Homicide victim Christine Wood’s remains found outside city

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This article was published 02/06/2017 (2666 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police confirmed that human remains found on the eastern outskirts of the city belong to Christine Wood.

Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief attended the press conference Saturday morning to announce the remains belonged to Wood after forensic tests and an autopsy were completed Friday night.

Smyth said he then phoned the family to let them know.

“I told George and Melinda that I can’t begin to know your pain but I will ensure Christine is returned home to you as soon as possible,” the police chief said, relating his call to Wood’s parents.

The discovery offers a sense of closure to the grieving family after months of searching for the young woman.

“Her mother naturally has mixed emotions,” said Sheila North Wilson, a cousin and the Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, at the conference.

“She was very happy that Christine had been found and of course she is very sad that she’s gone because they had a slim, slim faint hope she was alive somewhere,” North Wilson told media.

On Friday, RCMP announced they were investigating the discovery of human remains in a ditch between a dirt road and a farm field, east of Winnipeg.

RCMP officers were called to the Rural Municipality of Springfield just after 10 a.m. Thursday after a farmer checking on his canola crops noticed a partially uncovered hole that looked like it had been disturbed.

Police ruled the disappearance of Christine Wood a homicide and charged 30-year-old Winnipeg man, Brett Ronald Overby, with second-degree murder in April.

Christine, 21, had been missing since last August when she and her parents were in Winnipeg from Bunibonibee First Nation (Oxford House) for a medical appointment.

The first major breakthrough in the case happened in April, when police taped off at a house in the 300 block on Burrows Avenue.

They spent five days at the scene and obtained blood and other evidence before the murder charge was made public.

About the same time, police also asked Christine’s mother, Melinda, for a DNA sample to link the evidence to Christine.

Until now, authorities had yet to locate her body.

Wood left a Polo Park-area hotel on Aug. 19 where she was staying with her parents. That was the last contact between her and her parents.

Family and friends spent many days and nights combing the city streets looking for her and made public appeals to anyone with information to come forward.

The Bear Clan Patrol was part of that search.

“It’s the worst possible outcome. It’s tragic,” said Bear Clan leader James Favel.