Two teenagers from Whitefish Lake First Nation, a young couple in love, were shot to death by someone they were “connected to,” RCMP say.
Police said Thursday they have “a significant amount of evidence” that suggests the killings of Dylan Laboucan and Cory Grey were not random.
Laboucan, 17, and Grey, 19, lived together on the First Nation north of Lesser Slave Lake in north-central Alberta.
“This is a small community, where people are well known to each other and where people who come from outside the community are known as well,” RCMP Insp. Gibson Glavin said. “This was not a random act. These two victims, Dylan and Cory, were killed by a person connected to them in some way.”
The medical examiner conducted autopsies Wednesday that showed both victims died from gunshot wounds, Glavin said.
Dylan Laboucan and Cory Grey at her high school graduation ceremony in 2014 (Facebook)
This is not the first time that Grey’s mother has dealt with a personal tragedy, Glavin said.
“Cory’s mother has suffered this devastating blow, and has already suffered other devastating blows in her life. She is an extraordinary woman.”
Asked if the teens’ families have anything to fear from the killer or killers, Glavin said nothing leads investigators to believe that.
Grey’s mother, he said, “is a key element to our investigation and working regularly with our investigators. It’s pretty unlikely someone will come back to visit her.”
Glavin offered few details about the killings. He did not say precisely where the bodies were found, nor how many times the two victims were shot.
“That bit of information is only known by RCMP, the medical examiner and whoever did this,” Glavin said.
But he did say RCMP have already collected a significant amount of evidence and are working hard to solve the case.
“With this critical evidence now known by the RCMP, the investigation is focused upon arresting the person or persons responsible for these murders,” RCMP said earlier in a news release.
“This started as a missing persons file, and it has now tragically escalated to the point now that we have two homicide victims,” Glavin said.
‘When he returned … Dylan’s body was gone’
Laboucan was found unconscious on Saturday between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. outside the trailer where he lived with Cory Grey and her mother, according to Grey’s father, Louis, who spoke to CBC News earlier this week.
“The guy who found them, I guess he sort of panicked,” Grey said. “He really didn’t try to revive him. He didn’t want to go inside the trailer, because he thought someone might be inside.
“So he took off and went to go phone from a neighbour’s place. So, this took him about 15 to 20 minutes. When he returned back to the scene, Dylan’s body was gone. But he’d never seen my girl.”
Police listed Laboucan as missing on Saturday. They listed Cory Grey as missing the following day.
On Monday, Laboucan’s body was found about six to eight kilometres from the trailer where the young couple lived.
Grey’s body was found the next day in a different location.
Louis Grey said his daughter and her boyfriend had been together for about a year.
“They had both got accepted to go to vocational school in Slave Lake,” he said. “Everything was set up, even apartments and all that.
“And then this happened.”