Suspicious death of well-known senior shocks small community
NEW HAVEN — A small Cape Breton community was reeling after the suspicious death of a well-known senior on Monday.
At around noon on Tuesday, Nova Scotia RCMP announced they were investigating the death of a 77-yearold New Haven man that occurred Monday evening.
New Haven is a village in northern Cape Breton situated northeast of Neils Harbour, about 165 km from Sydney.
“Everyone's in shock here,” said Greg Organ of Neils Harbour, the former fire chief who is still very active in the community.
“First, we are in shock because of what happened, the death. Personally, I'm sure a lot of people are in shock because the RCMP haven't given us any information.”
Organ said he didn't hear about the death until Tuesday afternoon and still, nothing had been released to the community.
“After 9 p.m. last night (Monday) they didn't do a call out, a lockdown, and still nothing (Tuesday),” he said. “We have a hospital here, we have a special care home here, there are a lot of seniors living alone.”
THE VICTIM
Organ said the deceased man was born and raised in New Haven and everyone knew him.
“He was well known and well-liked,” he said.
He said the victim was the youngest of the family — among the last of his family in the area as his brothers and sisters had passed away — but did have some nieces and nephews including a niece who looked after him, would take him grocery shopping and so on.
“He was active, always on the road and waving to everybody,” he said, adding he enjoyed stopping to have a conversation with him.
In younger years he said the man enjoyed cutting wood and could always be found down at the wharf.
Since learning of the tragic death, Organ said the RCMP is saying there's no immediate threat to the community but he's still hearing concerns from residents.
“The community should have been notified after it happened,” he added.
NOVA SCOTIA RCMP
RCMP Cpl. Chris Marshall confirmed the RCMP Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit with assistance from the Victoria County District RCMP is investigating the suspicious death of the 77-year-old New Haven man.
At approximately 9:05 p.m. Monday evening, Marshall said RCMP received a complaint of an incident at a residence on New Haven Road. Ingonish Beach RCMP responded and found the man deceased. Marshall said investigators have since deemed the death to be suspicious and the investigation is ongoing.
“It involves parties known to one another,” he said.
When asked about why an alert wasn't issued, Marshall said, “There was and is no risk to the greater public related to this incident.”
Marshall said there was misinformation being spread around the community involving multiple victims, multiple suspects and an active shooter, all of which is inaccurate.
“At no point during our investigation has this information been determined to be credible,” he said.
Being a small community, Marshall said it's understandable there's concern about a death occurring. He wouldn't confirm whether police are searching for a suspect but said investigators were still busy collecting evidence to piece together what occurred. He said the Nova Scotia's medical examiner's office is providing support, which will help in determining how this investigation proceeds.
“Whether or not we're looking for a suspect I can't really say but we have investigators on the ground actively investigating this incident,” he added.
ALLEGED SUSPECT
A worker at Doucette's Market and Eatery in Ingonish said shortly after noon on Tuesday a man with a lot of tattoos came into the store wearing a red hoodie and ordered two pizza burgers.
“We actually got word he was the guy (alleged suspect) from someone who ordered food and was waiting in their vehicle in the parking lot — they called us inside and told us,” said the employee, who isn't being named.
“We tried to call a police officer on their cell but couldn't get hold of them. Then he got up and left quickly without eating his second pizza burger.”
The worker said she didn't know the name of the alleged suspect and the first she'd heard of the incident was when the call came in from the customer in the parking lot.
In the meantime, a resident of a neighbouring community to Neils Harbour said the community is well aware of the alleged suspect and she herself knows him well.
“I don't know if he has ever been in trouble with the law before, but I know he is trouble,” she said.
Although Neils Harbour wasn't officially in lockdown Tuesday, she was talking to residents who said people were worried, many were closing their businesses on their own. Neils Harbour, located between Ingonish and Dingwall on Cape Breton's Cabot trail, became a popular fishing base for both Scottish and French settlers beginning in the 1700s and remains a fishing community with a fish plant, processing plant, many seasonal homes and a population that rises upwards to 250 residents in the summer.
“Although the community is not officially on lockdown, everything is closed,” she said. "The hospital is on lockdown, the Co-Op, the Chowder House and the post office have all closed. The hospital and pharmacy doors are locked but they let you in.”
There was no answer at the Co-Op or Chowder House when the Cape Breton Post phoned late Tuesday afternoon. Neils Harbour Ice Cream Parlour announced on Facebook they were closed Tuesday.
VICTORIA COUNTY DEPUTY WARDEN
Larry Dauphinee of Ingonish, deputy warden for Victoria Country, only heard about the suspicious death early Tuesday afternoon.
He said the RCMP notified the county that there was a suspicious death in the county.
Ingonish is about a 25-30 minute drive from Neils Harbour.
“I haven't heard too much, no one seems to know too much about it,” he said.
But Dauphinee, also District 6 councillor, said it was devastating just to get that notification.
“Definitely,” he said. “Any time you hear about a suspicious death it's very concerning and we're thinking about the family at this time.”
LOOKING FOR INFORMATION
Meanwhile, the Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit is asking anyone who has information about this incident to contact them at 902-8965060. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers. ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips App.