Deaths of teenage couple ruled as targeted homicides
The killing of a teenage couple from Whitefish River First Nation was targeted, and police know how the victims and perpetrators were connected, RCMP Insp. Gibson Glavin said Thursday.
The bodies of Dylan Laboucan, 17, and Cory Grey, 19, were discovered in the High Prairie area earlier this week after the couple went missing from a home on Whitefish River First Nation on Saturday night. Autopsies conducted Wednesday determined both teens died of gunshot wounds.
“This is a small community where people are well known to each other and people who enter the community from outside are also well-recognized when they come in. So it is not a random act. These two victims, Cory and Dylan, were deliberately killed by someone or some people and they were connected with them in some way,” Glavin said, speaking at RCMP headquarters in Edmonton.
Glavin said investigators may or may not have suspects, and would not specify what the connection is between the couple and the killer or killers. He said that information is a “key element” in the investigation.
No suspects had been arrested as of Thursday morning.
The teens went missing from a home in the small community where they lived with Laboucan’s family.
His body was discovered Monday evening by a community search party. Grey’s body was recovered Tuesday afternoon.
Though no suspects have been arrested, Glavin said he doesn’t think people in the community need to be “unduly” frightened.
“We have a focused investigation and we’re looking at all the possible people,” he said.
Whitefish River is part of the Whitefish Lake First Nation, also known as Atikameg. Whitefish Lake First Nation is in the High Prairie RCMP’s detachment area. High Prairie is about 370 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.