A hunter's grisly discovery outside Halifax is leaving residents to wonder whether it might be the key to solving a two-year-old mystery.
The hunter found human remains near a bike trail in a rocky landscape not far from Spider Lake in Waverly, N.S., on Saturday. An investigation is underway to determine the identity of the remains.
"RCMP officers responded to the scene confirm that the remains were that of a human and as a result we held the scene overnight and this morning," RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Dal Hutchinson told CTV Atlantic on Sunday. "The RCMP forensic identification section, along with the Medical Examiner's office attended the scene."
The area, which is comprised of dense woods and trails at the end of a subdivision, was the scene of a large-scale search in 2014, for a 30-year-old cyclist, Marty Leger, who vanished without a trace.
The disappearance launched a five-day search. Helicopters were brought in, and 250 soldiers searched 65 square kilometres of rough terrain. Once the search was called off, Leger officially became a missing person.
"We live here in the neighbourhood and brought stuff down to the searchers to help them out," said one resident who remembers the scene two years ago.
When asked by CTV Atlantic if the RCMP could identify the remains as the missing biker, Hutchinson said that the community should hold off on any speculation.
"That is something that our members will be looking into along with other missing person cases. However, it is still too early to identify the remains, but to also identify the gender of the remains."
The remains have been removed and sent to the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy.
"Investigations like this will take time, and we want to go ahead with concrete facts," Hutchinson told CTVnews.ca
With a report from CTV Altantic's Marie Adsett
