ON January 3 at 2:46 p.m., Abbotsford Police Department responded to a vehicle fire at Sumas Mountain Regional Park. First responders located a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander that was engulfed in flames and upon extinguishing the fire, they discovered what appeared to be human remains inside the vehicle.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was called in and has continued to work in partnership with Abbotsford Police, the Integrated Forensic Identification Services (IFIS) and the BC Coroners Service. Investigators believe this was an isolated incident with no ongoing risk to the public.
IHIT said on Thursday that it is now identifying the victims to further advance the investigation. The two victims are 44-year-old Christopher Carter and 48-year-old Sandy Raposo of the Lower Mainland area.
[According to her Facebook, Raposo was working at Rio Tinto and lived in Maple Ridge. She was from Golden, B.C.]
“This is an ongoing investigation and investigators have been actively following up on a number of leads,” said IHIT Sgt. Freda Fong.
“We believe there are individuals who know what happened to Chris and Sandy, and we are asking them to do the right thing by contacting IHIT. We are interested in speaking with anyone who may have been in contact with Chris and Sandy in the days leading up to their death.”
Anyone who has information about this case is being asked to contact the IHIT Information Line at 1-877-551-IHIT (4448) or email at [email protected].
