Remains of two people found near Ucluelet

Major-crime detectives are investigating after the remains of two people were discovered late last week by a woman walking her dog near Ucluelet.

The RCMP said it’s too early to say whether the remains are those of two men who disappeared from the area under suspicious circumstances last month.

Daniel Archbald, 37, of Squamish and Ryan Daley, 43, were last seen at the Ucluelet Small Craft Harbour after returning from an eight-week sailing trip to Panama.

They docked May 13 and were seen on surveillance camera leaving the harbour on foot three days later, possibly planning to hitch a ride to Daley’s property in Jordan River.

Aerial and ground searches failed to locate the men, and the case was eventually deemed suspicious and turned over to the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit.

The RCMP said investigators are working with the B.C. Coroners Service to identify the remains.

“We are working with the families of the missing men, and ask that their privacy be respected at this time,” the force said in a statement.

Archbald and Daley disappeared the same day that Ben Kilmer, a 41-year-old father of two, vanished in the Cowichan Valley, where his work van was found abandoned and running in the Sahtlam area, west of Duncan.

Police have given no indication that the two cases are linked, and Kilmer’s disappearance has not been declared suspicious.