Two male teens have been arrested in connection with the murder of 18-year-old Kimberly Proctor, the B.C. high school student whose badly burned body was found on a trail near her suburban Victoria home.
Exactly three months after the teen victim was found dead, RCMP investigators announced the arrests of the suspects, aged 16 and 18, on Saturday. The pair was arrested Friday afternoon.
Because the two accused were under 18 at the time of Proctor's murder, their names cannot be revealed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Later on Saturday, police confirmed that both suspects had been charged with first-degree murder, forcible confinement, sexual assault and indignity to human remains.
Both suspects will remain in custody until they appear in court Monday morning.
"Crimes such as these thankfully do not happen very often, but when they do they have a devastating effect on the community," RCMP Insp. Mark Fisher told reporters in Victoria.
"It is my hope that the young women in the community, their parents and the citizens who use the Galloping Goose trail can now rest easy."
More than 40 officers have been working on the case since Proctor's body was found in on March 19 in a wooded area off the Galloping Goose Trail, which is popular with locals. The teen had been reported missing a day earlier.
It took three days to identify the remains.
On May 26, police executed a search warrant at a home near the trail. They did not make the findings of that search public, citing their ongoing "complex investigation."
It is not yet clear if either of the two arrested teens is connected to the home.
The day after the search, police revealed they had identified suspects in the case and had determined Proctor's murder "was not a random crime." Investigators appealed to members of the community who might know the suspects or know what happened to Proctor to come forward.
On Saturday, Fisher thanked members of the community, including more than 300 high school students and staff who were interviewed as part of the investigation.
"Theses types of investigations are difficult for the community, the family of the victim and our police officers."
Proctor's parents, Lucia and Fred Proctor, issued a video statement posted to the B.C. RCMP's website to thank friends, family and members of the community for their support, and to describe "what kind of hell we've been living the last few months."
"This has left a huge void in our lives," Fred Proctor said in the statement, during which he paused several times to wipe away tears. "We'll never know what she could have become or would have been or what future we would have had with her."
Proctor described his daughter as a "great kid with a big heart" who had been looking forward to graduating from high school and making her prom dress with her grandmother.
"All we can hope for now is for justice to be done for Kimberly," Lucia Proctor said.
Despite the arrests, police are still asking anyone with information about Proctor's death to call Westshore RCMP at 250-474-2264.
