenoopetitj First Nation, Bonnell's mother Pamela Fillier confirmed Tuesday.
Officers were observed leading a man away from the property early in the day, but Fortin said no arrest was made. He said a news conference may be arranged today, however.
Pamela Fillier and Bonnell's stepfather, Fred Fillier, were close at hand on Tuesday, watching from the parking lot of the 4D's Grocery as officers searched the house a short distance away.
"I am hanging in there,'' Pamela Fillier said Tuesday night.
A crowd of more than 100 people, some of whom have helped the Filliers look for Hilary in the First Nation area since her disappearance, joined the couple outside the store and watched as a swarm of investigators descended on the nearby property. Fifteen police vehicles, including a forensic identification unit, were at the scene.
A high-spirited teenager who adored shopping and still asked to be tucked into bed at night, Bonnell disappeared only a few days before she was to resume classes at Miramichi Valley High School.
"I miss her so much, the air I breathe doesn't even feel the same anymore,'' her mother said recently. "I can feel her cheeks on my lips as if she is right there, and I can feel her little arms.
"How can people be so heartless, to do this to a child?"
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Comments (7)
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Hopefully Hilary is found alive, but I doubt she will be.
In the case of a child missing without the above information, police publicize the fact that the child has gone missing through the media, as they did in this case. To say "this investigation has been botched from the beginning" when you don't even know the rules for issuing an Amber Alert is a little premature.
Tammy C .......you must have information the general public doesn't have because I sure as heck can't figure out where that comment is coming from.
I would also suggest you read up on Amber Alerts and what the protocol is for useage.
Steve J.
"Hopefully Hilary is found alive, but I doubt she will be."
???
sounds suspicious like you know something or have knowledge of what happened that the investigators do not
What a thing to say what if it was your child that went missing ?