Police investigating after body found in east Regina
Residents on the quiet streets surrounding Howell Park stood outside on Sunday morning, chatting as they watched an unfolding police investigation into the discovery of a body.
Many residents of the east Regina neighbourhood expressed shock upon learning of the 8:30 a.m. discovery on a pathway in the area of the 2700 block of Howell Drive.
The Regina Police Service has released little information so far, other than to say the person — whose identity, age and gender have not yet been released — was confirmed dead by EMS on the scene.
Police advised there were “no immediate safety concerns to residents of the neighbourhood or public surrounding this incident” and asked the public to avoid the area while they investigated.
On Sunday morning, police were combing the area for evidence and witnesses, some — including plainclothes unit members — doorknocking while members of the Forensic Identification Section checked out taped-off areas surrounding a pathway between two houses as well as a large section of Howell Park itself.
While most area residents said they hadn’t seen or heard anything unusual, one woman on James Crescent said she’d heard what she thought to be a gunshot at about 4:20 a.m.
A University of Regina psychology professor has received recognition as an outstanding new investigator.
Jennifer Gordon, an assistant professor at the U of R, is one of six Canadian researchers to receive the prestigious Banting Research Foundation Discovery Award for $25,000. She ranked fourth out of 54 applicants from across Canada.
The foundation annually hands out the Discovery Award to “outstanding new investigators in any area of health and biomedical research.”
Gordon will combine the Banting award with funding from the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) to further her research on depression and hormones in perimenopausal women.
“In the five or so years leading up to menopause, women are two to four times at higher risk of developing depression compared to other times in their life and we don’t really understand why,” Gordon said.
The SHRF grant is being used to look at estrogen fluctuation and risk for depression. “Increased estrogen fluctuation could be triggering the HPA axis — the stress axis that plays an important role in controlling how we respond to stress and the end output is cortisol, a stress hormone,” Gordon said.
The Banting award will allow her to look at the role of cortisol, a stress hormone, in estrogen fluctuation.