B.C. search intensifies at farm where body parts discovered

SALMON ARM — The six-day search of a Salmon Arm-area farm where human remains have been found is expected to intensify, as police plan to bring in more equipment and resources to help look for evidence on the rural property.

“There will be a visible increase at the site in the next couple of days,” said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk, spokesman for the RCMP Southeast District.

On Tuesday, three investigators donned latex gloves to search in and around a horse trailer near the entrance of the property at 2290 Salmon River Rd. in Silver Creek, where last Friday RCMP made the grim discovery while executing a search warrant. Six police vehicles, including a mobile command unit, were parked at the site.

Curtis Wayne Sagmoen, whose parents own the farm, is in custody after a sex-trade worker was allegedly threatened with a firearm near the farm in August. He has not been charged in connection with the human remains found on the property.

The expanding search is troubling news to the five families with loved ones who have disappeared from communities near the farm over the last 20 months.

Alanna Wertz’s sister Deanna, 46, lived on the next country road over from the farm, and has been missing since July 19, 2016. Ashley Simpson, who lived two doors away from Deanna, disappeared three months earlier.

Police told both families at the beginning of the current search that there was no evidence it was related to the missing women, but as the investigation drags on, their fears are mounting.

“Bodies are being found a street over, and you can’t help but wonder. And it is a sickening feeling, it really is,” Alanna told Postmedia News on Tuesday.

“It’s kind of mixed emotions. In one sense you want answers but in another sense you don’t want to hear those kinds of answers.”

Sagmoen, born in 1980, was arrested and charged last week with seven offences in connection with the August incident — disguising his face with intent to commit an offence, intentionally discharging a firearm, pointing a firearm, uttering threats, careless use or storage of a firearm, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and possession of a controlled substance.

Little is known about Sagmoen. Locals described his parents as “quiet, soft-spoken” people — good neighbours who were always helping fellow farmers in the community. The Sagmoens train cutting horses and have a good reputation in that industry, one neighbour said.