Police have located the body of missing pregnant university student Loretta Saunders in a highway median in New Brunswick.
Just a few hours after they declared the case a homicide Wednesday, Halifax police announced they found Saunders’ body off Route 2 of the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Salisbury, N.B. Investigators made the grim discovery at 4:30 p.m. local time.
“Forensic investigators from both Halifax Regional Police and RCMP in New Brunswick are in the process of retrieving her remains,” read a statement from Halifax Police. “As a result, the highway has been reduced to one lane of traffic near the scene.”
Saunders was last seen on Feb. 13 in the Cowie Hill area of Halifax, and was reported missing four days later. The 26-year-old was a student at St. Mary’s University and was three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Halifax Police Const. Pierre Bourdages told CTV News Channel Wednesday before Saunders’ remains were located that investigators had identified suspects “and they are not looking for anyone else.” The investigation is “ongoing and charges are anticipated,” he said.
He would not say whether the two people in custody and charged with stealing her car are the suspects in Saunders’ death.
Victoria Henneberry, 28, and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Blake Leggette, were arrested after police located Saunders’ car near Windsor, Ont., on Feb. 18. They were both charged with theft of a motor vehicle and fraud, and have since been brought back to Halifax.
Saunders’ boyfriend says he last saw her as she was leaving his place to go to her apartment, which she was subletting to Henneberry and Leggette, to pick up about $700 in overdue rent.
Leggette appeared in a Halifax court on Tuesday on the fraud and theft charges, and was ordered to remain in jail until a bail hearing scheduled for Friday. Henneberry makes her next court appearance on the same charges on Thursday.
Saunders, an Inuk woman, had been studying at St. Mary’s for three years, and was in the process of completing a thesis on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
One of her professors had written an emotional Facebook post describing Saunders as one of the smartest students he had ever taught.
‘A wakeup call’
At a press conference Wednesday, search volunteers thanked Nova Scotians for their efforts in trying to locate Saunders.
Cheryl Maloney, president of the Nova Scotia Native Women’s Association, said Saunders’ death is a “wakeup call” about the risks aboriginal women face in Canadian society.
“She was … a bright, smart master’s student,” Maloney said. “This is not what everyone expects, but she is at-risk, she is vulnerable. Every aboriginal girl in this country is vulnerable.”
Maloney said it was a bitter irony that Saunders had once interviewed her about missing and murdered aboriginal women.
She said it’s “disheartening” that Canada has been ignoring the issue for so long.
“How many more families does this have to happen to before they take serious the problem, the inequity of aboriginal people and the problems our girls face in this world,” she said.
After Saunders disappeared, friends and strangers convened daily at the Native Friendship Centre in Halifax to organize a search for Saunders, as well as a candlelight vigil.
Saunders’ sister, Delilah Terriak, and other relatives had travelled to Nova Scotia to help search for Saunders, and held two emotional press conferences, pleading for information that would lead to a break in the case.
