Friends and family are grieving this week for a young Red Deer woman police say was murdered and dumped at the side of a rural road near Olds.
The body of Jenna Cartwright, 21, was discovered in a ditch about four kilometres northeast of Olds on Rge. Rd. 10 last Tuesday evening.
Cartwright was reported missing on April 12 and was last seen in Red Deer on March 29.
“Right now we're concentrating on supporting one another,” said Cartwright's aunt who was reached Saturday and asked not to be named. “Jenna leaves behind a beautiful two-year-old daughter, brothers, twin sister and we're all just trying to cope with such an awful tragedy.”
Police were called to the location about 7 p.m. May 3 when a neighbouring resident who was driving by found a dead body in a ditch.
An autopsy conducted last week on the female remains determined that the victim, was Cartwright.
Police say she was murdered, but police had not released the actual cause of death by press time yesterday.
Sgt. Patrick Webb, communications liaison with the RCMP's southern Alberta district, said every sudden death is treated as a murder until further investigation rules otherwise.
“We treat every unexplained sudden death as a homicide. The reason for that is because we only have one chance to collect all the evidence in the best manner so we treat … every death (as a homicide). If it turns out later to be accidental, natural causes or something like that . .. then we haven't missed anything and we know we just collected more than we needed. And if it does turn out to be a murder, then we've taken the right steps, from the beginning. That's the situation with this one,” he said.
Webb said he couldn't confirm nor deny that the body was wrapped in a carpet or blanket when it was found.
“There's all sorts of details about the scene itself, what was found there, the condition of the body, how long it had been there … we're not releasing any of that information because it's going to be part of the investigation, so we just can't let that out. Our primary purpose is to identify who did this and get a conviction. All those details, we're holding onto because we're apprehensive that if we let it out that may impact upon our ability to get a conviction,” he said.
The road where the body was found was blocked off shortly after 7 p.m. on May 3 and was reopened sometime the next day, Webb said.
The RCMP is looking to speak to anyone who may have information relating to the victim or the crime. They are asked to contact the Olds detachment at (403) 556-3324 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
In addition to local members, the RCMP's Major Crimes Unit from Calgary and the Forensic Identification Section also attended the initial scene last week. The Major Crimes Unit investigate murders, major sexual assaults and other crimes of a serious nature and acts as a support service to local detachments, which retain jurisdiction over the matter.
Cartwright's aunt said her niece was a beautiful girl, who was outgoing and would do anything for a freind.
“Whoever did this to her, they know, they know who they are and we just have to let the police do their investigation.”
"There's all sorts of details about the scene itself, what was found there, the condition of the body, how long it had been there ... we're not releasing any of that information because it's going to be part of the investigation, so we just can't let that out."Sgt. Patrick Webb, communications liaison, RCMP southern Alberta district
