A “big piece of the puzzle” to what happened in the mysterious death of Edmontonian Dwayne Demkiw was revealed to police investigators when his remains were discovered and identified earlier this month near Innisfail, says the head of the city police force's homicide section.
“It further supports our theory of what happened. It does fill in a lot of the blanks for us,” said Det. Rob Bilawey, who declined to disclose the police theory as the investigation is continuing. “We have a fairly good idea of what went on, but every little piece is part of the big puzzle and this is definitely a big piece of that puzzle.”
Last week, Bilawey, who has been part of the Edmonton Police Service's (EPS) probe into Demkiw's death since he was reported missing on May 31, visited the remote treed rural site, 13 kilometres northeast of town, following an extensive probe by RCMP immediately after the remains were discovered on April 5. Nine days later the Calgary Medical Examiner's office officially identified the remains as belonging to 42-year-old Demkiw.
“It was just to familiarize myself exactly where it was and how it is someone dumped that body that got there – that part of the investigation,” said Bilawey, who has been working on the Demkiw case since the day the popular Edmonton man was declared missing. “I am pretty confident the RCMP got everything forensically. We are satisfied the RCMP did an excellent job and there is no need for us to do any further investigation there.”
The last known documented evidence of the popular Edmonton man when he was alive was when an alarm was set at his Edmonton workplace just after 4 a.m. on May 31. Demkiw had just finished a shift for a limo service where he was employed on weekends.
Seven hours later at 11 a.m., Calgary police called Demkiw's family to let them know their sibling's vehicle, a black four-door 2002 Acura, had been found on fire in southeast Calgary. While Demkiw's father Eugene said he believes his son was “abducted” he had no idea why, emphasizing his son, who was working in high-security jobs, was well liked, a devoted father of two sons and had no known history of being involved in any illegal activity.
Although foul play is suspected in the demise of Demkiw, police are still not yet officially classifying the case as a homicide. For the first 11 months of the Edmonton man's disappearance, police investigators were working without a body or remains, which places any homicide probe at a disadvantage as it prevents the ability to determine a cause of death, precise timelines of the victim's demise, and even conclusive proof of death.
“This just confirms it 100 per cent,” said the chief homicide investigator.
With Demkiw's remains now under meticulous examination by forensic experts at the Calgary Medical Examiner's Office, police could also soon learn his cause of death.
“We are hoping so. That will come down to the Calgary Medical Examiner's Office. We are still waiting for their final report, which more than likely will be several months in the future, but we are hoping with our investigation along with their investigation we can come up with some kind of cause of death,” said Bilawey.
He said the next step in the investigation is to meet with RCMP investigators, who are assisting EPS in the probe, to exchange information, and to gather evidence from them. EPS will also wait for the medical examiner's report and review their findings from the autopsy.
In the meantime, Bilawey could not provide a timeline of when the remains will be released to Demkiw's family, who told the Province earlier this month they want to have a proper memorial service for their deceased sibling.
On April 16, the day after the remains were officially identified, Demkiw's younger brother Darren, a Department of National Defence firefighter at CFB Wainwright, placed a simple wooden cross with flowers at the rural Innisfail-area crime scene site.
The police investigation continues.
Det. Rob Bilawey
"It further supports our theory of what happened. It does fill in a lot of the blanks for us. We have a fairly good idea of what went on, but every little piece is part of the big puzzle and this is definitely a big piece of that puzzle."
