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It could be months before the second body recovered during a double-homicide investigation in Sarnia and rural Lambton County is identified, police say.
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The remains of two people were found during what began as a suspicious-person complaint on Dec. 28 in a secluded area near the small village of Oil Springs. Four days later provincial police confirmed the body of 31-year-old Mississauga resident Lance Richardson was recovered at a Watson Street home in Sarnia. But police said they were still working with the office of Ontario’s chief coroner and forensic pathology services to confirm the identity of a second body found in Enniskillen Township.
const. Jamie Bydeley, a Lambton OPP spokesperson, said the process for police to confirm identities of deceased with those agencies has changed recently.
“It’s a more stringent specification that has to be met to be able to confirm, so it takes a bit longer sometimes,” he said. “So really that’s what we’re waiting for.”
The timeline could be lengthy due to the fairly new process, he added.
“I could take months, to be honest,” Bydeley said.
A spokesperson for the chief coroner’s office said procedures were last updated in March 2019, but they are “quite” extensive. Stephanie Rea added each case is unique with a lot of variables.
“Often, a person can easily be identified by next of kin, medical records, police records, etc.,” Rea said Sunday via email. “If that is not available, fingerprints, dental records, etc. are generally looked at next to determine a positive ID. But if there is a need to do DNA testing, for example, those tests can take upwards of three months.”
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Investigators believe the two deaths are connected, police have said, but no details about causes of death or potential weapons have been released.
Matthew Edward Theriault, 42, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of indignity to a body. The charges, which haven’t been tested in court, weren’t announced until Jan. 6 – nine days after the investigation started. Police released them shortly after Postmedia published a story about the charges based on short documents.
In the meantime, a Peel Regional police spokesperson confirmed a missing-person report was filed on behalf of Richardson, but not until Dec. 29 – the day after police said they discovered the bodies.
“He was known to police,” Const. Mandeep Khatra added.
Anyone with information or who had contact with Richardson before his death is being asked to contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477.
Police said the investigation started with a “low-key” complaint about a suspicious person on a small dirt road used by youth for “mudding” and by farmers. It has a gate at one end that is impassable.
The subject of the complaint was arrested with their vehicle in a different area near Oil Springs and the investigation led them to Watson Street in Sarnia, police said.
Two neighbors recalled seeing some odd activity around an SUV parked in the driveway of the apartment complex there the day before police swarmed it with a battering ram and discovered Richardson’s body. The Sarnia police mobile command center was parked outside the building for a week.
Theriault, a longtime member of Carpenters Local 1256 who grew up in Oil Springs, lived in a basement apartment of the townhouse complex for about six or seven years, according to a neighbour.
Theriault is being held in the Sarnia Jail. The case returns to court on Jan. 24.
There have been 20 first- or second-degree murder charges laid in Sarnia-Lambton since March 2020.