Criminal links, if any, of a Chilliwack man whose skeletal remains were found last week near Hope are being investigated by police who suspect foul play.
“This is standard practice,” RCMP Cpl. David Carr, spokesman for the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said Friday.
But Deano Paus, 40, was known to police, Carr said, so IHIT investigators will also be looking into his background and “who he associated with and what their involvement in crime, if any, was.”
The Progress could not reach the family Friday for comment.
But according to other media reports, Paus was a friendly, outgoing man well-known in Chilliwack’s softball community.
The Progress reported his disappearance in March last year, and the discovery of his grey, 2007 Ford Fusion two days later down an embankment of the Florence Lake Forestry Road near Stave Lake.
Last week, human remains were found in a wooded area near Hope off the Garnett Creek Forest Service Road, about 17 kilometres east of Agassiz.
Paus was identified through dental records.
“It’s a sad day all around for the Paus family, but now they can put their son to rest, and we can move forward with an investigation,” Carr said.
If the Chilliwack high school grad was the victim of foul play, he added, “we’ll get to the bottom of who’s responsible.”
